Replies

1. 
   RalphBarker | Nov 02, 2011 06:50pm | #1

   Web site development

   How much? $1.50 per board foot, maybe?  ;-)

   There are probably more "Web designers" than there are woodworkers these days. Plus, many hosting services provide free page-design tools. For a simple site without integrated sales functions, that might be the best way to go. You'd have to write the text and provide the photos, anyway.

2. 
   Ronaway | Nov 02, 2011 08:27pm | #2

   Once you start

   If at all possible do the web page work yourself. Whether you use the template systems provided by some companies or find some other way it means a lot to have control over your web page. It allows you to be very versatile and it also allows you to react in a short period of time when changes are needed. Otherwise you have to contact the person that does the initial work and pay them for every instance when you need to change or update. This will work well unless you need something that is more elaborate than what can be done in a template environment.

   Ron

3. 
   PSeverin | Nov 03, 2011 03:39pm | #3

   More than you want to spend.

   I guess that $500 at a minimum and $5,000 if you really get caught up in it.  It is a lot of money.   but watching my partner put together a web site for us was painful and probably  cost $1,000 for the software, an infernal Adobe product that is way too complex for any normal human being.

   I too would suggest that you buy one of the cheap software packages and have a go at it.  Better to have something up then to wait to perfect the most beautiful perfectly designed web site.  

   One of the issues you will face if you hire someone is you will have to hire them again when you want to change something.  It's hard to keep up.

   And don't forget to get the copyrights for your domain name or a year from now you will be buying the right to use your own name from some group in China.

   Peter

4. 
   lwilliams | Nov 03, 2011 07:43pm | #4

   Be aware that some hosts who provide  web site software actually own the content of your site. You can't move it without starting completely over.

   I get a lot of requests for "donations" or "discounts" or even trades for my labor. I've always come out on the losing end of these things. Donations to worthy non-profits are one thing but the others have never worked for me. Web designers are like woodworkers, some skilled and others not so much. Some want to load a web site with gimmicks that are only cumbersome for the site visitor. Find someone good and keep it simple. Pay them their rate--it's okay, it's how they feed their family. Don't buy into all the "search engine" ranking or optimization nonsense. You want quality traffic, not volume unless you're trying to sell advertising on your site.

   In the 15 years we've had a web site, I've learned a lot but the guy who hosts and maintains our web site is worth every cent we pay and more.

1. 
   RalphBarker | Nov 04, 2011 11:08am | #6

   hosting and ownership

   Good point about host-provided design tools, Larry. Proprietary tools can mean that you're locked into the hosting service. Even domain registration can get sticky, depending on the reliability of the registrar one selects.

   As to "search engine optimization" - I think a good portion of that issue depends on the marketing plan and the target audience. In your case, for example, you can easily participate on various woodworking forums and include the URL for your site, thus reaching a large percentage of potential customers. To reach the general public, however, search engine optimization becomes more important. Having a consultant, as you do, who keeps up on what is working (it changes all the time) can be a key factor in the success of the site.

5. 
   RalphBarker | Nov 04, 2011 10:58am | #5

   "But what should that price be???"

   For a relatively simple site, 20-40 hours might be a reasonable estimate of the effort involved. At $25/hour, that works out to be $500-$1,000.

   If you provide the Web weenie with a design structure to begin with (a flow diagram of the pages you want, and the associated text and images), things will go much faster. It also helps to define your target audience in advance. In theory, a site should be designed to fit with the preferences and degree of sophistication of the target audience. In many cases, however, Web designers tend to compete with each other at a technical level, all of which tends to get in the way of practical site navigation.

   Note that commercial design software, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, MS FrontPage, etc., add a significant amount of page "overhead" - stuff that has to be downloaded by the viewer's browser and interpreted each time the page is accessed. That slows down the site's responsiveness. For simple pages, straight HTML operates much faster, and can be created using an inexpensive HTML editor, like CoffeeCup (http://www.coffeecup.com/).