Looking for a web developer and host

[Arkitech]

I know I've asked this before in older threads but I think I'm ready now to finally make a move. I'm trying to decide if I should go with a company or if I should try to hunt down a lone developer. My goal is to have an online store but I also want to build up a thriving community as well. I doubt if I'll ever get to the size of AT but if I could eventually get a few hundred regular visitors to my site every day/week I would be happy.

Some of the elements I need my site to have are:

Online Store
Product Reviews
Forum
News Section
Low Bandwidth usage (if possible)


As far as web hosting goes how do I determine who is a good provider? What should I expect to pay?


back with more later

 

[mugs]

Development - you can probably get by at first by cobbling together some opensource scripts
Hosting - start out with shared hosting, I could host you for free until you start using up too much bandwidth of disk space (the downside of shared hosting is that you share it with others, who can often be morons who write scripts that use tons of resources for a lot of time and leave the server unusable for anyone else)

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: mugs
Development - you can probably get by at first by cobbling together some opensource scripts
Hosting - start out with shared hosting, I could host you for free until you start using up too much bandwidth of disk space (the downside of shared hosting is that you share it with others, who can often be morons who write scripts that use tons of resources for a lot of time and leave the server unusable for anyone else)

thanks for the offer Mugs, I think I need to pick up a few books. I'm totally ignorant about shared web hosting, actually I don't much about any type of web hosting.

Lets say I get my site created and off the ground, what do I do if I run into issues that I can't resolve on my own and the original developer is not available? Are there any resources online that can help me with maintenance or emergencies?

 

[Kelemvor]

Can check out this site. Friend of mine that runs her own web design business that can do everything you asked about.

http://www.secondplatform.com/

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Can check out this site. Friend of mine that runs her own web design business that can do everything you asked about.

http://www.secondplatform.com/

hmm not bad. Is she from Chicago, she has a lot of projects in Illinois

 

[RossMAN]

Web hosting is cheap and easy.

The web design/development that's a little more involved and $$$

 

[Arkitech]

Anyone have a ball park figure on what it would cost me to have a designed similar to this one

I would need a forum and a store as well

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Web hosting is cheap and easy.

The web design/development that's a little more involved and $$$

Thats good to know I thought that web hosting was expensive

 

[FleshLight]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Anyone have a ball park figure on what it would cost me to have a designed similar to this one

I would need a forum and a store as well

I'd say $2000+

Flash + ebusiness + php != cheap.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Anyone have a ball park figure on what it would cost me to have a designed similar to this one

I would need a forum and a store as well

They must pay a bundle in web hosting as they are hosted by Rackspace.com :shocked:

 

[Injury]

A few questions for ya...

Might I ask what sort of service or product you are offerring? I wonder because depending on what you are eventually selling, the store may be easier if handled through a vendor. This alone may cut some costs down quite a bit.

Secondly, the site you linked to (http://www.domrowley.com)... are you wanted a completly animated site like that, or are you looking for just something with a similar layout? The rowley site is a flash/director site, which is fairly simple to do if you have the ideas and the know-how, but your concern of low bandwidth may be shattered here...

Third, more of a comment as opposed to a question... you need to know what kind of look and feel you are going for. A designer can often think of some really sweet things, but without this slight direction, expect to not get EXACTLY what you want. Although knowing what it's for may solve this issue.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: FleshLight

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Anyone have a ball park figure on what it would cost me to have a designed similar to this one

I would need a forum and a store as well

I'd say $2000+

Flash + ebusiness + php != cheap.

Depending where you look, this is a fair estimate, but it COULD be found for $1000. The forums you could set up yourself. That can be done in about half an hour with no troubles. (setting up styles for the forum may take a bit longer, though.)

 

[Arkitech]

Here's a few more designs I like, can anyone give me an estimate on what it cost build something similar


1 I pretty much like everything about this site. The color scheme is exactly what I had in mind and the menu design is cool as well. I really dig this one.


2 I like the way the page is centered and the menus are cool. I'd prefer a different color scheme, other than that this is a cool site.



3 Wow this site is really cool and simple. It looks like it may be easy to create, very clean and simple. I like the menu and the forum as well. I would want a different color scheme though.


More sites to come as I find them

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Injury
A few questions for ya...

Might I ask what sort of service or product you are offerring? I wonder because depending on what you are eventually selling, the store may be easier if handled through a vendor. This alone may cut some costs down quite a bit.

