Just starting out as a sole practitioner
Need a website but been quoted £750. I have seen the web sites the designers have created for other accountants and it is impressive
Only require a basic website that looks nice and has around 5 pages
Just wondered if the price seems reasonable.
Replies (30)
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Definitely
That definitely seems reasonable to me.
What about ongoing costs for maintenance? Or is this something you would carry out yourself?
Wordpress
If you're a little techy, Wordpress is a great option as it's not that expensive per year (around $18 a year for your own domain name) and you can get someone to spruce it up/maintain it for you for far less than £750.
But if you want to go down another route (and get loads more support) PracticeWEB is a good option.
Sounds reasonable to me
I would say that for a high quality basic website any price under £1,000 is reasonable.
As JCresswellTax says, check for on-going maintenance and hosting costs though.
My dad had a 5 page website built for his business which cost £650.00
This included domain name, 12 months hosting, Facebook page set-up (inc full logo design) and 250 business cards which were very good quality.
If you PM me, I'd be happy to send you a link.
Agree
A good quality site for under £1,000 sounds very reasonable.
I'm paying roughly £1,200 for a 7 page website to be implemented soon, linking to Facebook and Twitter, as well as having it optimised for mobile devices
Mine is based on Wordpress and the annual running costs are not high.
As has already been suggested, you can't look at the up-front setup charge in isolation. You have to look at it in conjunction with the ongoing monthly hosting charge - and indeed how future amendments and updates are charged for (if at all).
At one extreme, there are companies that will design your website for free if you sign up for "x" months of hosting charges at £y per month. In addition "y" will be higher if you want future updates to be free, and lower if you are happy to pay for future updates.
Wordpress with copy
Basic ish WP site with copy came in at £500 I believe. It was a young girl going through a bit of a learning curve but she did a fantastic job in my opinion and represented great value for money.
Feel free to get ion touch if you want her details for a quote or whatever.
Built mine myself using wordpress, it's really easy and despite the fact I consider myself technically savvy, website and hosting was one of my weaker points. All in all it took around 2 months on and off.
Key is surely being noticed not cost
Am currently reading a book on how to get a website up the list on Google without using black hat methods.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization )
If the purpose of the site is new business then a high listing combined with content is surely key, you can have the best content in the world but if nobody looks at it then what is the point.
Rather than concentrate on cost I would be asking prospective website developers how they intend to design the site to increase its Google profile without using black hat methods that can come back to bite you later.
I intend to try to create my own site once I have done a bit more reading, however I will have my son (A graduate software developer) for the bits I don't really understand.
I don't see it as a one off cost...but then by that I don't mean expect to pay a lot for hosting etc.
For a basic but decent 5 page brochure site, £750 isn't excessive. Hosting costs should be fairly negligible, maintenance - up to you.
However you'll likely find that no matter how good your website is when first created, in a couple of years it'll likely look quite dated. That doesn't in anyway mean your designer did a bad job, just that things move on. 32" CRT TVs were awesome a decade ago but would be laughed at now.
The above is even before considering the fact that over time your business will likely develop in different ways to your initial intentions.
So I guess in summary, I'd recommend not splashing out too much now (I don't consider £750 too much, though appreciate it can seem a lot when starting out), but do expect to spend a similar amount again within a couple of years.
Possibly some of the posters above are considering the maintenance to basically mean regular small updates to the website...I'm thinking slightly more significant than that. Eg responsive websites were a complete luxury a few years ago, but now they're pretty important for any modern business. Typically that would involve a full rewrite, rather than tweaks around the edges.
I can get this done for you
I can get a website done for £425 (word press), it will be completed in around 1 week and look really stylish.
It would include multiple pages (drop down menus or side bars) and if you would like them, sliders.
Feel free to PM me and I can provide you with examples of what can be done.
£400
I got a 29 page website done on wordpress for £400.
I like it.
Paid extra for the videos that I got done.
Getting it slightly amended eg so the blog page looks neater, get an about us page, make it mobile compatible and getting some specific landing pages embedded related to specific web addresses. Got a client who is doing this for me then will get someone on PPH to make sure fully SEO compliant.
link to website
I got a 29 page website done on wordpress for £400.
I like it.
Paid extra for the videos that I got done.
