web design question

I guess sunama isn't looking for a mutts nutts website, what he's looking for is something to help get a business off the ground and establish a web presence, for a tight budget.

That about sums it up.

I'll post up the quotes that I've had, once I accept a bid, just so others who look at this thread in the future might get an idea what Indian web developers charge.

BTW. I sent off for a request for a quote from a single Chinese company. They got back to me in good time, but quoted something that was totally ridiculous. I feel that some people in foreign countries think that those who live in the UK own money plants.
 
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Sunama, I can appreciate you're just starting out, my main question is whether a cheap website is going to be a benefit to you, or if you'd be better saving your money. We get contacted by customers sometimes who've had a site built on the cheap, it's out of date and they can't get it updated, it's nowhere in the search engines and they've barely had a single enquiry through it. It depends how you plan to use it though, as if you can put the URL on business cards, advertising etc. so people can find out more about your company, there could be benefits there. If you're doing something fairly unique, you might find it naturally finds a high position in Google and so on.

For what I would consider to be more contemporary websites, take a look at something like www.cssmania.com (if you search css galleries in Google, you'll see there hundreds more similar sites, though they often have the same sites on them - it's a useful way to get your Google page rank up ;) ). It's not just in the design though, it's the way modern sites are built, the way they use javascript/css for dynamic effects instead of flash, real text rather than images with text on them, proper structure, use of header tags etc. This kind of thing stands out to me though, to the average customer it probably wouldn't and to be fair I have seen MUCH worse than those examples you linked!

If you are going to go ahead, I presume they'll ask for some text for each page from you. When you write it, make sure you include keywords within it (what you think people would be searching for if they were looking for someone who provided your service). Don't go overboard, but it's helpful if for SEO if keywords are the text. Also I would specify what you what you want the title for each page to be (the bit that appears at the top of the browser window) as this is one of the most basic search engine opimisation techniques. Keep it short and keyword heavy (if you look through this site, you'll see when you click a product, they always have that product name as the title and one of the main reasons for doing this will be to help Overclockers be found in Google by people who want to buy that item). Once your site is up and running, try and get as many links to it as possible, this will boost your page rank which is one of the factors Google uses to decide who comes highest in a search. If you download Google toolbar, there's an option to see the pagerank of any page you're on (don't get to obsessed with rank though, it's not everything!). Finally (moving away from search engines to humans!), try to keep your text clear and to the point. People don't often read really large amounts of text, but can also be reluctant to fill in a form or give you a call if they can't find out the info they're looking for (and might instead go to a competitors site). So you want to get all the information they're likely to need through to them as thoroughly as possible, but using as little text as possible! If there are a number of elements to your site, it's often good to have a few introductory paragraphs on your homepage that they can click on for more info.

Hope this helps! :)
 
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That was a great reply; very informative and it answered a lot of questions regarding SEO (which I've asked in my other thread).

I've looked at some of the CSS websites you linked to. They do indeed look very clean and modern, however, the developers who made them, do charge a fair penny (one company was charging 1900 euros as their starter/basic/cheapest package).

I think if and when my business takes off, say a year after launch, I would certainly look to get my website redesigned from scratch by one these guys, with a budget of around £1000-£1500, however as a startup, I feel that I am making the right decision to get the job done on the cheap.

I shall keep you guys posted on how these Indian devlopers build my site and the costs involved, if only to give others an idea of how the Indian developers work with their clients.

Thank you for your help and advice Simon.
 

I'll dig out the link in the morning at work for you.

However, don't expect an amazing site (no matter what they say presales) - yes its functional, but far from designed/coded well. Not sure if itb was just the company we used, but I found it an utter choire to get updates from them and found it very hard to understand him during the one telephione call I made.
 
I think if and when my business takes off, say a year after launch, I would certainly look to get my website redesigned from scratch by one these guys, with a budget of around £1000-£1500, however as a startup, I feel that I am making the right decision to get the job done on the cheap.

I really hope you don't live to regret getting your site done on the cheap, especially as you're interested in using the website as a tool for sales and a way to represent your business on the web. Get the initial design wrong or done naff and you can give out all the wrong signals to prospective clients/customers.

Just my opinion of course :)
 
I'll dig out the link in the morning at work for you.

Thanks

I really hope you don't live to regret getting your site done on the cheap, especially as you're interested in using the website as a tool for sales and a way to represent your business on the web. Get the initial design wrong or done naff and you can give out all the wrong signals to prospective clients/customers.

Its not going to be the to the standard that I would expect if I paid £1500 to a developer in the UK. However, as we are a 2 man startup operation, we must scrimp and save at every point. Otherwise we risk going under before we have even started. So, if it is a choice between going bust in less than 2 months or surviving for longer with a lesser website, I choose the later.
 
Its not going to be the to the standard that I would expect if I paid £1500 to a developer in the UK. However, as we are a 2 man startup operation, we must scrimp and save at every point. Otherwise we risk going under before we have even started. So, if it is a choice between going bust in less than 2 months or surviving for longer with a lesser website, I choose the later.