Secondly, the site you linked to (http://www.domrowley.com)... are you wanted a completly animated site like that, or are you looking for just something with a similar layout? The rowley site is a flash/director site, which is fairly simple to do if you have the ideas and the know-how, but your concern of low bandwidth may be shattered here...

Third, more of a comment as opposed to a question... you need to know what kind of look and feel you are going for. A designer can often think of some really sweet things, but without this slight direction, expect to not get EXACTLY what you want. Although knowing what it's for may solve this issue.

Well my principal products would be DVDs but I also would carry a few other items like books, small electronics and action figures.

As far as flash animation its not something I really need, I would rather have a faster loading site than one with animation or music.

 

[DeviousTrap]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Here's a few more designs I like, can anyone give me an estimate on what it cost build something similar


1 I pretty much like everything about this site. The color scheme is exactly what I had in mind and the menu design is cool as well. I really dig this one.


http://www.criticalmass.com/index.do">2</a> I like the way the page is centered and the menus are cool. I'd prefer a different color scheme, other than that this is a cool site.



3 Wow this site is really cool and simple. It looks like it may be easy to create, very clean and simple. I like the menu and the forum as well. I would want a different color scheme though.


More sites to come as I find them

I would have to say you can get those for a lot less than the 2K posted, above. Even less than 1K.

I wouldn't hire a design firm for one of those sites, something simple like that can be sent to a freelance designer who could easily create a base design for you for a couple hundred dollars. You'd obviously need to make the subpages, but a homepage, one one subpage design could be done fairly cheaply.

There are shopping carts and forum systems that are free so that shouldnt be too hard to get either.

Hosting is cheap so that could be left out for a bit. I would first go and hire a designer to do the work.

 

[Injury]

Well, with everything you've said, I think your best option would be type out a document with all the 5W's and H and submit it to some web design companies for bids. Just because you are seeking bids does not require you to accept any of them. If you aren't satisfied with the results you get, keep submitting the document to more companies. If you keep getting the same high figure(s), then it's safe you say you won't be paying any less than that, and that you should consider if it is a wise investment at this stage of the business.

It sounds like professional work and coding is going to be needed, and that whoever is going to design it is going to be the host, too. At least, I think you would be more satisfied with the results that way.

I would suggest local companies... communicating about a project like this can't be done easily by shooting emails back and forth... there will probably be some meetings required.



One more edit: If you don't have any sort of "fanbase" or actual business running yet, you may want to consider starting out small and paying a student a small ~$200-$400 fee to design a basic site, handle the orders by a CGI form, and updating it yourself. It would be a more cost-effective investment to find out if the site can work. If it does, in fact, lift off the ground, then you will be making enough money to justify paying a LARGE sum for a new site.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Here's a few more designs I like, can anyone give me an estimate on what it cost build something similar


1 I pretty much like everything about this site. The color scheme is exactly what I had in mind and the menu design is cool as well. I really dig this one.


http://www.criticalmass.com/index.do">2</a> I like the way the page is centered and the menus are cool. I'd prefer a different color scheme, other than that this is a cool site.



3 Wow this site is really cool and simple. It looks like it may be easy to create, very clean and simple. I like the menu and the forum as well. I would want a different color scheme though.


More sites to come as I find them

I would have to say you can get those for a lot less than the 2K posted, above. Even less than 1K.

I wouldn't hire a design firm for one of those sites, something simple like that can be sent to a freelance designer who could easily create a base design for you for a couple hundred dollars. You'd obviously need to make the subpages, but a homepage, one one subpage design could be done fairly cheaply.

There are shopping carts and forum systems that are free so that shouldnt be too hard to get either.

Hosting is cheap so that could be left out for a bit. I would first go and hire a designer to do the work.

Agreed hosting is cheap, find a web design/developer and go after the initial design first.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Here's a few more designs I like, can anyone give me an estimate on what it cost build something similar


1 I pretty much like everything about this site. The color scheme is exactly what I had in mind and the menu design is cool as well. I really dig this one.


http://www.criticalmass.com/index.do">2</a> I like the way the page is centered and the menus are cool. I'd prefer a different color scheme, other than that this is a cool site.



3 Wow this site is really cool and simple. It looks like it may be easy to create, very clean and simple. I like the menu and the forum as well. I would want a different color scheme though.


More sites to come as I find them

I would have to say you can get those for a lot less than the 2K posted, above. Even less than 1K.

