Welcome to Crittersoup.com

How Much is a Website?

I have been asked this so many times I have lost count! Think of a Website like you think of a car: what features does it have? The first thing I ask a client about are the Features. A basic site, with very few bells and whistles, costs between $200 and $1000. Wow, that's a big deffierence! Let me explain the differences:

1. $200 Website: You get what you pay for. How far can you go in a $200 car? If you have been quoted a very low fee, such as $200 - $500, what are you getting? Please be careful here! So many times I have seen a so-called Web Master undercut a true Designer. What their game is, is to do a quick few pages and they even include the Domain name and the Host. Wow, doesn't that sound nice? Yeah right, read on... Well, they get the Domain name for you and they own the name! You don't own anything! Then, they hold you hostage and charge out the wazoo for updates. You have to pay them, or you have to let go of the whole kit-n-kaboodle! I am not kidding!

2. About $800 - $1000: In this range, you can get a nice, static site. It will consist of maybe 10 pages or so and it might also include the Hosting. For many people, this is sufficient. Now, the same exact site will cost more in the big city. They have a higher overhead then a Designer that works from home.

3. Greater than $1000: If you have lots of pages or lots of images, you are looking at more than $1000. Also, if you have a lot of products and you need a database, the price can increase dramatically. Normally, for a data-driven website, you are looking at around $4000, easily. Go to the big city and it will be double! There is so much work involved and technical know-how. It has taken me years to perfect it. For example, there are a lot of people that want a social networking site these days. You can post things, and see them immediately appear. How does it do that! Lots of programming and a database on the backend to hold it all. To build a basic social networking site, you are looking at $20,000. I am not kidding! So much more goes on behind the scenes than you know! Making the page pretty is easy. Making the page work is a whole different ball game.

Now what do I do?

By now, you should have a better understanding of what is involved with getting your business online. It is now time for you to make a choice: Do you Build it Yourself or Find a Designer?