cost effective web design process

Clients and sales propects often ask me: how can you be so cheap compared to your competitors?

Let's give some pointers: the key is to identify each step of the process and address is with a different resource.

The usual process we follow for building websites at Jazar are:
1) Information architecture: how is the information going to be organised, navigation, sitemap, etc ..
2) front-end design: look and feel, html/css templates, javascript
3) backend integration: intergation to the content management system, adding specific modules (polls, shopping cart, etc .. )
4) Testing
5) release
6) finalise the build and release process for maintenance purpose

It can be a complex workflow for large websites, but depending on your expectations, a simple site should never cost more than £1000 to build (no custom development, simple information architecture, no software release process, no expensive maintenance):

step 1: Infornmation architecture
You should already know which products and/or services you want to present on your site. Just look at the way your competitors organise the information:
1) Check our their sitemap
2) Duplicate it, replace their products/services with yours
3) Try to find something which you can improve, and modify your sitemap accordingly (nothing wrong with taking copying, as long as you add 5% of your own creativity - no need to reinvent the wheel)
4) Submit the brief
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FREE

step 2: "front-end design"
You can pretty much divide this step into 3 sub categories: graphic design, html/css integration, javascript add-ons.

If you don't have staff or freelancers available, you can always use online resources:
1) graphic design: www.sitepoint.com (budget: £250)
2) html/css integration: http://www.psd2html.com (budget: £200)
3) Javascript add-ons: don't need for a simple website.
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Total: £450

Step 3: CMS integration
We typically charge £450 for CMS integration. This gives you then the ability to manage the content of your site later, without depending on us to do the work for you. We are not taking any risk here, just setting up the tool for you. No subjective output, no particular testing required, we outsource most of it, so Jazar is still making decent margins...

You end up with a site worth £900 - and you have paid £900 for it. Don't laugh - I have seen quotes ranging from £2000 up to £25000 for the same brief! The Internet is very new market, and it is challenging to really know what you buy - and it is quite challenging to know how much your website is really worth.

So, thanks to my little article, you start getting an idea about how to assess what you should pay for your website. Is it helpful? Of course it is. But the real question should be: what do you want to do with your website, and how much should you be ready to pay in order to reach your objectives?

With a £500 car, you will probably be able to go and do your shopping for a while, drive around to go and see your friends around, or even drive away for the week-end. But you'll never be able to qualify for a formula 1 race.

That's pretty much the same idea with websites - don't expect to generate many sales leads with a £900 website - you'll probably need to invest a bit more in information architecture, custom development and marketing.

Running out of time now to go through this, but will probably carry on offline (on our corporate site), since this post could turn very quickly into a sales pitch...