I wouldn't hire a design firm for one of those sites, something simple like that can be sent to a freelance designer who could easily create a base design for you for a couple hundred dollars. You'd obviously need to make the subpages, but a homepage, one one subpage design could be done fairly cheaply.

There are shopping carts and forum systems that are free so that shouldnt be too hard to get either.

Hosting is cheap so that could be left out for a bit. I would first go and hire a designer to do the work.

Wow thats good to know, looks like I can save a few bucks. I guess any extra dollars can go towards maybe customizing a forum and the online store.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Injury
Well, with everything you've said, I think your best option would be type out a document with all the 5W's and H and submit it to some web design companies for bids. Just because you are seeking bids does not require you to accept any of them. If you aren't satisfied with the results you get, keep submitting the document to more companies. If you keep getting the same high figure(s), then it's safe you say you won't be paying any less than that, and that you should consider if it is a wise investment at this stage of the business.

It sounds like professional work and coding is going to be needed, and that whoever is going to design it is going to be the host, too. At least, I think you would be more satisfied with the results that way.

I would suggest local companies... communicating about a project like this can't be done easily by shooting emails back and forth... there will probably be some meetings required.



One more edit: If you don't have any sort of "fanbase" or actual business running yet, you may want to consider starting out small and paying a student a small ~$200-$400 fee to design a basic site, handle the orders by a CGI form, and updating it yourself. It would be a more cost-effective investment to find out if the site can work. If it does, in fact, lift off the ground, then you will be making enough money to justify paying a LARGE sum for a new site.

I guess since my choice for a web design will be simple I'd probably be better off going with a freelance programmer as opposed to a firm. As far as the fanbase goes, I don't mind putting the time and energy into a site until it catches on. Fortunately my theme will be something I really enjoy so I think that may give me a slight edge.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Here's a few more designs I like, can anyone give me an estimate on what it cost build something similar


1 I pretty much like everything about this site. The color scheme is exactly what I had in mind and the menu design is cool as well. I really dig this one.


http://www.criticalmass.com/index.do">2</a> I like the way the page is centered and the menus are cool. I'd prefer a different color scheme, other than that this is a cool site.



3 Wow this site is really cool and simple. It looks like it may be easy to create, very clean and simple. I like the menu and the forum as well. I would want a different color scheme though.


More sites to come as I find them

I would have to say you can get those for a lot less than the 2K posted, above. Even less than 1K.

I wouldn't hire a design firm for one of those sites, something simple like that can be sent to a freelance designer who could easily create a base design for you for a couple hundred dollars. You'd obviously need to make the subpages, but a homepage, one one subpage design could be done fairly cheaply.

There are shopping carts and forum systems that are free so that shouldnt be too hard to get either.

Hosting is cheap so that could be left out for a bit. I would first go and hire a designer to do the work.

Agreed hosting is cheap, find a web design/developer and go after the initial design first.

Can you recommend any guys from ATOT?

 

[RossMAN]

Nope.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Nope.

ah well, time to do some homework

 

[DeviousTrap]

Do you have AIM/MSN/ICQ?

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: Arkitech
Here's a few more designs I like, can anyone give me an estimate on what it cost build something similar


1 I pretty much like everything about this site. The color scheme is exactly what I had in mind and the menu design is cool as well. I really dig this one.


http://www.criticalmass.com/index.do">2</a> I like the way the page is centered and the menus are cool. I'd prefer a different color scheme, other than that this is a cool site.



3 Wow this site is really cool and simple. It looks like it may be easy to create, very clean and simple. I like the menu and the forum as well. I would want a different color scheme though.


More sites to come as I find them

I would have to say you can get those for a lot less than the 2K posted, above. Even less than 1K.

I wouldn't hire a design firm for one of those sites, something simple like that can be sent to a freelance designer who could easily create a base design for you for a couple hundred dollars. You'd obviously need to make the subpages, but a homepage, one one subpage design could be done fairly cheaply.

There are shopping carts and forum systems that are free so that shouldnt be too hard to get either.

Hosting is cheap so that could be left out for a bit. I would first go and hire a designer to do the work.

Agreed hosting is cheap, find a web design/developer and go after the initial design first.

Can you recommend any guys from ATOT?

If I wasn't so busy I'd give you a hand for the "ATOT Buddy discount". If you're still looking for someone at the end of January hit me up.

 

[Arkitech]

thanks for the offer Injury, hopefully I'll have something up and running before the month is out though