Website construction

candyman

Hi,

How much does a website cost to set up?

Looking to get a new website built for my start up business. High level aspects of the site include:
- login page with backend database validation
- new user reg
- it needs to pull a feed of data from an external source
- payment integration - e.g. visa, paypal etc
- some non trivial programming of some business logic

Anybody got some ballpark figures on this or can recommend any vendors?
Thanks.

QwertyFinger

Check out Prestashop and EasyPHP for windows, they're complex at first but they'd be the best if you were willing to do so yourself, doing it yourself would cost around 100e while others would charge you about 1000+ to set up an e-commerce site.

QwertyFinger

QwertyFinger wrote: »

Check out Prestashop and EasyPHP for windows, they're complex at first but they'd be the best if you were willing to do so yourself, doing it yourself would cost around 100e while others would charge you about 1000+ to set up an e-commerce site.

[Disclaimer]I do web development for a living[/Disclaimer]. Bear in mind that the €100 cost you cite excludes the time it takes to learn and configure the website, which will be a lot higher for someone who has never done it before.

Even assuming the OP has a lot of free time, and the inclination/ability to take on a technical task, and design abilities, it's very common to run into a technical brick wall with a complex e-shop. Sometimes a Google search will sort it, sometimes you'll need to debug it yourself.

In my opinion, a better route to pursue for a DIY shop would be to use a hosted solution like Shopify. Let them worry about the tech stuff, software upgrades, service uptime, security and payments.

Kinetic^

QwertyFinger wrote: »

Check out Prestashop and EasyPHP for windows, they're complex at first but they'd be the best if you were willing to do so yourself, doing it yourself would cost around 100e while others would charge you about 1000+ to set up an e-commerce site.

What about the time it takes to learn html/css/photoshop? That's time and money lost where you could be focusing on whatever it is you're actually good at.

QwertyFinger

Kinetic^ wrote: »

What about the time it takes to learn html/css/photoshop? That's time and money lost where you could be focusing on whatever it is you're actually good at.

Completely true, you forget how easy things are once you know how to do them, but yeah, the setting up of Prestashop for a beginner should only take about 2-4 hours when you're getting used to it, graphic design for a logo, unless you already have one would only be around 50-100e and the hosting/domain would cost about 30 euro (this is minimum).

Otherwise I'm completely ripping myself when I'm doing freelancing Sure its all for the enjoyment.

Another option for a webshop is OpenCart or Zencart, but in all honesty Prestashop is probably the easiest and the feeling of achievement when you get it working is unreal, I'd say try it yourself if you're on a really low budget but really, its not easy when you're being thrown in the deep end, there is a forum on here to help with it and I'd reccomend going on there if you're in need of help, most web developers are all too happy to help another up and comer.

Completely true, you forget how easy things are once you know how to do them, but yeah, the setting up of Prestashop for a beginner should only take about 2-4 hours when you're getting used to it, graphic design for a logo, unless you already have one would only be around 50-100e and the hosting/domain would cost about 30 euro (this is minimum)

So you'll set up a prestashop site for me with custom design, modifications, security, shop configuration, setup and population, bespoke logo design, support, domain, reputable hosting, payment gateway integration, training and and maintainance for 2 hours wages plus 80 euros?

You're hired - I have several jobs waiting for you right now.

QwertyFinger

Sure, my wage per hour is 300 euro.

I'll still be making a good profit, if you can do all that in two hours, so... cool, you're still hired depending on proof of your ability to roll out the whole kit and kaboodle in 2 hours!

Being serious, my point is - I know you canset up a shop in a few hours. I set up demo shops for customer demos all the time. Setting up a shop that looks and performs to the customer's requirements takes a lot longer, and if you hire a reputable provider to do that for you, you need to pay them for the time they spend on it.