WHAT SHOULD I WANT IN A CONTRACT WITH A WEB DESIGNER?

[john]

We have come to terms on a price of 2400.00 for a website,social media,facebook page,and logo branding image, and business cards. This is a first for me in dealing with web designers. How can I protect myself in getting what I need in this contract. Any ideas that I could include in the contract will be appreciated. I am asking because I don't want to get ripprd off. Is the 2400.00 fee reasonable? The webiste is for a funeral business.

[Erik]

Make sure you know what you want up front. If you change your mind and they are a good web developer, then they should charge you and charge you well. Web Developers don't like when you change things after, as it is a lot of extra work for them that they don't always get paid for, because to the client (Thats you), they don't feel like its that big of a change.

You want some text changed, fine. No problem. You want a redesign, the menu on the left rather than the right, the color scheme is all wrong, etc... be prepared to pay. $$$$$

[Chris]

I'd do it for less chrisbbradley.dev@gmail.com

$2400 is a lot of money. If they are professionally designing your website from scratch then yes, it can cost several thousands (depending on the functionality and how large the website is). If there is a lot of extra cost in the social media and logo design I don't think it's worth it. You could get a logo made for $100 or less and social media takes 30 mins to make.

Anyway, are they hosting the website for you and giving you a domain name? I would ask in the contract to basically just make sure they finish the website and it passes your approval. Nothing should be final until you fully test the website and approve of it.

[joyce]

$2,400 seems very reasonable considering everything included in that startup package. I wonder how much SEO is included in that.

To prevent yourself from being ripped off is to be as informative as you can with what you want. If you hired a professional service they should know the right questions to ask you. Though, if you suddenly change your mind about something the designer will probably add an additional charge. This is not ripping you off but simply being compensated for a service that wasn't included in the original quote. I would insist on a contract. This protects both you and the designer. My clients like to make partial payments as the work progresses. I'm okay with that and maybe your designer will be too.

On a side note, if someone offers to build you a logo for $100, you will most likely get something unoriginal or a direct ripoff of another funeral home logo. A typical designer's fee could be $50/hour. 2 Hours of work is not nearly enough to research what your competitors already have and take considerable time to create something that meets your needs. Think about it.

Best of luck with your business.

[Sam]

First: are you working in $ or £? There is a big difference.

In £'s, that's a very high price for a simple website.
in $'s, that's not so bad, but still very pricy for the relatively small task

Social Media? Free - 30 mins
Logo? Get it for as little as £20 good, or as much as £200 for better quality
Website? For a basic website, template with your text, £50-£100
For a advanced website (you draw it out they make to your specifications) maybe £300-£350.
Since your content won't be advanced (no users, right?), your site might take just a few hours to make, the kind of work you might pay £150-£200 inclusive of logo design & social media. Hosting/Domain name may be additional, monthly/volume based.
Business cards are very cheap.

You want to assure the provider of your web design
How many pages are you making?
What hosting i provided? Ask the seller/web designer if it is reseller hosting.
What domain names are provided, and who will the domain be registered in name of?

Just check through the contract. They are not scamming you, I think they are just overcharging you (by quite abit!). For example, it might take me an hour to design 5 pages for a company/individual/business. You create one basic file and change the text/some indesign of the page to the pages specific content - you might create the home page and then change the text of 'Welcome to my website...' as the title and then 'We focus on .....' to 'Contact details' and then 'Email: hsjdf@sdjf.com Name: CEO/Company Manager John Doe'.

Editing the website should be not to tasking in terms of text. Changing the structure of your website however, could take hours - like the other answer said, take this in mind when you consider asking the designer on what to do. The more specific the better - You can quote if they don't do it as you said, but you can also get more tailored and specizilaized results.

if you've a 5 page website building the designer is way over charging you.

Ok so to put it down its unlikely to take a skilled designer more then 2 working days to make your site. Would you want to pay £/$2400 for 2 days work? Not to mention the logo may be outsourced.

A good designer will give you the ability to create and reproduce your business cards/logo if you leave him. Assure with them this is the case and make them agree to give you direct connections and ability to order those cards etc. Incase you want to fire them.

Cover the switching; if you decide you don't need them or watch to switch to another designer, how easy is it? This is why who registers the domain name is important; in your name or theirs?

I wouldn't mind a quoto of what you need done @ jamesbowyer44@yahoo.co.uk