Website trouble

[Isaac Kieffer]

I have a business idea that I need a website with a custom forum, blog, contact us button, all pretty simple. When I get quotes from website development companies they quote it at $8500. Is there a way that I can get myself the website I desire for less? I have no experience in anything technical. Will freelancing everything I need make for a terrible website? How much did your website cost and what did you have included?

 

[Lynda]

Without knowing exactly what you are after (e.g. what custom work do you want for a forum?) it is very difficult to say if this is reasonable.

At the most basic level you can save a lot of money by using pre-built tools, if you don't mind using a basic set-up and doing some work yourself. Wordpress is a free CMS that can provide a site, you can choose one of many free themes (the look and feel for the front end) or pay for a premium one. While you could use the comments for socialising, it also has a free plugin called BBpress that can run a full forum. You may find it cheaper to see if there's a web host out there who will configure it for you. You could even try out wordpress admin screen by registering at wordpress.com and setting up a test there.

Seriously, if you know how to code, or are comfortable installing a site you can get it for a lot cheaper. What you will be paying for is the development and set-up work. Our site cost under $400 with hosting, forum, blog etc, because we could do much of the technical side ourselves. The bulk of that was licences, and if we'd used free options instead it would have been under $100.

I have to ask, why do you need a custom forum? Couldn't your forum run with something like vBulletin or Xenforo, or a free option like phpBB or SMF? It should be cheaper to ask someone to install and customise existing forum software than code one.

 

[Isaac Kieffer]

Without knowing exactly what you are after (e.g. what custom work do you want for a forum?) it is very difficult to say if this is reasonable.

At the most basic level you can save a lot of money by using pre-built tools, if you don't mind using a basic set-up and doing some work yourself. Wordpress is a free CMS that can provide a site, you can choose one of many free themes (the look and feel for the front end) or pay for a premium one. While you could use the comments for socialising, it also has a free plugin called BBpress that can run a full forum. You may find it cheaper to see if there's a web host out there who will configure it for you. You could even try out wordpress admin screen by registering at wordpress.com and setting up a test there.

Seriously, if you know how to code, or are comfortable installing a site you can get it for a lot cheaper. What you will be paying for is the development and set-up work. Our site cost under $400 with hosting, forum, blog etc, because we could do much of the technical side ourselves. The bulk of that was licences, and if we'd used free options instead it would have been under $100.

I have to ask, why do you need a custom forum? Couldn't your forum run with something like vBulletin or Xenforo, or a free option like phpBB or SMF? It should be cheaper to ask someone to install and customise existing forum software than code one.

the custom forum is setup for people to fill it out with a lot of specific questions, so that I can analyze the form and connect them with a professional that meets there personality/requirements. I would be interested in using another form if it meant it was cheaper and could meet my requirements. Just have not heard of many of the free options. I have absolutely no background in programming and development, so doing it myself is off the table.

 

[jona]

the custom forum is setup for people to fill it out with a lot of specific questions, so that I can analyze the form and connect them with a professional that meets there personality/requirements. I would be interested in using another form if it meant it was cheaper and could meet my requirements. Just have not heard of many of the free options. I have absolutely no background in programming and development, so doing it myself is off the table.

You probably are getting those insane quotes because they are charging you for the whole design process. You will end up with a site that's unique to you but that's way to expensive. What you should do is consider something lie SquareSpace (You can even create an online store there). With SquareSpace you are basically going to choose a template out of a good selection of pre defined templates for your site, you then customize the thing without any programing knowledge needed (I think that you can drag and drop stuff around , choose colors, add content, and that's it. They handle domain names an hosting, all for as low as 8 bucks a month or something like that. You should go with that or with a similar service.

 

[Vinaya.Ghimire]

You can get your website for much less than $8500. If you go to promotion page on this forum, you can find developers who can design your company website for $3500 or less. If you go to Fiverr you can find freelancers who will design your website for just about $1000.

 

[Corazon]

I have a business idea that I need a website with a custom forum, blog, contact us button, all pretty simple. When I get quotes from website development companies they quote it at $8500. Is there a way that I can get myself the website I desire for less? I have no experience in anything technical. Will freelancing everything I need make for a terrible website? How much did your website cost and what did you have included?

Gee, that $8,500 is already a fortune here. But I wonder why is it that expensive to create a website. If I were you, I would try a blogsite since there are free blogsites around. You can do your own design and in case you don't know then you can get some help for a pittance. If that blog prospers then well and good. And in case you want a real website of your own then you can spend that much, it's up to you. But at least you have tried some cheaper ways to connect to your clients and prospects.

 

[Valerie]

WHOA that's a lot of money. My eyes literally bugging out of my head with that quote.

Creating a website does not require that much effort, especially in today's world of WYSIWYG design software and very flexible coding. You can create one yourself for free on websites like Wix, Wordpress, Joomla and Squarespace to name a few. If you already have a domain and host, you can even use freeware like Mobirise to create a sophisticated website. The program allows you to drag and drop what you want into place. If you can follow directions via youtube video, you can definitely make your own website.

That, or you can use Fiverr. Plenty of people are willing to help with the process for way less that $8500.

 

[T J Tutor]

I have a business idea that I need a website with a custom forum, blog, contact us button, all pretty simple. When I get quotes from website development companies they quote it at $8500. Is there a way that I can get myself the website I desire for less? I have no experience in anything technical. Will freelancing everything I need make for a terrible website? How much did your website cost and what did you have included?

Hi @Isaac Kieffer , from what you have described, you don't need a forum. Forums are a lot of work and require a fair amount of maintenance. Given that you have a business idea, you may need to first complete a prospectus, or business plan before designing a site. You can't build a site and then decide how to make the business fit it. You have to design the business and design a site to fit the business.

the custom forum is setup for people to fill it out with a lot of specific questions, so that I can analyze the form and connect them with a professional that meets there personality/requirements. I would be interested in using another form if it meant it was cheaper and could meet my requirements. Just have not heard of many of the free options. I have absolutely no background in programming and development, so doing it myself is off the table.

As for the your needs to have a customer profile, there are many plugins for WordPress that can help you with getting client profiles integrated and added to client/prospect list. Wordpress is likely your best option for a site initially. When you have the business generating the revenues that can afford a more customized site built on HTML5 and PHP, then you can start a bidding process for companies like our forum owners company, Landing page Guys.

Anyone can learn WordPress in a matter of a week. Well enough to build out your first site. It is basically a Plug N' Play platform. Just get a VPS, a great ".com" domain, and install Wordpress on the domain. Anyone can do this. Ten year olds do this every day. Any adult can do this with ease. You just have to put your learning cap on and read a few simple instructions. YouTube has thousands of videos showing you how to do this. It is easy, you do not need to be a techy in any way, and you will feel good about it once you've done it.

 

[Daniel Martin]

You can use weebly for your website build it is very easy to use and there are videos on youtube that can walk you through the process very easily. Keep your money if you can do a little work yourself.

 

[Lance Designs]

Hey! I run a website design company and I would NEVER charge anything over $800 for a website. $8500 is outrageous! Shoot me over an message and we can talk about your website. I would love to design you a website!! ceo(at)Lancedesign.org or message me through here