Web Sites for Business - CitizenEarth

Web site types and costs
Web sites can be classified into several types although most real-world web sites are a combination of these. As with most things in life "you get what you pay for": the more complex the web site, the more you should expect to pay. However, there are no standards for pricing or quality of workmanship, so shop around before you sign any contracts. The main web site types are:

Single Page or Business Card Web Site
This consists of one web page, which could look like a full page ad in a newspaper. But at a minimum it should contain the following information:

company name, logo, address, phone number, business hours, description of products and services, and an email address or contact form

Creation time and cost:

a professional designer should take less than a day to create this

expect to pay less than £500 (€750)

Brochure Web Site
This consists of several web pages, which should contain things like:

a navigation menu for locating web pages

company name & logo on each page

contact details, such as address, phone number, email address

company information such as history, business aims, hours of business

details of products and services

links to related useful information

Creation time and cost:

a professional web site designer should take no more than a day to create a template, which each page is then based upon. Thereafter, individual pages should take no more than a few hours each

expect to pay no less than £1000 (€1500)

time and costs increase, as more pictures and other graphics are added to the web site - this is true for most web site types

If you already have a professional brochure describing your business then the web designer can take text and graphics from this. However, there is no quick way to convert a paper brochure in to a web site. The site has to be created from scratch! The site could take anywhere from a couple of days to a week to produce.

Catalogue Web Site
This is a larger version of the brochure site, which should additionally include:

comprehensive information on products and services, and (optionally) pricing

forms to place orders, request quotes, ask for customer support

Creation time and cost:

should take at least a week to create

expect to pay several £1000s (€1000s)

This type of site can be nearly as effective as an e-commerce site at generating sales and enquiries, as people still like to pick-up the phone to make enquiries and give their credit-card details; especially since the media love to highlight e-commerce security breaches.