Website redesign

January 21, 2006 10:51 AM

How much should be budgeted to redesign a small/medium sized association's website?

I'm a part of a mostly volunteer run nonprofit. It's smallish, but has been steadily growing and we've finally decided to spend some money on a site redesign and upgrade. Most of the problems with the website currently are pretty typical, confusing layout, difficulty navigating etc. There is some great content, and there is a real potential to offer more on the site.

It's a growing association, and there have been no attempts thus far to put meeting registration, membership dues, voting or subscription renewals online. But this is something that most members are interested in. There are maybe 2-300 members.

My question is how much should we budget to redesign the website and add in the functionality that I described? We need to get quotes and all, but I have no idea how much we should expect to pay. Anyone care to venture a guess? I'd appreciate it!

posted by mulkey to computers & internet (9 comments total)

You're thinking of engaging a web design company to do this job. Can I suggest ways that you could avoid this, and get an acceptable result much cheaper?

Using an open source content management system (Drupal is great, Joomla less so but simpler) someone could implement a content management system that would accommodate all your content and use open source add-on modules to add registration etc functionality. They could both give you good community features like member-blogs or discussion boards too. Drupal does a better job than Joomla at that sort of thing.

Now, as to cost, you have a range of options. The site doesn't need to be able to handle huge loads, and if it goes down for some reason, my guess is that no one suffers too much. I think you'll consequently get better value from some talented amateur than from a pro. So your first option would be to allow yourself 1-3 months depending on how much free time you have to learn one of these systems, plus some basic PHP/MySQL and do it yourself. It's possible - I've just done exactly this, and greatly expanded my knowledge in the process. Perhaps another member of your organisation would be keen?

Another option would be to recruit someone from these programs' development teams, or an enthusiast from their forums. Such people are obviously enthusiastic about adapting their programme to your needs, and making a little cash in the process. You may well pick up a site for well under market rates that way. A couple of hundred dollars.

A final option I'd throw out for your consideration would be to put the word out on the Sitepoint forums, where many people seem willing to work on the cheap. The threads on the forum will give you an idea of how much people pay for similar websites.
posted by godawful at 12:30 PM on January 21, 2006

Hire a poor techie college student who needs the work.

/ex-poor techie college student, not asking for the job
posted by IndigoRain at 2:07 PM on January 21, 2006

While I agree with godawful that you should use a content management system of some kind, every competent web designer / programmer is going to do just that.

I don't agree with godawful on the recommendation to try and teach yourself unless it is something that really interests you and you don't mind that the results will not be as nice as that of a professional.

Unfortunately I can't give you an estimate on price because you really haven't mentioned what exactly the site will consist of. I would advise you to make sure that you hire someone competent. Make sure that they already know what their doing and don't plan on trying to teach themselves on the fly. The web industry is full of amateurs that pretend they know what they are doing. So I wouldn't just go with the cheapest bid you find.

Good luck!
posted by meta87 at 2:09 PM on January 21, 2006

I might be able to do this for free. I sent you and email.
posted by delmoi at 3:14 PM on January 21, 2006

godawful - It needs to look way more professional than it currently does, and we need someone to keep the site regularly updated - say a few hours a month for longer term. It's not a job that would be terribly hard for someone who knows what they're doing, but it would be challenging for someone who has to learn how to do it. Plus it would require some up front effort of trying to figure out how best to organize the pages.

I think it would actually be much better if someone were to do this website who was a professional - too many cooks have been invovled in the stew that is currently the website and it really shows. We don't need an amateur, we need a professional.

Meta - How would you know if a web designer is competent given that so many people pass themselves off as knowing more than they do? I'm moderately tech savvy but by no means an expert.

As for the content of the website - I would estimate that there are maybe 75-100 pages of text - from awards that the association gives out to their newsletter, membership governance, information on upcoming meetings. It's really a very standard type of website. They tend to want to put out a bunch of written material, so there is never a shortage of text, but I would say that it is not well organized at all.

Also, adding in the functionality of web registration etc, I just have no idea how that's done.


And by the way, this is not a solicitation for bids or offers, we'll find those - I just want to know how much we could reasonably expect to pay for a good site redesign including web renewals, meeting registration, subscription renewals etc. Can you give me a ballpark guess?
posted by mulkey at 3:39 PM on January 21, 2006

You're talking about something that you could potentially, conceivably paste together with existing scripts and resources and templates, but the result would be inconsistent, buggy and noticeably cheap. But you already recognize that you need a professional, and that's great.

Depending on how much of the content you would need "implemented" by the developer, (or, if, perhaps, the developer would be able to set up and fully configure the CMS and place several pieces of the base content, while letting you fill out the rest) and how complex some of your other programming and database systems that you need will be, a "professional" web firm will likely charge you anywhere between $2,500 to $7,500. You could certainly find someone who will try to charge you more, and you could certainly find someone who thinks they'll do a good job for less.

Check your email for some other details.
posted by disillusioned at 3:49 PM on January 21, 2006

From my point of view, what's also missing in the discussion is design versus implementation. I think you're looking for both a professional-looking site, as well as something with a lot of relevant functionality. There are creative firms out there that specialize in web design and will do a good job. Watch out for companies that specialize in something else (i.e. hosting, programming, etc.) that also throw in "web design." You wouldn't want your contractor who builds your house to also design it, would you?

To answer your question, I'd have to give you a range too: $5,000-$20,000 but it really depends on the exact scope.
posted by lunarboy at 6:10 PM on January 21, 2006

I was gonna say 10 grand.
posted by glenwood at 2:26 PM on January 22, 2006

I am a web designer and I would personally go with Joomla and do light customization on a purchased template from a site like RocketTheme or Joomlart. Many of the features you mentioned are out of the box or free components you can download and have up and running in a couple hours.

My guess is a job like this would run $1500-$4000 with a professional freelancer or small web firm. Sounds like more with bigger firms (they have a lot more overhead anyway.)

Do I think some techie college student could handle it? Sure, a smart and eager one could. You won't get as slick a solution as a pro, but it could work out well.

My tip is to put together a detailed outline of the project and submit it to a bunch of web designers and small firms. You DO NOT need a big firm, I don't think. Good luck!
posted by traderjoefan at 4:30 PM on March 11, 2006