Website Developers.
Discussion
Morning all,
I'm looking into starting a new business based solely on a custom website. It's quite a custom design and i'm currently being quoted in the region of 15-20k with a time frame of roughly 5 months. This is not something I have ever done before so i'm really not sure what i'm looking at.
Would anyone be able to volunteer 10 minutes or so to read through the brief I've been sent, and let me know if everything looks okay/ i'm not being ripped off or anything like that?
Is there a rough guide on how much income is generated off a website by page visits? Google suggests $6 for every 1000 visits. Is it really that low?
What should I know about running a website or even a business in general? I've researched my market, I have a business plan, I have budgets etc... but I have no life experience in this, so any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
I'm looking into starting a new business based solely on a custom website. It's quite a custom design and i'm currently being quoted in the region of 15-20k with a time frame of roughly 5 months. This is not something I have ever done before so i'm really not sure what i'm looking at.
Would anyone be able to volunteer 10 minutes or so to read through the brief I've been sent, and let me know if everything looks okay/ i'm not being ripped off or anything like that?
Is there a rough guide on how much income is generated off a website by page visits? Google suggests $6 for every 1000 visits. Is it really that low?
What should I know about running a website or even a business in general? I've researched my market, I have a business plan, I have budgets etc... but I have no life experience in this, so any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
Busterhighmen said:
Is there a rough guide on how much income is generated off a website by page visits? Google suggests $6 for every 1000 visits. Is it really that low?
I run a couple of niche sport news sites and I can only dream of $6 per 1000 visits. Looking over the last month or so I have generated £81 from just over 101,000 visits from Google Adsense. I also use Amazon Affiliates and that works out at about £30 in the same timeframe.You say you have no experience running a site. Have you considered a Minimum Viable Product in order to test your idea before you fork out thousands of pounds on something which for a whole host of reasons might not take off?
CzechItOut said:
You say you have no experience running a site. Have you considered a Minimum Viable Product in order to test your idea before you fork out thousands of pounds on something which for a whole host of reasons might not take off?
It's not as simple as dumbing it down unfortunately, it's a service provided within the website relating to the gaming industry. The cost is because it has to have a few complex APIs within it for the idea to work. There's no way of simplifying it without destroying the main USP.Fortunately, I'm happy to invest in it and am confident in my ability to market/sell the idea. I'm young (and maybe dumb) enough that if I lose this money it won't change much for me. I'm not taking out loans to fund it.
Edited by Busterhighmen on Friday 22 February 11:13
Busterhighmen said:
It's not as simple as dumbing it down unfortunately, it's a service provided within the website relating to the gaming industry. The cost is because it has to have a few complex APIs within it for the idea to work. There's no way of simplifying it without destroying the main USP.
Fortunately, I'm happy to invest in it and am confident in my ability to market/sell the idea. I'm young (and maybe dumb) enough that if I lose this money it won't change much for me. I'm not taking out loans to fund it.
An MVP isn't dumbing down. It is delivering your idea, but without the time/cost of building a fully automated technical solution. There are two main benefits, firstly time to market and secondly most companies pivot in their early days, so you reduce the amount of waste. I appreciate that sometimes getting your head around how to turn your all singing, all dancing idea into an MVP can be difficult, but it is worth it if you can.Fortunately, I'm happy to invest in it and am confident in my ability to market/sell the idea. I'm young (and maybe dumb) enough that if I lose this money it won't change much for me. I'm not taking out loans to fund it.
Edited by Busterhighmen on Friday 22 February 11:13
WHen you say complex APIs, are you building and exposing the APIs or are you consuming other people's APIs?
Have you read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries? It is well worth it for someone looking to bring a technology product to market.
C Lee Farquar said:
Just to say I have used Alasdair AKirk to sort out some issues on my website, assess my website and my competitor's websites and recommend a way forward.
He resolved one issue for £100 that I had been advised I needed a £4k rebuild by another firm.
