Do you have a web-based business?

[cajo]

Hi, this is my first post, so hallo everyone.

I would like to ask a question of those people who have web based businesses. I have over 10 years experience as a web publisher and am trying to think of an angle to set up my own business.

One idea was to provide information architecture/ usability services to small businesses. Many agencies offer this, but usually for exorbitant prices. I was thinking of pitching to small home businesses at prices they can afford.

So my question is - is this the type of service you would consider using, and if so, what sort of price would you be prepared to pay for a consultation about an existing website, or for the architecture of a new one to be specced?

Are there any other aspects of web publishing that you would ideally like advice on, budget permitting eg. SEO, marketing etc.

Thanks very much, all input gratefully accepted.

Caz

Funnily enough, I have just been thinking about this kind of service today!

I am planning to set up my own business in about 12 months and intend to use a website as a big marketing tool. Most of my would-be competitors' websites are rubbish, so there is an opportunity to stand out.

I have been looking around on the internet today to try and find out how much it would cost me to have a website built. I already pay for hosting and most of the simple packages I have found include hosting, which is a waste of money to me. I was thinking about using something like Mr Site, but I don't need the hosting.

Ideally what I would like is someone to design a simple site for me that I could then maintain. I wouldn't want to have to pay every time I wanted to change a page or upload a new news items. In terms of price - I guess I would be looking at £200 ish. Any more than that and I would be thinking about buying Dreamweaver and trying to do it myself.

SEO would be a valuable extra.

cajo there are a few of us on Mumsnet who can offer this kind of service

giddykipper the reason MrSite (and others) offer what they do at the price they do is because everything runs on their servers without human intervention. As soon as you say you want something with some personal input, you are paying for somebody's time. Now you don't get a lot of anybody's time for £200, and if some of that time is taken up dealing with installing and supporting stuff that is installed on your server you aren't going to have a lot left for the design that adds value. Much better to let the designer host it: it will effectively cost them nothing and because everything is under their control they can spend all the time you are paying for on things that add value to your business.

... or to put it another way, you say 'most of the simple packages I have found include hosting, which is a waste of money to me'. But the hosting element of those packages is about £10 a year, so that is all you are wasting.

Mr Site is £20 per year for hosting, but I take your point. My main issue is more about the ownership of the site - if I construct something on Mr Site, then I am stuck with Mr Site. If I want to move elsewhere then I lose my website. I'm not worried per se about the installation or ongoing support, I can do that myself. It's design skills I am lacking!

I have my site through wahm.co.uk and have one of their designer stores (so I had a fair amount of input over the design but it uses a template iyswim).

"So my question is - is this the type of service you would consider using, and if so, what sort of price would you be prepared to pay for a consultation about an existing website, or for the architecture of a new one to be specced?"

Tbh I wouldn't pay for those services. Not because I don't need them or think they're important but because I just wouldn't have the funds & I don't have a huge amount of control over the website - there's lots that I can't alter on it. I also think there's always something else that takes priority - be it stock, advertising, materials, etc.

I'd be more likely to want info on SEO and marketing, but again it's probably out of my budget.