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Web Design & Development - Why the Huge Range in Pricing?

Guest post by: Faith Seekings

Article Overview: As in any industry where people specialize, the specialists can be costly and the freelancers generally cheaper. This holds true for the web development industry. Unfortunately, paying a higher price is no guarantee that your web site will be developed with the traditional creative and writing skills required for the design portion of the site. On the reverse side, using a freelancer because ‘it’s a great deal’ may get you great design but also a site that hasn’t been developed for user functionality and vice a versa. Design and web development are two distinct skill sets.

Web Design & Development - Why the Huge Range in Pricing?

In discussion with a prospect recently re our web design quote, he said, “Faith, I have three quotes ranging from a couple thousand to $20,000 and I have no idea why. ”

Here’s my thoughts on why:

Web development specialists come with high price tags

When web development was a mysterious new skill, firms had to specialize in it and was often done separately from branding or advertising. These web development companies were in high demand and charged a lot of money. Today these companies still have a very strong place as specialists in large complicated websites. Despite web developers and creative realizing traditional creative and writing skills are still needed, it’s often a minor add-on and therefore not a core competency. Believe me, when I have a very complicated back-end website project, I sub-contract to one of these companies myself.

Freelancers are generally lower priced

Freelancers can afford to build websites for much less. The downside is that they’re doing both design and development -- two very different skill sets. It is unlikely they are skilled in both, nor have the resources needed to fulfill a robust website; like copywriting and photography. Freelancers are a great resource for start-ups or very small businesses. However, once a company grows, they have surpassed the abilities of freelancers. This is how my company grew – I could not meet the demands of my clients by myself.

How to Choose?

Look at their portfolio. Make sure the samples are up to the level of sophistication and standards your business requires.

Don’t be sucked in by a low price or overly-impressed by a list of large, impressive projects. Experience range and manpower means design, development, strategy, writing, photography, video, etc.

Good communication is essential in web projects because they can easily go out of scope. Do they ask you questions about your business strategy? Does it feel like a good fit and you can trust them?

Shop around. Not all freelancers are unable to fulfill your requirements, there are some excellent finds out there. Not all web developments overcharge and under-deliver. But, if you don’t get at least three quotes, you’ll never know.

Compare Apples to Apples. A good firm will quote on what you ask them to, make suggestions to make your website more robust and useful, or add things like team photography, shown separately and clearly communicated. Disparities arise where one has proprietary software they rent out, while another quotes the same functionality using open-source code.

Comparing apples of different colours is one thing, but if there is a huge price difference in the ’same’ solution, they’re likely not both apples. Ask questions.

One Final Tip

A website should never be done in isolation from the rest of your brand and marketing materials. It is a very important stop in your marketing map and must be considered in relation to how people got there.

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Article Tags: copywriting, core competency, development strategy, downside, experience range, faith, freelancers, impressive projects, manpower, photography, quotes, rsquo, small businesses, sophistication, start ups, ups, web developers, web development companies, web development specialists, writing skills



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