[webproducers] Re: cost to create a website?

On Jan 21, 2004, at 7:32 AM, Ari Feldman wrote:

> 1) i run the web department of a not-for-profit trade group.
> this in itself implies scarcity of resources yet not devoid of
> money (for the execs who run it!).

That's a whole different animal in itself. Typically, not-for-profit is 
about 1/2 the price of the real world. Agencies, software companies, 
etc. typically give them a reduced rate. So, that's needs to be kept in 
mind.

> my web budget is about $8500 for the year[...]

That's crazy. Low for even a not-for-profit. But if you can get it done 
and you're satisfied with the results, then good for you ;).

> although the project is still a work in progress, the design is
> now all but done and will probably be on budget[...]

Probably, but not likely. You are correct that if you do your homework 
and write a solid creative brief, requirements, etc. upfront, you can 
short-cut some costs (e.g. rework, additional edits, time, keep the 
project on budget on time). Additionally, if you're willing to do the 
content creation, production and some additional work, then you can cut 
the budget a bit more.

> 3) HTML is not rocket science. there are high school kids who
> can generate very clean code. thus, it can be done very cheaply [...]

Careful. It's not rocket science, but I would never trust a real site 
to a high school kid. There are  lot of little nuances in HTML 
(CSS/XHTML) that these "kids" won't know. Likewise, there's semantic 
coding and other things that will increase speed and search engine 
placement that these "kids" won't know.

> in my case, the company is fortunate enough for me to be
> salaried and experienced enough in other disciplines to take
> care of issues like discoveries, information architecure,
> front/end backend production, technical implementation and
> content updates.

Hmm. With all due respect, makes me a bit skeptical.

Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
User Experience Architect
MessageFirst | making products easier to use
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