Understanding Website Design

While a few people understand the technology behind website hosting and design the vast majority of people don't have a clue what it is about. That is the primary reason that it is one of the most abused and fraud ridden industries in the world.

Anyone looking for a website needs to do research and learn before they lose a pile of cash for nothing. Designers can charge from $100.00 to $100,000.00 for the same work, hosts can charge between $1.00 and $1000.00 for the same service often on the same web server provided by an entirely different company.

So lets get the 15 minute lesson on what website hosting and design are worth and what you should get. I could write thousands of pages just on the technology of how servers can cost between $100 and $100,000.00 or more and how software can run in the millions of dollars for a single website. Fortunately the people that need to spend that type of cash already know what they are doing.

The majority of people, businesses will need nothing more than about $20 worth of service each month. In a business perspective that is insignificant. For a simple design of a few pages a business can spend between $100.00 and as much as $2000.00 in extreme cases where custom logos or graphics are created and integrated into the page design.

So why are people charging $10,000.00 and up for a 5 page static website?

Because they can and the businesses think if they spend more they will have a better website and get more business. If a business is not in the technology sector they are often in the dark and believe what they are told. They assume that a website will take their business over the top and the designer or firm will often promise much more than they can actually deliver. Once the payment is made it is too late for the business and they realized they were just ripped off.

Of course the design firms will justify their work saying it takes 100 hours at $100.00 an hour and they did an excellent job on the website.

The truth is that if it take 100 hours to build 5 pages then your firm is not worth $100.00 and hour. The reason people can charge $100.00 an hour for services is because of their experience and speed. If you are slow and inexperienced you can not justify that rate.

Lawyers, doctors and accounts charge those rates, but they are trained, educated with degrees, tested and regulated. Designers only need to print business cards on their own computer and say they are a professional. So what makes them worth the same as a doctor with 10 years of education and 10 more years of training? They just are not worth that much unless they truly have the experience and ability to build that website of 5 pages in a few hours.

How the scam works!

Companies like pageBuzz.com will tell a business that a website for $20 a month is all they need. That they should build it themselves, add content regularly, maybe a blog and keep it updated and fun. That will help their business along with advertising and marketing to get people to the website and build brand recognition which take time and patience.

One business, lets say a plumber, goes out and unplugs 100 toilets, runs pipe in 100 houses and works for 10 weeks to make $10,000.00, breaking his/her ass working 12 hour days to total exhaustion. Frustrated and with business and cash flow in the decline a website designer tells them a better website will make them rich and grow their business so they can hire workers and make millions and live happily ever after.

The plumber jumps at the opportunity to grow to the next level and get off clogged toilet duty. A contract is written, the plumber signs and the website is delivered. Of course nothing happens with the plumbers business because the website is nothing more than a few pages with information, but the designer just took 10 weeks of the plumbers hard earned cash in a few hours of sitting behind a desk.

There are tens of thousands of tech companies getting rich by taking advantage of peoples dreams. They are like vultures waiting until just before you are ready to give up and then they sweep in with a promise of salvation, they take your money and run.

Website hosting and design is in the FTC's top 10 list of scams and fraud. It is a huge problem and it is difficult to quantify value with no regulation or standard. It is truly the wild west of the Internet.

With so many people unaware of the true value or potential of a website it is easy to find suckers that will part with a load of cash. In the early days of the Internet people dumped loads of money in Internet businesses and then the bubble burst. Now the same gold diggers prey on small businesses that have not caught up to speed and are technology ignorant.

Sales pitches that rival the infomercials promising millions for 30 minutes work are the primary tools of these "Website Designers" with no experience.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are good designers and websites can cost millions of dollars, but the average website will not come close to that number. For every good designer there are 1000 bad designers that think they should get the same rate. While their intent is not to steal your money, they don't have the experience or ability to justify their prices and they are in fact stealing your money.

Now companies like godaddy, Quickbooks (Intuit), Google and Microsoft are all trying to take over the "Do it yourself website building" with inexpensive products from $4.99 to $100.00 a month suitable for most businesses.

As a technology leader we hope this trend will help people understand that they don't need to pay anyone $10,000.00 for a website that does little or nothing.

In todays market websites need to be active, interactive and fun or informative. Programs like shopping carts, forums, calendars and such need constant updates and the business owner needs access to make regular changes, locate sales invoices and update product information.

The market is full of solutions that are inexpensive and have extensive programming included. A company like pageBuzz.com can offer more for $20 a month than any webmaster can build for $10,000.00 or more. That is because the product is developed and used by thousands of people and the cost remains low. When working with one designer, they are building one website at a time which is expensive and has less to offer.

Many designers will offer shopping carts like Zen cart or OS Commerce, but they are opensource (meaning free) and are not developed to suit specific needs, they are just general and offer an inexpensive way to start a website. If the website designer is charging $10,000.00 for the website and giving you something you can download free, I think you can see the problem.

Before you spend a load of cash, get a second opinion, do some research and get informed. This really is a case of buyer beware.

Websites in todays market are affordable and offer high end programming that would be impossible to get built on your own. Companies like pageBuzz spend thousands of man hours programming to insure programs are up to date and provide features that businesses require. Those types of resources are out of the reach of most businesses unable to spend millions on web development. But at $20 a month, anyone can afford that type programming for their website with out all the headaches of working with independent website designers and programmers.