Bespoke websites for small businesses
Bespoke design means I create something tailor-made just for you. Bespoke sites are custom-built to fit your individual needs and those of your customers, in terms of both design and function.
It could be a simple 'brochure' site – just an online presence for your business, with a few pages of information. It could be a more complex site, with many pages. It could have other features, such as a blog, a forum, or membership levels.
How does it work?
Well, first we have a chat to get to know each other a bit. You tell me about your business, and we chat about what you need, what your customers need, and things like timescale and budget. I will always be honest about what I can and can't do.
Then I will probably go away and have a think, maybe do a little research, and come back to you with some ideas and some rough numbers. If the site's fairly simple, I may be able to write you a proposal with a full quote. If it's more complex, we may need to talk a little more about what we want to build before I can give you a proper quote.
If you decide that you want to go ahead, then the first stage is a planning stage. We talk in more detail about what your customers will want to know, which tells us what information to put on the site, and we start to work out the details of what goes where. This is what us web designers like to call 'information architecture', because it's just like an architect creating a blueprint for a house. We'll plan out the structure of the site in terms of what pages and menus it will have, and what content will go on each page.
(Incidentally, it's an option to do just this stage on its own, charged separately. That can be helpful if the site is likely to be very complex, because it means that we can plan out the site before you decide if you want to hire me to build it (and of course when it's done you can take the notes from our work to another designer if you like). It's also useful when the possibilities are very open, because it would allow us to decide on a path before I give you a final quote.)
After that, I take the notes we've created, and create some wireframes. These are simple documents which show where each element will go on the page. We'll want to do one for the home page, and a content page, and for more complex sites we may want to do them for other pages too. Once the wireframes are agreed, we move onto design, and I start putting together some proofs for you to look at.
Then when all that planning work is done, I can start building the site that we've planned.
OK, but how much does it cost?
This is always one of the first questions people ask, but it's not easy to answer! That's because it's like asking 'how much does it cost to build a house?' – it depends on what kind of house you're building.
The short answer: prices for a custom-designed site built with WordPress start at around £850. More complex sites will be more – for example, a membership site with forum might be somewhere in the region of £2,500-£3,000.
The long answer: It all depends on what you need. (Ok, that was actually a shorter answer than the short answer, but if you add in our chatting time, it'll turn out much longer!) Other factors are whether you'd like extra services such as help page or help video creation, or ongoing maintenance.
The important thing to understand is that I'll always give you a clear quote before you're committed to anything.
We can also do it the other way if you like; you can tell me what your budget is, and I can tell you what we can do for that!
For smaller projects, I bill half in advance (at the point where you give me the official go-ahead to start work) and half on completion. For larger projects, it's usually a third in advance, a third after design sign-off, and a third on completion – or similar milestones. Payment terms are 30 days, but often I'll offer a discount if you're able to pay within 48 hours.
What do I do next?
If you think you might to work with me, a good place to start is to tell me a little about your business and any thoughts you already have about your website. Then we'll arrange to have a chat – we can do that by phone or by email, whatever suits you.
You can use this form right here, if you like!