Getting it slightly amended eg so the blog page looks neater, get an about us page, make it mobile compatible and getting some specific landing pages embedded related to specific web addresses. Got a client who is doing this for me then will get someone on PPH to make sure fully SEO compliant.
If you don't mind sending a link would like to see the website
One thing I noticed on some website companies the initial outlay is low but they sting you on high maintenance charges. I don't have a clue with websites and certainly would not know how to make updates and make changes. The word press administrator facility seems complex
Sent you link via PM
Or if you are happy to do some work yourself.......
.....I used Vistaprint & set up my own from their templates in one afternoon, I do tweak it from time to time, £7.24 a month (inc VAT, I'm not VAT reg) no up front fee, yes I do have 5 pages including a contact me page. If you just want a basic "I'm here" type site & you are on a tight budget like me.
Clients & potential clients have come to me after viewing it & have commented how impressed they were, so does the job for me at a fraction of the cost.
Use a UK host
Agree with much of the above. £750 is reasonable nowadays and also agree that using Wordpress is a good option. I built a WP site for my partner over a weekend.
Whichever route you go, try to make sure that your site is hosted in the UK and that the host has decent uptime statistics. I found out a bit too late that my site is hosted in the USA and it is slow to load at times.
Moonfruit is very good, simple, easy to update
If you can handle basic drag, drop, typing etc moonfruit.com is very good (starting £72 per year) you can make 6 full websites for that, not just pages
I have used for about 10 years or so, they work well on mobiles and load fast and very simple to make, it's hosted and domain name and email included
MoreLifeLondon.net, affordable and really good
My website cost me just £500.
It's an HTML website with 7 pages. They did a great work for me.
Just make sure they include your hosting and can do SEO for you.
All the Best !
I use 1 and 1 ...
.... wrote it myself using their very large selection of templates, up date it monthly, costs £10pm gross.
When I get a moment I need to shift to their more advanced version for £23pm as mine can't handle sniffer codes for mobile access and other bit sand pieces, such as I need to incorporate a login facility for client's to use Openspace and Kashflow, so a) it is easier for them to find, b) it drives traffic through my site and c) makes it easier for them to refer me on if they are using my site frequently.
The design aspect is important
I had a quote for £500 (4 pages only) and I asked for it to be written in Wordpress with mobile enabled and SEO. Designer was sniffy about Wordpress and decided to add £200 a year for upgrades plus £100 for hosting. They also became upset when I wanted the original design tweaked, and I had to keep chasing to get things done. We have since parted company!
What I'm trying to say is get a recommendation from a friend, colleague if possible so you know the person designing your website is easy to work with and fair. The design and the written content is the most important thing. Get a book on how to write good copy if, like me, you hate writing!
I have now found someone else to design my site for £500 + £100 hosting per year and no hidden extra costs and for all the pages I need. They came recommended.
In the interim I am using Wix to get a one page site up and running for zero cost - I already own the domain name.
Hope this helps - wouldn't want others to get their fingers burnt like me.
Some furher options
You could look at something like http://www.accountantwebsmiths.co.uk/ to see if you are getting value.
I have tried many offerings and use those that provide a monthly email newsletter which relates back to articles on your website. I also look for an offering that up dates as time moves on eg when a budget appears the data is on your website
Website
My web designer and have a barter deal; she built and maintains my website and I do her accounts, CT and SA returns each year. Works well for both of us.
Hosting
Buy your own domain name and arrange your own hosting. They are too many horror stories of webdevelopers holding clients to ransom when the time comes to move provider.
Hardly paid anything for my website
My website didn't cost me much at all and just amazed how low the price was as was quoted three times as much. www.business-at.com
Yes fully agree on not getting too reliant on your website company. Luckily I still manage to keep control on domain name and hosting.
Choosing a good and reliable web designer is really important - maybe someone who has designed accountants website before would be advantageous. Try to get extra features thrown in for the same price. There is often some room for negotiation.
£300 - but it's quite simple.
£300 - but it's quite simple. Having said that, i'm having a more complex 'sister site' built for around £400 - it has online submission functionality and a client login area.
Try PeoplePerHour for really reliable independent contractors.
Kind regards
Deborah Scott, Managing Director
For and on behalf of A Counting House Limited
Companies House reg: 08560493
Paid across £8 for my website
Paid across £8 for my website hosting...
not for creating it because i just did it with wix.com