David Boggitt Website Design - David Boggitt Website Design David Boggitt Website Design

So what will this cost?

I thought you might be interested! The overall cost of the website can be broken down into the following parts:

buying the template, which controls the look and feel of the site
the purchase of any commercial extensions, depending on what you want to achieve with your site
building the site - my time to create the site which will of course depend on the complexity
going live: purchasing your domain name and the cost of hosting the website

Each of these points is expanded upon below. If you have any questions, simply get in touch.

The Template

The starting point of the sites I design is an out-of-the-box template, designed by professional companies such as YOOtheme, RocketTheme and Bulletproof Templates. Sometimes the templates can be bought as a one-off and sometimes they can only be purchased as part of a 'club membership'. However, your chosen template will almost certainly cost at most £30 and there are literally hundreds to choose from.

Not only are these template designs are slick and colorful, they have other unseen attributes that are just as important:

they are standards compliant (which makes them friendly to search engines)
they are extremely versatile
they look professional, polished, cool and colourful

Some of these templates have built-in colour alternatives, but some do not. If you like the template, but want it in a different colour, this can be done but will normally cost between £150 - £250; It is not a simple a job as changing a couple of settings... people do underestimate how important the look and feel of their website is to them... how much you choose to spend will really depend on your budget.

If none of the templates fit your requirements or you simply prefer a bespoke design, I can recommend companies to undertake a graphic design for you. Please be warned though, this is rarely cheap and you will almost certainly be looking upwards of £1000.

Commercial Extensions

Extensions are essentially 'mini-programs' that add extra functionality to your website (e.g. a slideshow, a calendar, a forum, ...).

Many of them are free, but some are not and these are referred to as commercial extensions and they are usually those that add more complicated functionality (e-commerce, for example) to your site.

The price of the extension may vary slightly, as they are often created by foreign developers and the precise cost varies according to exchange rate at the time of purchase!

There are so many of these extensions, that I would advise you to get in touch and talk about your requirements - in this way I can better advise you on how much your website is likely to cost.

Building The Web Site

First of all, get in touch. We'll have a chat about what you want on your site and perhaps talk about other sites that you like the look of. The better picture you have in your mind of your requirements, then not only will you have a good idea of what you want, but so will I. I will then send you an initial estimate of how roughly much I think the project will cost.

We can then either meet up or have another chat on the phone/email to go through any further questions you may have.After this meeting, I will create a proposal that will also include a firm quote. This quote will be complete and there are no hidden costs.

If you are happy to go ahead, then I will send you a contract. You can review the terms and conditions here. If you do not like anything in there, then let me know. I am open and flexible and I want you to be a happy and confident customer.

A basic site is not as expensive as you may think: with an out-of-the-box template, you could go from a zero web presence to a professional site for as little as £199.

Going Live With Your Site

If you want a website up and running, you will need a domain name and a hosting package.

I use the company UK2 for all domain registration and hosting - they are reasonably priced, offer a great service and are extremely quick with technical support. I have used several companies in the past and UK2 have been the best by far!

Domain Name

This is the name of your website (e.g. www.davidboggitt.com). First, the domain has to be free to purchase. You can check this on the UK2 website by clicking here (the prices for annual registration are also on this page).

Hosting Package

The hosting package you choose will depend much on the size of your site and how much web traffic you think might pass through it.

The cheapest option is shared hosting. You will use my UK2 shared hosting account for a payment of £20 per annum. A number of websites reside on the same web server connected to the Internet, with each site sitting in its own partition. You will also get one email address (though you can buy more from the hosting company).

Next, there is the 'Home' hosting package offered by UK2. This will cost £3.95 + VAT per month payable to UK2) and offers the benefits of having your own server, one free domain name and 50 free email addresses.

Finally, there is the 'Business' hosting package offered by UK2. This will cost £9.95 + VAT per month (payable to UK2) and offers the benefits of having your own server, three free domain names, effectively no limit on bandwidth and traffic to your site and 1000 free email addresses.

Once again, if you have any questions, simply get in touch. Please note that the UK2 prices are correct at the time of writing and are subject to change. Please check the UK2 website for current prices.