I've seen a lot of web design and here's how I think the market breaks down.
There are web designers who come from a graphic design perspective. They will provide a great looking site and maybe it will be different and exciting, but that comes at a price .. the more unusual a website is the harder it is to use, and in the end that turns people off. I think functionality and usability are the most important things and that this type of website is easy to sell but in the end isn't satisfying.
There are web designers who taught themselves during the Internet Revolution / boom years when there just wasn't time to really study and everyone learned on the fly. They are very likely to be great at HTML (the 'language' that a website is written in) because they lived through the incompatibility years before standards were properly developed when it was a real struggle to get websites to work on inconsistent browsers. So a website created by this group will look nice and also adhere to standards, which means unlike the above group, it will display well regardless of the equipment the user uses to browse the Internet.
Another group is much more technical. These are people who have a deep knowledge of databases and programming and can make computers do things that are really special, but are often graphically inept. They are often referred to as working on the 'back end'. That's not rude, it's just they work behind the scenes making it all work. The 'front end' is the software you, the customer, sees.
Remember when Federal Express made parcel tracking visible on its website and everyone suddenly woke up to the power of the Internet? Think of Amazon with all its personalisation functions, the wish list and so on. What you see is the top layer of a heap of programming. If you want a site that's really interesting, you need this deep technical functionality working at the back of your site. Programming makes your site do things .. now that's exciting.
I think I'm probably 50% programmer, 30% HTML revolutionary and 20% graphic designer. Much of my degree (Internet Computing BSc Hons, first class) was about core computing principles. My third year project was to predict share prices using artificial intelligence, so I can get very deep indeed.
I am keen on HTML standards and on giving you a website that is verified against standards because then we can be confident it will display properly in the majority of situations. I also love graphic design, although I've not officially been trained in that (I've trained myself), and I love marketing which I have over a decade of experience in. It's rare to find the mixture I offer.
It's easy to say, without thinking, that you want something that looks good. The thing is, after the first impression, what then? Are you offering the customer something they'll come back for, or will you be spending all your development budget on looks without any substance? Visual design is our natural language so it's easy to imagine the look of a site, but much difficult to imagine what a site could be with good programming. It's worth it though. Differentiation is important to business success.
As an example, a retro clothes shop seems simple enough .. let people browse clothes, add them to a basket and buy. That's what people would normally do. But a little thought would reveal that people want to be able to register their size, perhaps the era they enjoy, maybe their eye or hair colour. Then they want you to email them every time you have something they'd like. If you do this before your competitors do, your marketing costs will drop and you'll build yourself a real asset. That's what programming and a little marketing vision can do. A talk with me to discuss these possibilities is free of charge .. so get in touch.
Anything between nothing and whatever you like, but normally in the hundreds of pounds for a simple site, in the thousands for something more sophisticated and database driven, and in the tens of thousands for something that really leads its market.
I'm happy to put together a detailed estimate once we've discussed what you want, and since everything is custom built we can adjust everything to fit your budget and timescale.
One thing I can guarantee, though, is that my pricing will be fair. I regularly check my prices against market rates and base my rates on the average. Three years ago, at the end of my degree, I benchmarked my productivity against the average and found myself to be slightly above average. Now that I'm more experienced I'm much more effective. So you're getting someone who is more effective than average for the average going rate. That sounds like a good deal to me.
This is really the same question in a different form. It depends on the sophistication of the website. I've created a website within three days and I've worked on websites and with clients for three years or more .. there's always something to do.
Generally I'd slot you into a timeslot .. a predictable number of hours per week .. and from that we can estimate when the project will be complete.
It includes whatever you want, with a sprinkling of what I advise. It includes, if you wish:
a new domain name (eg. yourname.co.uk)
hosting
email addresses
writing content
photography
graphic design
programming
statistics
search engine optimisation and keyword analysis
You can update your website yourself either through forms or I'll teach you how to do it directly or I'll do it for you. I'll maintain and improve your existing website. We can set up a shop with online payment. We can run online advertising and marketing .. marketing consultancy used to be my profession.
Actually, not a lot. Asking me for a clean slate design is one way to evaluate what I can offer. If you're happy for me to make all the decisions (and many people are), I'm happy to propose a solution for you and, if you are then comfortable that I understand your business and know what you need we can proceed on that basis.
Of course, if you can provide materials such as logo, photographs, text (perhaps video and sound if the application requires it), and most importantly, knowledge of your business and market, then between us we can design something even better.
You will also need to put aside some time for project management, reviewing progress and answering questions as they come up.
When I look at your key phrases as part of search engine optimisation (working to raise your profile in the search engines), I generally compare the supply and demand with other markets, so I can advise you early on, if not right up front, whether your venture is in a highly competitive market or, ideally, a high demand, low supply space. I can help you identify such markets.
The nearer the top of your market you get, the more successful you will be, so success is about defining your market well and marshalling your resources to get to the top. Being an also-ran isn't a terribly good marketing idea. Luckily, using me, you can be number one, so get in touch.