This article explains you the basic steps and the price ranges if you hire a Web professional to realize and maintain your Website.
If a single Web professional realizes Websites, he/she has to have the knowledge of at least three specialists, namely the Webmaster, the Web designer and the Web developer. You find more information about these three specialists at the end of this article.
Use the guidelines below to choose your Web professional in order to get your nice, personalized and affordable Website.
First you have to define the details about your future Website, like the amount of pages, the text, the navigation menu structure, the additional stuff like photos, slide shows, etc.
- A static Website with about 6 pages is available from 600 $ to 2000 $
- If you want to add a shopping cart, a member area or other dynamic elements, the prize will probably increase
Then you choose your domain name and the hosting. For more details see my article Website and blog guidelines.
- A domain name is available from 8.00 $ to 16.00 $ / year
- Hosting is available from 70 € to 240 $ / year
The next step is to sign the contract for creating your Website with the Web professional.
A short contract is mostly sufficient. It covers the relation between the customer and the Web professional.
Some basic contract terms are :
- the duties of both partners
- the lifetime of the contract
- the amount and conditions of payment
- the ownership of the Website
- the conditions for canceling the contract
- the competent court in case of legal problems
Now the Web professional starts creating your Website. Usually he/she reports the development status to you on a regular basis.
When the Web professional has completed the Website, he/she will check all the details with you. If both parties agree, you pay the rest of the amount mentioned in the contract.
The ownership of the Website will be transfered to you. This is the ending of the contract.
The annual recurring costs for the Web server and the domain name you pay to the Web professional or to the hosting company.
If you wish further modifications, this service will usually be payed on a hourly basis.
Basic SEO
SEO means Search Engine Optimization. Search engine optimization is about trying to rank higher in search engines like Google.
A basic service of a Web professional is to add a so called sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools. This gives Google a better understanding of your Website. If everything on the Website is configured correctly, the Website will have a better ranking.
An additional service is to add a Website to Google Analytics. The Web professional can now analyze the performance of the Website and the interaction with visitors. In order to use Google Analytics effectively, the Web professional has to monitor and analyze the data on a regular basis, this generates additional costs for the customer.
More information about…
…Webmaster
The Webmaster or Website administrator is a person responsible for maintaining one or many Websites. The Webmaster is also the person who realizes minor changes on Websites. Other tasks are monitoring Websites in order to detect anomalies, security problems, etc. The Webmaster is also responsible for updates.
…Web designer
The Web designer is planning and creating a Website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by a Web designer to produce the Web pages. A Web designer utilizes markup languages, most notably HTML for structure and CSS for presentation as well as JavaScript to add interactivity to Web pages.
…Web developer
Web development usually refers to the non-design aspects of building Websites. They are programmers using a server side programming language like PHP in order to add functionalities to the Website. These functionalities can be a login mechanism, a form check, a shopping cart, etc.
The same article in French
nice overview, make things more clear.
thank you !!! If you have questions shoot an e-mail.