Golf Website Designer Needed

[AlchemyGolf]

I have just designed my own website myself but realise in time i will need a professionally designed site to be successful.

I have had a quote from a friend for £1000 and he is very good.

Is this a good price?

Can anybody offer a possible alternative or advice!

 

[TonyN]

Come on Pal do us a favour.

 

[AlchemyGolf]

i am genuinely asking for help.

 

[surefire]

Depends on the spec of a site.

For a one page html 'Business card' that would be criminal, for something with a very active back end (ooo err!) that would be a bargain.

Also depends what is included?
Domain names? Hosting? SEO? Support?

 

[Toad]

Lots of software out there to help you produce a good site.
Another alternative is to contact a web hosting site they may be able to sort you out with some templates to get you started.
It does get easier after a while I have done a few for some mates but does take a lot of time to build one from scratch.

 

[TonyN]

Thats what the out of bounds section is for! :thumbs:

 

[AlchemyGolf]

Sorry Tony did not realise the out of bounds.

I will post it there now!!!!!!!!

 

[AlchemyGolf]

Toad

I am working on getting it looking better this week and I know I can improve it but i am with 1and1 hosting and there design webbuilder seems limited as in getting plenty of images on the pages which all good sites have.

 

[AlchemyGolf]

Surefire

£1000 is for everything, not just design but for all SEO,google adwords,tags,checkout etc.

All i will need to do is update my items and add keywords for those items.

 

[Cernunnos]

Though not quite as user friendly as it was, you could try putting one together, using Freewebs

http://members.freewebs.com/

Loads of different styles already written etc. Have used it in the past to put together websites for rock bands.

 

[surefire]

If that truly is for everything it sounds like a bit of an amazing price!

Is your friend outsourcing it anywhere?

Make sure before you go with anyone that you have a proper spec written up so you know exactly what you are getting and your friend\development company know exactly what they are providing.

On the subject of hosting I would avoid 1and1 like the plague. They spend more money on 8 page advertisements in the centre of computer magazines than they do on their technology and customer service.

 

[AlchemyGolf]

Jeez
No one has a good word about 1and1.

Feel like im beyond the point of no return with them now though having put so much work into this.

 

[toyboy54]

TonyN...This picture would'nt be your new lovely irons,would it? you shameless hussy!

 

[TonyN]

Hell yeaaah

 

[surefire]

If you can get away from 1and1 do it.
Also if your friend picked them for you, I would seriously consider going elsewhere for design.

Also the price sounds very cheap considering it contains a checkout. Make sure your friend is using SSL and find out who he is getting to verify the certificates. Security when handling financial transactions is very important.

 

[muttleee]

If you're doing a full e-commerce site, you really should get it done professionally, which will unfortunately cost you a lot more than £1,000. However, if your mate does it and the site crashes and goes offline for even a few hours, will he reimburse you for lost sales?? Pro designers have insurance to cover themselves for that sort of thing but I would guess your mate doesn't.

I've put together a couple of sites in my time but only what you might call "brochure" sites that contain a lot of information but no e-commerce functionality.

A friend of mine asked me about building a golf ecommerce site recently but even though it would be interesting to get involved, I wouldn't take on that sort of risk on an amateur basis.

 

[AlchemyGolf]

My friend earns his living from web design, he works for himself,owning his own company.

He has done a lot of ecommerce sites for regular customers.

To give you an idea of his pedigree he has just done a site for a WRC world Rally driver.

From the general posts im thinking I should jump all over his offer of doing it for a grand.

 

[surefire]

As long as what he is offering is really what you want, then jump all over the offer. The only thing to be careful of is if something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is.

Usually for a full e-commerce website you're looking between £5-10k minimum with the sky being the limit depending on how much functionality you want.

Most self employed web developers aren't interested in less than £200 a day, so I would imagine your friend is looking at a weeks work, maybe 2 if he is being generous to you. Is this the timescale he has specified. Will everything you want be possible to do in this time?

In case you are wondering where I am coming from, I am currently the director of a software development company. I used to actually develop software and websites myself, but now just run things. I still occasionally do work for friends and family and personal fun stuff.

Disclaimer:
I am just giving you advice to help, so please don't take it the wrong way. Also please don't think I am trying to poach the work for my company! I have enough on my plate already at the moment, but am happy to give advice to fellow members of this message board.

 

[AlchemyGolf]

surefire
no need for disclaimer.

I appreciate any help or advice i can get.

 

[Renton]

My misses designs websites.
She just billed £1200 for what she considers to be a simple 10ish page effort.

A lot of the price will depend on whether your chosen web person is doing a totally bespoke look to match your brand identity, or whether you're happy with a 'template' job - which you certainly shouldn't be paying 4 figures for. Programs like Rapid Weaver come with a bunch of template sites ready written - you just add copy and pictures, do a few tweeks and bingo...