He resolved one issue for £100 that I had been advised I needed a £4k rebuild by another firm.
we should have charged you more!happy to have a look at the OP’s plans and spec...
it does seem a lot of money, though not impossible to cost that - depends on the APIs some are simple, others more complex...
we have just been writing code for these APIs in recent weeks
HMRC MTD VAT
DVLA (via a third party)
ebay
bespoke combination of an ecommerce site / till system / supplier's database
etc.
none of them cost that kind of money...
Busterhighmen said:
I'm looking into starting a new business based solely on a custom website. It's quite a custom design and i'm currently being quoted in the region of 15-20k with a time frame of roughly 5 months. This is not something I have ever done before so i'm really not sure what i'm looking at.
Would anyone be able to volunteer 10 minutes or so to read through the brief I've been sent, and let me know if everything looks okay/ i'm not being ripped off or anything like that?
Happy to take a look if you like, my main income is from paying people to develop sites that we then run ourselves. Would anyone be able to volunteer 10 minutes or so to read through the brief I've been sent, and let me know if everything looks okay/ i'm not being ripped off or anything like that?
Busterhighmen said:
Is there a rough guide on how much income is generated off a website by page visits? Google suggests $6 for every 1000 visits. Is it really that low?
Not with the information provided so far, no. Value of a visitor hugely depends on what the topic is, user demographics, user intent, etc. And how you're monetising them. For us every unique visitor to the site is worth roughly £1 in our pocket. I'd be amazed if a visitor to Pistonheads forum is even worth 1 pence. But we're in finance lead gen and specifically targeting high value key phrases in google. Busterhighmen said:
What should I know about running a website or even a business in general? I've researched my market, I have a business plan, I have budgets etc... but I have no life experience in this, so any help is much appreciated.
I think that question is pretty much impossible to answer without knowing what you're trying to do.If you're not in UK finance lead gen then I wouldn't have a conflict of interest and happy to give some pointers if you want. I've been doing this for 15 years or so.
Algarve said:
Busterhighmen said:
I'm looking into starting a new business based solely on a custom website. It's quite a custom design and i'm currently being quoted in the region of 15-20k with a time frame of roughly 5 months. This is not something I have ever done before so i'm really not sure what i'm looking at.
Would anyone be able to volunteer 10 minutes or so to read through the brief I've been sent, and let me know if everything looks okay/ i'm not being ripped off or anything like that?
Happy to take a look if you like, my main income is from paying people to develop sites that we then run ourselves. Would anyone be able to volunteer 10 minutes or so to read through the brief I've been sent, and let me know if everything looks okay/ i'm not being ripped off or anything like that?
Busterhighmen said:
Is there a rough guide on how much income is generated off a website by page visits? Google suggests $6 for every 1000 visits. Is it really that low?
Not with the information provided so far, no. Value of a visitor hugely depends on what the topic is, user demographics, user intent, etc. And how you're monetising them. For us every unique visitor to the site is worth roughly £1 in our pocket. I'd be amazed if a visitor to Pistonheads forum is even worth 1 pence. But we're in finance lead gen and specifically targeting high value key phrases in google. Busterhighmen said:
What should I know about running a website or even a business in general? I've researched my market, I have a business plan, I have budgets etc... but I have no life experience in this, so any help is much appreciated.
I think that question is pretty much impossible to answer without knowing what you're trying to do.If you're not in UK finance lead gen then I wouldn't have a conflict of interest and happy to give some pointers if you want. I've been doing this for 15 years or so.
Not in that field at all. You don't allow messages, so if you could message me that'd be great!
Busterhighmen said:
jonamv8 said:
Pm me im in this industry happy to look it over and advise...and always interested to see how other firms present/quote etc
Hi Jon,Thanks for the offer. If you drop me a message I can send over the attachment.
There's no option to message you on here!
Cheers
DSLiverpool said:
Assuming not ecommerce then from the sounds of it 5 months / £20k is a bargain. (with some app work).
I was just thinking the same which is why I kept quiet when everyone else was saying it was a lot of money 
I'm outside of London and rates for a decent, experienced full stack c# developer are around the £350/day mark and web dev/designer/ux people are in the same ballpark. Fag packet budget says 5 months at a typical 20 days a month is man 100 days, making 20 grand an absolute bargain. My 3-person software company couldn't do 5 weeks of work for 20 grand let alone 5 months!
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