Website Design

CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
edited June 2013 in Internet & Media
One of my former students has created a website for his work on lobbying for animal rights. He is working with PETA and an animal rights lawyer and they are wanting to move the site that he created using Wix.com to a paid hosting site like GoDaddy (since they already have a GoDaddy account for their email services.) Part of this is that they would like the site to be slightly redesigned and they are looking for a web designer to do such things. Since he was my student he suggested that I be considered for this and has asked what I would charge to redesign the site. Since I've never done any paid web design I have no idea what to even suggest as a price for this service. Have any of you done professional web design before, and if so what is a good ballpark to offer?

The site that they want me to redesign is here: http://lobbyforanimals.org/

Comments

  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    You could not pay me enough money to ever deal with GoDaddy's shit of a service. It's not hosting, it's a cardboard box with an Ethernet cable and a lemur at the controls.
    RyanMMardichoke
  • JBoogalooJBoogaloo This too shall pass... Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    It's really on you, honestly. There's no real standard (that I've seen) when it comes to designing websites, animations, art commissions, etc...
    The way I would personally approach it (as I've had for a few projects a while back):

    I usually have a pretty extensive internal conversation with myself about complexity of project, friend or company, interest in job, etc...

    My math factors all the above in. But, my approach is basically this:

    A1) All elements of work broken down into what's needed: (image creation, backgrounds, etc...)
    A2) How much per day per element: (basically how many of what element of work is needed)
    A3) How many days to complete each element: (how much of the above can I complete per day)

    1: Direct Cost/Day: Dependent on who I'm working for (bigger client warrants a bit more money)
    2: Overhead/Day: (Direct Cost * .1)
    3: Profit/Day: (Overhead + Direct cost) * .2

    Total per element: (Direct cost + Overhead + Profit) * A3

    Just my view. Maybe that helps?
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    Lincoln said:

    You could not pay me enough money to ever deal with GoDaddy's shit of a service. It's not hosting, it's a cardboard box with an Ethernet cable and a lemur at the controls.

    OK. Well that's what they are using right now. I am open to suggestions as to better options. A site that would offer web hosting with integrated email services would be fantastic.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    CrazyJoe said:

    Lincoln said:

    You could not pay me enough money to ever deal with GoDaddy's shit of a service. It's not hosting, it's a cardboard box with an Ethernet cable and a lemur at the controls.

    OK. Well that's what they are using right now. I am open to suggestions as to better options. A site that would offer web hosting with integrated email services would be fantastic.
    GoDaddy, according to Lincoln, is junk. It is commodity site hosting, but the competition has forced Go Daddy to grow up a bit. It is not suitable for a major site, but even their basic commodity hosting is enough for smaller sites with email included. The reason it is not suitable for a major site or a commercial site, is twofold-- site integrity is limited, they backup only weekly for the basic site hosting and have a single data center; and they do not offer a backup image for remote from data center use use, backups are roll-your-own. Second, for a high-graphics site, basic hosting is limited to 100 GB right now, they increased it from 10 GB a while back for basic hosting.

    For what Lincoln admins, Go Daddy would be out, but for my tiny site, they are cheap and answer basic tech needs for a knowledgeable person to roll some fo the stuff himself or herself. I have remote backups here, though.

    1 And 1 has a good rep and uses more than one data center, and Lincoln might recommend Liquidweb. Keep in mind that Liquidweb is better for folks wanting their own server, AFAIK they exclusively do servers non-shared, and price accordingly, though @primesuspect has told me that is what he recommends in the past.

    That's my limited two cents worth.

  • When I ran a webdesign/webhosting gig I would base all quotes on my hourly estimates.

    As an example for this, I would think:
    You will spend around 5-10 hours communicating with them about what they want, going over revisions, etc.
    You will then spend 20-40 hours doing designs/developing.
    Always use the upper end of your estimates.
    So 50 hours + 15 hours because something always happens/they want more than what they ask for to begin with.

    Multiply 65 by what you want your hourly pay to be on this, and there is what I would charge them.
    I have sample contracts if you want to use one, which I would recommend.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    1and1.com
    GHoosdum
  • CantiCanti =/= smalltime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9K18CGEeiI&feature=related Icrontian
    Lincoln said:

    You could not pay me enough money to ever deal with GoDaddy's shit of a service. It's not hosting, it's a cardboard box with an Ethernet cable and a lemur at the controls.

    I fucking new I should have got a patent for that idea.
    RyanFodderRahnalH102primesuspect
  • NullenVoydNullenVoyd Orlandish Icrontian
    On a side-note, wouldn't putting an animal rights website on a host who's CEO hunts elephants, a bit of a... whats the word/phrase?
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    Probaby, but like I said, they already use GoDaddy, so we will most likely continue to use them as the account already exists.
  • MiracleManSMiracleManS Chambersburg, PA Icrontian
    In the cost department, A Small Orange is pretty good. It's what I used for my dad's hosting. No complaints so far.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    CrazyJoe said:

    we will most likely continue to use them as the account already exists.

    This is the second time I've seen this argument in the past month, and it's completely insane. The labor of typing in billing info for 5 minutes trumps getting a host that isn't literally one of the worst companies on the planet? It beggars belief.
    JBoogaloo
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    I can suggest a different hosting site but as it's not my account I can only make the suggestion. What would you recommend? If there was one that had a good integrated web builder (so that my former student could maintain the website easily once it has been created) that would be even better.
  • I would go HostGator for standard LAMP hosting (email/dns/web builder/etc included). That was my choice for the last 10 years and what I resold when I was in "the biz."
    Wordpress Engine if you want to go the WP route.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    I've started using asmallorange on miraclemans' suggestion.
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    1and1.com
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    Lincoln said:

    CrazyJoe said:

    we will most likely continue to use them as the account already exists.

    This is the second time I've seen this argument in the past month, and it's completely insane. The labor of typing in billing info for 5 minutes trumps getting a host that isn't literally one of the worst companies on the planet? It beggars belief.
    Don't you know? 99% of all good decisions use 'momentum' as the deciding factor.
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    CB said:

    Lincoln said:

    CrazyJoe said:

    we will most likely continue to use them as the account already exists.

    This is the second time I've seen this argument in the past month, and it's completely insane. The labor of typing in billing info for 5 minutes trumps getting a host that isn't literally one of the worst companies on the planet? It beggars belief.
    Don't you know? 99% of all good decisions use 'momentum' as the deciding factor.
    sunk cost fallacy much?
  • BLuKnightBLuKnight Lehi, UT Icrontian
    I've been quite happy with webfaction; nice think is, there are lots of quality hosts out there.

    As for what to charge, I think @PirateNinja did a great job. The only thing I would add, be sure to put together a short document which outlines what the project is and what it is not. This should accompany your hourly rate and your overall estimate. I also recommend that you highlight that this is an estimate and if the customer changes the scope of the project, that the actual hours may need to be increased.

    Don't be afraid to stand up for what you're asking for. Remember, your time is valuable. If you don't value it, then your customer(s) won't value it either.

    Last item. Communication is very important. Most of my work is back end processing, so customers don't always see what I'm working on until close to the QA portion of the project. For projects that are 50+ hours, I highly recommend sending a report (every 1 or 2 weeks) to outline what work you've done and the hours used. This prevents any surprises where you may need to justify that your original estimate wasn't sufficient for various reasons. Also, plan to meet with the customer periodically to get feedback on design and functionality. (Gah! Can't get the Agiles out of my brains!)

    You'll do awesome. Good luck!
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