A custom website design is one that’s built from the ground up, adding and displaying anything unique to your brand. Instead of using a pre-designed framework, it’s developed from scratch, which is why it’s way more expensive than using a template web design. Depending on your business needs and the company you work with, a custom website can cost you anywhere between $2,500 and $30,000. Custom websites aren’t for everyone but if you’re considering getting one, know that it isn’t for everyone.
Why a custom website isn’t for everyone
Let’s face it; some things aren’t my thing. I like the unique designs that the internet has tested. But there is nothing wrong with writing a bespoke web design. It would help if you didn’t have to sacrifice your values, morals, or ethics to get a custom website.
I can handle spending thousands of dollars on my web design.
Some people can’t handle spending thousands of dollars on their web design. A custom website isn’t for everyone, and neither are the designers that create them. You can spend $10,000 and hire the best web designer in the world, or you can pay a web designer $50/hour and have a site created that runs smoothly. There are no hard and fast rules for hiring a web designer either. The only reason why some web designers get paid a lot and some get paid nothing is because there are just as many people who get paid nothing.
I can handle keeping a website updated and knowing the ins and outs of coding.
Coding is something I wouldn’t want to have to do. I am a college dropout and have little interest in knowing the ins and outs of coding. I know I shouldn’t have to have this knowledge, but I can’t help it. And if you can’t handle these things, then you shouldn’t be doing web design.
I can handle spending days researching keywords and analyzing the competition.
Competition isn’t something I would want to have to worry about. I can deal with it. I don’t need to know the ins and outs of keyword research. I am looking for a good web designer with a knowledge of good coding standards and HTML.
I can handle spending $2,000 to get the best design.
Now the best design is not the one you see today. All web designers try to design a site that will give the best results. But what is the average size of a client site? That is something we will come to later. Right now, we are only looking at keyword analysis.
I can handle spending $10,000 to have a site designed and get the best results.
If you can handle spending $10,000 to have a site designed and get the best results, you should hire a web designer. Most web designers can manage $10,000 quickly and can give you great results. Again the keyword analysis isn’t for everyone. There are plenty of people who can’t afford $10,000. Most of the web designers that charge $10,000 DO get the best results. And for those that get the best results, then you should hire them.
So we have covered the basics of being a good web designer. Now we have to touch on being a good person. The list of things that go into being a good person is endless. But let’s keep it simple. The list of things that go into being a good person goes into the list of some of the things we talked about in the introduction—so being a good person.
1) Understand what you are doing. If you don’t understand what you are doing, then you will get frustrated quickly. Many web designers think that just because they can create a fantastic site for their clients, they have to do it for everyone. They don’t understand how important it is to know why they are doing web design and not being a DJ at a club or a caterer. You are designing a site for one person and helping their business. So if you don’t understand what your doing helping them, please don’t do it.
2) Be a leader. Be an example to the team. If everyone does their own thing, then the whole team suffers. Be the leader and show the group how to do what you are doing. For example, in the web designing example, you should make the website layout which the client will tweak repeatedly. It is essential to be the leader and get everyone to follow the tutorial and keep the project moving forward. It will give the client and yourself a very high standard to work towards. I am not saying that you have to design the whole site or do all the work. But you should be the most qualified candidate to develop and assist the client in making the website which will give the client a very high standard to work towards.
3) If it’s working, then keep doing it. Just because you made your first million doesn’t mean that you can keep doing it. (For most web designers, it happens when they sell their company to invest in the internet). I hope you realized that not everyone is going to be a qualified web designer. Just because you know how to design websites doesn’t mean that you are qualified to design the internet blogs, the home pages of news sites, the corporate home pages of large companies, the business profiles on CNN, the website of a large company, the About pages of companies and the corporate website of a non-profit. There are vast amounts of websites on the internet for any of these things. To avoid making a lot of mistakes, you need to find the best person for designing these pages.
Now, how do you choose? Well, think about your passion for a few days. Some people design their own companies’ blogs, some people create corporate home pages, and people develop corporate home pages of large companies. How many do you want to do?
You see, the question I am asking you is this. If you want to design a significant national gas company website, how many would you like to create? Each one of them is excellent, however many of them may be over your budget. The same applies to the internet home pages. Do you want to design the business profiles on CNN for a large oil company or the corporate home pages of a non-profit? They all may be excellent and require a great deal of skill and expertise, but can you design all of them?
Think about your passion for days. The website that you would like to do may have a lot of responsibilities. You see, you must understand that the internet is a massive but ever-expanding beast. If you design the website for a large oil company and how to design websites, how many of them will be needed for the next five years? If you know how to create web pages for non-profit organizations and the national gas company, you would not have to worry about that. Therefore, choose wisely.
If you want to design the webpages for a small non-profit, you probably already know how to do it. The difference between non-profit and non-profit is in the amount of content that you would like to have on the web page and how much time you would like to dedicate to it. The beauty of it is that you have more than one opportunity to learn how to do it. You can watch videos on YouTube and learn from your mistakes. You can also ask the experts in the IRC channels how to do it. The choice is yours.
