Web Design Firms

Web design can be done in-house or by an outside company. In any event, there are some commonalties with respect to the type of information the designer of your Web page will need. The first is a proposal that includes what you want your Web site to look like, what features need to be included, the design, the content, and any other information that would be pertinent to the creation of a Web site. Hopefully, you will have thought about and discussed the aforementioned issues in your planning stage.

If you decide to use a Web design firm, you must then begin the process of selecting one. A search on the Internet will produce hundreds, if not thousands, of Web designers/developers. For example, one particular search produced approximately 200,000 possible sites. Looking for a Web designer through the Internet is one way to go, but can be a daunting process.

Another way you might find a firm is to talk to other arts organizations that have Web sites. You can find out if they are satisfied with the product and ask them about any problems they might have encountered along the way. You can contact organizations of the same discipline (museum, symphony, orchestra, dance) or roughly the same size as your organization. One thing to keep in mind is that a Web design firm does not have to be in the same geographical area as your organization, though it may help if you want to meet face-to-face with company representatives.

When you do find a company or companies that you are interested in hiring to create a Web site for you, you should look at examples of Web sites they have done. These can be found on the Web design firms’ own sites, most times under "client list."

Most of these design firms give you many options for the creation of a Web site. Firms can design your page, write up the text, work on electronic commerce issues and interactivity, and maintain and update your site. Your organization should make decisions regarding these options before going to Web design firm. Web design prices range from a flat rate of about $99 to approximately $150,000, depending on the types of tools you want included in your Web site.

Some Web site designers charge by the hour or by the page. For example, one Web design firm charges $75 per hour. According to the firm, an average Web site takes approximately 40-60 hours to create. If you want a "high end" Web site with online credit verification for credit cards, this may take 60-100 hours. If you want something simple like text and a graphic on each page, it would be considerably cheaper and more than likely one person could create it. As you can see, the price and time it takes to design a Web site depends on how complex the site is. The more complex, the more people who work on it and the longer it takes.

Smaller or newer Web design firms may offer promotions from time to time to attract small organizations or those on a tight budget. For example, Website.com (http://www.websitecom.com) offers a two page Web site for $99 as of March 26, 1998. Just twenty days earlier, the offer was a free Web site design when you pay for your site to be hosted by them.

Many companies offer to host your Web site on their server, which is another monthly charge. Another issue is your domain name, which can be a one-time, yearly, or monthly charge. You can have a primary domain (e.g.: http://www.yourorg.com) or a sub domain (e.g.: http://www.designfirm/yourorg.com). These can range from $50 per year to $40 per month depending on the Web design firm. You can also register a new domain name with Internic (http://www.abcinfo.com/registra.htm) for an approximately $100 one-time fee.

Overall, it is up to your organization as to how much money you want to spend and have to spend on a Web site. In general, as with anything else, you often get what you pay for. Once again, all of this comes down to the most important step: planning. Your organization has to decide on the purpose of the Web site, what they want on it, how complex it will be, etc.

Here are some useful Web sites that have information on Web site designers:

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Master of Arts Management (MAM) Program / Carnegie Mellon University
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