Point taken, but we get a lot of customers/businesses at work in exactly the same boat as you (isn't everyone lately? :) )

I always use the example of simple cctv website (product catalogue, cms etc.) we did that cost the customer ~£1400. A few weeks after the site had gone live he got a order for over £3000 from a supplier. The supplier had found his site via the web, had a look and went into his store the next day to purchase.

Okay, not every site is going to have this immediate impact as ther above, but a well designed site can easily pay for itself rather quickly.
 
Right. Update time.

Working with off-shore designers is a slow going process. Its also slow because I myself, can't give them feedback fast enough as I busy with other things.

Here is the link to the latest version of the homepages.

If anyone wants to give any feedback, ideas or critique, then feel free to do so.

Right now, I'm looking to finalise the work on the homepage next Tuesday/Wednesday, with the rest of the pages to be completed within 10 days from that point.

The initial quote was about £240. Payment was via Paypal. 50% before the job, 50% after the job.

They say that the price includes upto 10 iterations/alterations/updates.

So far, they have done everything I have asked of them, without issue, but lets just see how things develop, as we introduce more pages to the website.

They also have a unique way of communicating - they have set up a website, where messaging happens. Any comments write, any files I upload, gets notified to the designers involved. So far, I am happy with this method of communicating.

I'm writing all this information, just in case someone else might want to use an off shore web developer - this will give them an idea of what is involved.
 
Ask them what parts of the site will be text and which parts images.

When I had to outsource a small site they had a tendency to cut corners and simply use an image, where there should have been text. E.g. your yellow box at the top should contain a background image and the writing to the left should be text.

Tell them to use better Anchor text than 'Home' for the menu too - maybe a well keyword for your site.

When you the site developed I'd be interested to see the HTML/CSS, as the company I used coded it pretty poorly imo.
 
Ask them what parts of the site will be text and which parts images.

When I had to outsource a small site they had a tendency to cut corners and simply use an image, where there should have been text. E.g. your yellow box at the top should contain a background image and the writing to the left should be text.

I see where you are going. The textand the photo will probably all be part of the same image. It wont be text. What advantage does your method have over using a single image?

Tell them to use better Anchor text than 'Home' for the menu too - maybe a well keyword for your site.

Or main key word would be 'Removals', but that just wouldn't work on the website.

Unless I get rid of the word 'Home' completely and have the homepage selectable by clicking the header (ie. the logo or 'London UK Removals').

I see what you mean though - modern website tend to not have the word 'Home'.

When you the site developed I'd be interested to see the HTML/CSS, as the company I used coded it pretty poorly imo.

Sure thing. Its likely they will use lots of tables and no css. For the price though, I'm not complaining.
 
[...] The initial quote was about £240. Payment was via Paypal. 50% before the job, 50% after the job.

They say that the price includes upto 10 iterations/alterations/updates.

[...]

They also have a unique way of communicating - they have set up a website, where messaging happens. Any comments write, any files I upload, gets notified to the designers involved. So far, I am happy with this method of communicating [...]
Yeah, pending a view of the code, looks like you've got yourself a generic but ostensibly usable bargain. The stock photos alone would have cost them a fair chunk of that [assuming they've been properly licensed].

EDIT: Sounds like they're using Basecamp, or an equivalent, for their communication/project management. Sensible :)
 
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I think the code is going to be full of tables. They will use shortcuts where ever possible to keep costs as low as possible. At the price though, it is to be expected.

EDIT: I just looked up basecamp software and what they are using is something very similar. The version that I saw on the basecamp website looked more advanced though. It does work. I would've hated having to do the whole thing via emails, which would've been a little tedious.
 
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The design of the site isn't exactly great, but very reasonable fro the price.
There's two things I'm kinda concerned of though.

Firstly, the company logo really needs some work. A logo is really one of the most unique identifiers to a company and therefore one of the hardest thing to change later on. In my opinion, the logo looks on par with clip-art from the office suite, and haven't got anything catchy or special about it, that would make people use your company instead of your competition.

Secondly, I'm not really fond of the font used for the company name. I would personally prefer a sans serif font, or at least something not too "times new roman" like.

That's just my two cents :)
 
I was actually thinking about doing away with the logo altogether. It depends on the overall look. As the company develops the logo can always be added on.

Another method might be to use the company name as the logo itself (something which a lot of companies do these days).

What is wrong with "Times new roman"?
 
I was actually thinking about doing away with the logo altogether. It depends on the overall look. As the company develops the logo can always be added on.

Another method might be to use the company name as the logo itself (something which a lot of companies do these days).

What is wrong with "Times new roman"?

The company name may be a bit to large for a text-logo, but otherwise that would work good for you, as text-logo CAN be a bit easier to change later on.

In my opinion "Times new roman" is too generic, and I have only seen very few examples of people putting it to use, where I didn't think: "Did they use word or something to create that?!". Because It's the standard font on many computers, and many newspapers and such use it, it just doesn't stand out at all.

That and the fact that serif fonts are generally best for longer text, because of the better longterm readability ;)
 
Anyone doing their job properly will be using ASP.NET or PHP for your form.

It's very cheap, probably some kid's pet project. Looks good tho.
 
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