Karen in Atlanta asks:
How much will THAT cost?

What a great question! …and what a difficult one it can be to answer.

It usually comes from a budget-conscious mindset. There are a finite number of dollars to work with, and of course, you want to get the best value for your dollar. I do the exact same thing when I get my car worked on or when I bring a programmer on to a project.

(Yes, I said “when I bring a programmer on to a project”… I am a firm believer in letting experts do what they do best, and I’d rather right someone a check and get something done quickly and correctly than try to figure out every single thing myself).

Different web designers have different ways of pricing out their jobs. Some price it out by each part that’s needed. They will prepare full scopes of work in complete detail and some have a price list. One day, I’ll get that organized… I know a couple companies that work that way and it works really well for them. I also know of several folks who tried to make it work that way, and it didn’t work out so well.

Others just know… they estimate how long it’s going to take to do a job and price it accordingly.

I’m usually one of the latter unless I bring a programmer on board. I look at several things, including how well-organized and well-prepared the client is. The more organized the client, the less guesswork and back-and-forth I have to do, and the easier the project is to complete (hint, hint).

Chuck’s website will be finished in the afternoon after my meetings. Chuck knew exactly what he wanted, and had even sketched it out for me. There was zero question in my mind what he wanted his website to look like. Luckily, I come from the marketing side of things, so getting the look down was a piece of cake.

All of his information was already typed out so I could cut, paste and format the text. I did have to do some document re-creation for some forms and there was some programming involved. The site was built, we identified some adjustments to make, and this project was less than two weeks from start to finish.

Jane, on the other hand, started off looking very organized, but kept trying to grow the site after we agreed on terms. Little-by-little, piece-by-piece, she started adding things… a page here, a picture there… We’re in the fourth month of her project and she is still adding things. Her site will end up costing her over twice as much as it should have.

Now, to give a practical answer to your question…

Most web designers I know would rather you go to them and say “I have X number of dollars available for this project. What can we do?” as opposed to trying to price the pieces together yourself. Most of the time, this will work in your favor (translated: giving you a little extra here and a little extra there). Sometimes, if you are working with an unscrupulous designer, they will try to deliver a really poorly done website. Make sure to go through the details of the scope of work so that there is a clear understanding on both sides of what does and does not get done.

Mark from Forest Park, GA asks:
Why do websites range so much in price?

To quote Wile E. Coyote, “A legitimate question… one that deserves a legitimate answer.”

If I were to boil it all down to one word, it would be “experience.”

Experience goes far beyond the obvious meaning of website-building skills, but we’ll start there. If websites can be compared to cars, some people build Ferraris, while others build Mercedes, and others build Toyotas, or even Kias. Some even build go-carts. At the end of the day, they’re all cars, but there is a wide variety of what they’ll do or how they’ll look (and yes… some people try to get a Mercedes for a Toyota price).

Experience also means a designer’s business savvy.

Do they know how to interact with their customers? Here’s a few things that clients have shared with me from past dealings with web designers:

• The designer shows up to the appointment 30 minutes late and doesn’t seem to have showered recently.
• The programmer comes in and talks technical circles around the client and doesn’t bother to try to speak regular English.
• The designer gets the job but doesn’t return calls afterward.
• The designer hits on the owner’s wife.

Experience also means knowing one’s budgets and workload capacities.

If I could spend five minutes with every new web designer, I would share this one piece of advice with them: Don’t price yourself so low that you cannot serve your customers.

New web designers try to price themselves so far under the competition that they will get customers on price, alone. The problem comes up when they start biting off more than they can chew…

Because they are new, they are trying that much harder to make their websites look better than great, often taking time-consuming steps that don’t really add that much value to the project. Then, when money starts to get low, they go after other projects without finishing what they have on their plate. The next thing they know, they are working on eight websites at one time and are avoiding phone calls and emails while staying up at all hours of the night trying to finish.

Okay, Website Dave… that’s the cheap end… what about the expensive end?

There are different reasons…

For example, my clients are professionals who enjoy working with professionals. They don’t mind paying a premium for their website, and they expect service and results. They don’t expect me to take on a bunch of other projects while I am working on theirs. I also bring on a whole lot more to the table than just building a pretty website, however, and…

…I come with a strong referral.

I have been involved with over 100 websites, and only two of them were the result of cold calling. The rest of them were because someone told someone else about me and what I do.

Another reason is