Web Designer wanted!

bobbytables wrote: »

My advice to you is to acknowledge that "cheap" and "professional" rarely successfully go together. However, it does depend on what your definition of "professional" really is.

As a matter of interest, what will this website represent? (E.g. business, personal, other).

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Websites are something that the man on the street always wants done on the cheap because they can't comprehend how they can be so expensive. Just like they can't comprehend the amount of time and hard work that goes into them.

bobbytables wrote: »

I agree in part with you, except I don't blame the man on the street (the customer), I blame the reason why they think it can be done on the cheap. Which is the countless cowboys out there that take advantage of people who think they know what needs to go in to successful website and give them what they ask for, which costs very little to deliver.

@shamonemofo the truth is from your description of what you need I could deliver it to you for about €100. Wow that sounds like an amazing offer, but wait, I assure you it's not. Now lets just imagine I didn't say €100 to you there, and instead you got plenty of responses with 3 figure quotes attached ( €100 > quote < €1000 ), does that mean you are getting value for money. How do you know?

Well let's establish what your expectations are...
What does that mean to you?

Do the people you are marketing the site towards still want to see Flash intro's or is that you want a flash intro?
Is that not a bit 10 years ago?
Define "decent"?

When you are focusing purely on the visual aesthetics you are leaving yourself open to criticism over something that is purely subjective.

However you did say...
Do you want to be able to update the presentation/structure of the site?
or
Just make content changes?
My advice to you is to understand the difference between design and content and what constitutes content. This will save from a difficult situation later.

Ultimately, what is the goal of the website?
What is your strategy for achieving this goal? or do you want professional help with this strategy? or do you want to leave it for today while you think about this strategy yourself, prior to asking for something that will strategically help you reach your goal?

Do you see where I'm coming from?, you are no different from many others that frequent these forums looking for "professional" on the "cheap". I am trying to do you a favour here and giving you a heads up so you don't end up spending 3 figures every time you realise that what you thought you needed was in fact not all you needed.

You are implying that people show you their normal work to give you an idea of how they "look" as opposed to "how successful they are" and then you'll what?, benchmark the quality of their service based on that?. Then you want them in the same response to offer you a quote without going in to any detail. Your description could be applied to a lot of websites.

shamonemofo, I am trying to help you here so you don't end up in the same situation that many others on this board (even from posts today) are in. These situations are of complete dissatisfaction as a result of falling from the oldest trick in the book....Rushing in with a few ballpark ideas to people who know fine well you are not thinking strategically about the problem you are trying to solve or the place you are trying to get to, instead they will take those 3 figures from you today and tell you everything you want to hear. In a short amount of time you'll come on here feeling taken advantage of and starting threads about problems with your web designer.

Don't rush it, formalize/discuss everything and know what you want to get out of it. Listen to advice offered. Beware of the guy that says "Ah you don't have to worry about all that stuff, I can give you all that you want for very little".

Now I better get back to work, I've just given you my lunch break for free

abouttobebanned wrote: »

Your attitude stinks and I truly hope you get the website you deserve.

skelliser wrote: »

what do you need updating? is it for a band?
would a 4/5 page static site with an inbuilt blog suffice?

What your suggesting is a content management system which from what i gather is overkill from what i think you would need. Like is the site gonna be selling stuff or a brochure point of contact.