Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

How much for a website?

22 replies

getyourshoesonNOW · 21/02/2014 14:53

I need a 4 page website - something straightforward but stylish. I don't need "shopping" facilities - it's more of an advertisement for my services so will have a section about my company, a bit about me, contact details etc, plus a blog.

I have so far been quoted anything from £350 to £1800 and am completely baffled about what is a sensible price to pay. Can anyone give me an idea of what is reasonable - and can anyone recommend a designer?

Thank you

OP posts:
BellBottomBlues · 21/02/2014 15:00

It's really easy to do it yourself and then you have complete control and can add or change without paying anyone anything.

Head over to wordpress.com - it really is easy,

Countessfosco · 21/02/2014 15:09

Agree with Bellbottom. I could have written your post a month ago. I did some research and found the same as you regarding the price of this. I then decided to experiment and see if I could do on myself. I found weebly very easy to use, and I have very little computer experience except from mumsnet and Facebook! My site is basic, but feedback has been good.

MillyBlods · 21/02/2014 15:11

I find Blogger good and the designs are very attractive but you can also add your own backgrounds colours etc and its free.

BellBottomBlues · 21/02/2014 15:30

Wordpress is totally customisable - you can do it for free and be getyourshoesonNow.wordpress.com or you can pay a bit and be getyourshoesonNOW.com - and you can change everything about the design very easily.

getyourshoesonNOW · 21/02/2014 16:15

Thanks for the replies - I'll have a look at wordpress but am not very techie and not very design orientated either so I'm still inclined to pay someone to do it for me....

OP posts:
andrewthedaddy · 21/02/2014 16:18

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

BellBottomBlues · 21/02/2014 16:35

I disagree with andrewthedaddy - my site is all done with wordpress and it's lovely.

And changing the theme is simple - it can look like any of these and more

www.google.co.uk/search?q=wordpress+templates&client=ubuntu&hs=q2Z&channel=fs&gl=uk&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=AIAHU7rzOa3A7Aays4DIAg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1362&bih=628

Countessfosco · 21/02/2014 16:42

I am very very untechie and could not design my way out of a paper bag, but am happy with my website and am very very happy that I did not have to pay for it. As bellbottoms says, is really not necessary.

EEatingSoupForLunch · 23/02/2014 22:51

I was about to post this exact question so thank you OP and everyone else!

EEatingSoupForLunch · 23/02/2014 22:51

I was about to post this exact question so thank you OP and everyone else!

MuffTheMagicDragonButter · 18/03/2014 13:46

I'm redoing my website, should I get the free Wordpress one, or pay for what they describe as 'more flexibility'? I'm very like the OP, don't need shopping pages, I'm advertising my services and need about 10 pages.

SuddenlySqueamish · 19/03/2014 12:26

If you just need something simple, you can build it yourself. Like others have said, Wordpress is really simple and straight forward to use.

Blogger is easy but fairly terrible from a user point of view, and obviously you want people to be able to use your site!

I wouldn't recommend Weebly. It's drag and drop so easy to use, but again not so great from a user point of view - it has accessibility problems and not always compatible with the many devices out there.

If you want it to look professional, keep the theme simple. Look for a responsive theme to ensure compatibility with a variety of devices.

I would definitely recommend getting your own url rather than using yourname.wordpress.com and also self-hosting rather than using the Wordpress hosting as it is more flexible and you can add Plug-ins to get all the features you need for your site. If you only need a small site, hosting is fairly cheap. I use Catalyst2 on a couple of small sites as it's about £15 a year when you add in VAT. And they have great customer service. Their control panel has a one click installer for Wordpress so it's really easy to install it.

If you do want to hire a professional, for a simple 4 page site, if you are providing the copy and images, you're probably looking at around £1,000 for a good designer. Too cheap and you're getting rubbish quality work that might look alright now but will age quickly and will probably be badly built. Too expensive and they're pulling a number out of the air.

Most of the work is in the designs so it can often cost the same if you want 20 pages as if you want 4 - they still have to come up with a good design that reflects your brand and code up a template, adding extra pages in to that template is the easy part.

There are some good designers that specialise in small businesses and have rates and a friendly attitude to reflect. benjaminhawkyard.co.uk/ is really good and so is laurakalbag.com/

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

MuffTheMagicDragonButter · 19/03/2014 15:35

Thanks so much for the reply, really helpful.

I have my own URL, and currently have a Moonfruit site. Does this mean that they are currently my host? (sorry, am a bit thick on this subject).

I'm a bit scared of self hosting, but I'd feel better knowing there is good customer care.

The theme bit doesn't worry me too much, I've been looking and have seen a few simple ones I like. From a business perspective I'd rather have something clear and easy to navigate than go bells and whistles. My site is basically an online CV for me, it's to advertise my services and there will be photos of my work, but not huge amounts of text, it's not a blog site.

I've tried live demos of some themes on the Wordpress site and I like a few including this one, this one, this one and this one. I'd like to be able to change the font and some colours though, and can't work out whether that's possible. Also can't work out if there's a quick way to search for themes that are responsive.

SuddenlySqueamish · 19/03/2014 18:21

Oooh they're all lovely themes.

Moonfruit hosts your site for you too. You can also do that with Wordpress, I just find the self-hosted better.

If you're searching in the Wordpress theme directory, there is a checkbox for responsive themes. Otherwise, just searching for responsive portfolio sites will throw loads up. Most of the newer themes tend to be responsive.

Some offer easy styling options, and you get this more with self-hosted. On the Wordpress hosted sites, they charge extra for being able to tweak themes and then you end up paying as much as you would for hosting.

MuffTheMagicDragonButter · 19/03/2014 18:33

Have had a look at Catalyst2, and they have a package which seems OK for my needs, plus 1 click Wordpress download, hurrah!

Did you have a theme preference? They're all a bit unisex, and I think I'd like something a bit more feminine, but I could address that with colour I think.

SuddenlySqueamish · 19/03/2014 19:36

The Nexus one is really beautiful on the homepage but the individual pages don't show off the photo very well so if that is your main thing, you'll lose out. The portraits one seems flexible and displays images well. It's nice and clean too so it wouldn't take much tweaking to feminise it.

This one from ThemeForest (a good theme marketplace) seems to make it easy to change colours.

MuffTheMagicDragonButter · 19/03/2014 19:53

Yes, I wondered whether the Nexus one is so lovely because of the toning pictures.

Thanks for the link, I didn't realise I could buy a theme that wasn't on the WP site. Learning all the time!

I really appreciate your help. Smile

MuffTheMagicDragonButter · 19/03/2014 20:03

Ooh! I rather like this one!

SuddenlySqueamish · 20/03/2014 09:50

That is quite nice. It has a look of Windows 8/Microsoft Surface about it

MuffTheMagicDragonButter · 20/03/2014 10:31

Oh yes, good point. As a dyed in the wool Mac (ab)user I'm not sure about it now! GrinWink

ItsRainingWomen · 16/04/2014 15:33

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

poocatcherchampion · 05/05/2014 22:32

I agree with others suggesting WordPress. I've just moved to the self hosted version for one I am designing for a friend.

I've flirted with blogger, moonfruit and a few others and hated them all. and I lost a lot of my life to joomla. I'm not an expert - but am enjoying some freelancing setting up WordPress sites for others to run.

it is addictive once you get started!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page