Paying for a website

This is a subject I have no clue about, as I've been using free templates and blogs since I first thought I needed a website. The advantages of creating your own website is that it can be different, and no-one will have the same design as you, however the disadvantage is you have to pay for it. The cost is what I have researched.

From what I can gather, there are three groups of things you should take into account when creating a website; the type of website you want, how much you're going to have to fork out and how you can make the most out of that.

The three types of website:

Brochure/static

This type of website generally only has a few pages and the content isn't updated very often. When changes need to be made to a brochure/static website then the owner has to contact the website designer.

Ecommerce

Similar to a static website - few pages and rarely updated, but has the addition of a shopping cart, so people can shop for the products you're selling. You can make changes to the shopping cart part yourself, however if changes to the main website need to be made you, once again, have to contact the website designer.

Content driven

For businesses that are solely based on the internet. Has more pages, lots of content, driven by a complex set of coding.  This can include links, pictures, videos, social networking elements (basically, all the fancy stuff).

Examples of what you will be paying for:

(all figures in italics are a rough estimate)

• Registration of your domain name. £10-£20.
• Hosting (basically renting a space on the internet). £2.50 per month.
• The website designer. £250 a day, depending on how complicated the overall site is.
• The development of the website (HTML coding). £300-£400 a day.
• Copyrighting. Some companies chose to employ a copyrighter. £200-£300 a day.
• Images. Stock images £2-£200 or using your own images.

How to make the most of your money:

• Look at other professionals websites. See which website designer they have used and pick out features that you like. Don't copy them though. Remember you want your website to reflect your work and you as an artist - not someone else.
• Gather lots of quotes, to make sure you go with the best designer that offers the best price for the work you want doing.
• Draw up a timescale to keep yourself on track.
• Look at design packages from website template sites, as one of these could offer you what you want and is less complicated than going through a designer.
• Look at freelance designers as well as ones that work for companies.

Websites used for this research:

Smarta

Toucher