Jun 05, 2012
When I first began my web development career back in 2000, you almost always needed to hire a web designer in order to develop a website. Even the choices between online tools and software had a high learning curve so you were stuck with either learning how to do it yourself or hire someone to assist you.
Thanks to content management systems (CMS) we now have more choices than ever. Do-It-Yourself development ranges from free to low cost solutions, from simple menus to complicated backend control systems. What solution you choose greatly depends on your budget, expertise and how hands-on you wish to be.
Here are a few web development ideas for any budget:
Low Budget Web Design
- hire a friend
- hire a student
- hire a new web designer wanting to establish his/her portfolio
- choose a free CMS with free premade themes and plugins
- do-it-yourself with online website builders
- do-it-yourself with computer programs such as Dreamweaver or another WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor
- one page landers with upsells and call to actions
- sometimes your ISP will provide a free website with your plan
Medium Budget Web Design
- CMS/custom hybrid (example: custom theme or perhaps a custom plugin). Hire a web developer to customize within your budget.
High Budget Web Design
- hire a company with a team
- hire an experienced freelancer
- ask qualified individuals or companies for proposals
How you determine how much to spend depends on how custom you need your site to be. As a general rule of thumb: the more competition you expect, the more branding you need. The more branding you need, the more custom work a project requires. The more custom web development work, the bigger budget you should expect to have and so on.
If you think outside the box web development doesn’t need to be expensive or elaborate as shown on sleepyti.me. The site is one of the simplest sites I have seen yet has been shared numerous times which goes to show you that sometimes the most beautiful and effective websites are simplistic by design and budget.
Your web developer should be able to offer you a solution for any budget you have but be aware that some individuals or companies only work within specified budget ranges. Always let your developer know your budget range and be open about what you are working with.
Creative thinking and planning go a long way therefore take your time to plan, brainstorm and dream, no matter what your budget.
What's your opinion? Join the Discussion! Leave a Comment
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Your assessment of the different tiers is pretty accurate. I think an important factor that many people looking to cut costs in web design is time and quality.
The cheaper solutions usually require more time from the customer (or yourself) and the results tend to look like a site made by an amateur.
Too often I have seen someone go to a Do It Yourself solution and then ruin their brand from a poorly designed website. If you really need to cut costs I recommend the “new web designer” approach and hope that you found someone that actually knows what they are doing. The CMS solution is what I usually recommend to people.
@Harrison:
I usually tell people they can either spend time or money on web development.
The CMS solution is great. WordPress/Joomla/etc has grown up over the years and gives the user almost total control. Very good solution for those not only looking to save a little money but for general management as well.