What Should A Website Cost
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The document discusses the key considerations for determining website costs for nonprofits, highlighting the importance of planning, stakeholder inclusion, and defining project goals. It outlines various elements that influence costs, such as design complexity, necessary features, and expected maintenance, while providing guidance on selecting vendors and managing relationships. Resources and recommendations for nonprofit technology processes and web development are also shared to assist organizations in navigating their digital initiatives.
What Should A Website Cost
- 1. How Much Should a Website Cost? December 17, 2009 Audio is only available by calling this number: Conference Call: 866-740-1260; Access Code: 6339392 Sponsored by
- 2. Using ReadyTalk Chat & raise hand Mute = *6, Unmute = *7 If you lose your internet connection, reconnect using the link emailed to you. If you lose your phone connection, re-dial the phone number and re-join. ReadyTalk support: 800-843-9166
- 3. You are being recorded… This seminar will be available on the TechSoup website along with past webinar presentations: www.techsoup.org/go/webinars You will receive a link to this presentation, material and links. After the webinar, you can ask follow-up questions in the Web Building Forum: tinyurl.com/ ycsb7nx Twitter hashtags: #techsoup
- 4. How Much Should a Website Cost? Presenter: Allen Gunn, Executive Director Aspiration Sponsored by
- 5. Today’s Speakers Kami Griffiths TechSoup Assisting with chat questions: Becky Wiegand, TechSoup & Suzi Grishpul, Radical Designs All presentation content is Creative Commons licensed :) Allen Gunn (Gunner) Aspiration
- 6. Agenda What are you trying to accomplish? Who do you include in the process? Where to start and what to do? How to engage implementors? What are the relevant technologies? What should you expect to pay? What is the staff time commitment?
- 7. About Aspiration Mission: Better software for nonprofits We work with all stakeholders in the nonprofit software ecosystem In our work, we: Provide strategic consulting Coach orgs on sustainable processes Train and mentor in effective use of tools Run user-driven collaborative tech events www.aspirationtech.org
- 8. What are You Trying to Get Done? Creating and redesigning web sites are different tasks; do you want to: Build a site from scratch? Layer new look onto existing content? Completely overhaul existing site? Costing will depend on the task Graphic design is a large determinant Overhauls can be more expensive than whole new sites
- 9. Who Do You Include in the Process? Web projects are organizational development opportunities in disguise Follow transparent process for whole org Have an internal communication strategy Include all stakeholders from the start Don't “leave it to the techies” - ever Interview each stakeholder to understand how the site should support their work Think in terms of “publishing workflows”
- 10. What to Discuss? Answer fundamental questions first How do we describe our organization? How do we explain our work? Who is empowered to speak on behalf of the organization? What is the process for approving externally published content? Addressing these before starting a web project drives down costs
- 11. What to Discuss? Answer external questions next Who are primary and secondary audiences for the intended site? What value/benefit will you provide each audience to draw them to the site? What are your goals for what they do on the site and take away from the site? What content needs to exist to support answers to all the above? Engage external audience members!
- 12. Where to Start? Idealized web site pre-process Answer internal and external questions Know your overall goals for the site Sketch out “information architecture” Marshall content to support that vision Draft “user stories” Describe how audiences and staff will use site Sketch out “wireframes” Approximate how pages might look At some point above you need help
- 13. What to Do Next When you reach the extent of your organizational capacity, write an RFP Provide essential information : Background on organization and work Explicit definition of project goal(s) Distillation of “what we know so far” Explicit enumeration of desired deliverables and needed services Keep it short and clean
- 14. Where Should the RFP Go? Seek review by peers with experience Ask allies for suggested vendors Ask the same on relevant mailing lists and social networks Select 2-4 vendors to engage Ask for short clean responses Good vendors respond first with questions Look for experience with “orgs like you” Pick a relationship, not a platform
- 15. What Does the Process Look Like? Project milestones System architecture Not needed for “typical” nonprofit sites Creative design Largest cost variant at low end Site design Implementation and deployment Content placement and/or migration Training and support
- 16. How to Manage the Relationship? Follow a well-defined change process “Verbal” is not such a one Get time, cost estimates on new features Get immediate notification on overruns Do Ask, Do Tell Talk it before walking it Request granular billing and invoicing Know what you're getting charged for as it is happening, not at the end
- 17. What are Appropriate Technologies? Nonprofits should “ALWAYS” use an open source CMS WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, Plone are state-of-the-art publishing tools Correctly used, they maximize flexibility Plan for breakup or divorce Minimize custom code creation Avoid technologies with lock-in contracts Know your migration options in advance
- 18. What Should You Expect to Pay? What kind of site are we talkin' about? Let's say: 25-50 pages of content Email sign-up feature Online donation support Minimal additional interactivity Maintainable by staff using web browsers Site traffic statistics produced “ Brochure-ware with a growth path”
- 19. What Should You Expect to Pay? Costs vary widely, BUT Rudimentary (non-ugly) Wordpress sites can be had for $500-1000 Excellent state-of-the-art sites can be had for $2K - $10K Above $10K, make sure you know why Above $20K, raise red flags Graphic design is biggest cost variant
- 20. What Should You Expect to Pay? Cost escalators Integration, integration, integration 3rd party and custom applications Legacy databases Older sites and systems Additional features CRM (connect to DIA, Salesforce, CiviCRM) Forums, chat, events calendar, Google, ...
- 21. What Should You Expect to Pay? Consultant hourly rates vary widely but Plenty of great shops in $75-$120/hr range Good shops have multi-tiered rates Above $150, usually paying for reputation Strategy services are an exception Check references, check references, ... Costing models Graphic design can often be flat-rated Approach flat-rated sites with caution
- 22. What Are the Ongoing Costs? Fixed hosting costs Monthly hosting for most orgs is $10-20/mo For high-volume sites, $100-$200/mo Domain name no more than $10/year Hosted tools (CRM, newsletters, action, ...) Variable maintenance Budget to upgrade CMS in timely fashion Anticipate need to add features New graphic assets can be expensive
- 23. What is the Staff Time Commitment? What is your communication strategy? Regular site updates can be done in just a few hours per week Frequency, complexity of updates correlates to required staff time Content development is larger cost Interactive community features up costs Responding to comments Managing discussion boards Allowing other user participation
- 24. Resources Aspiration provides coaching on all nonprofit technology processes Web site planning RFP design Proposal review Join us for “Managing Nonprofit Technology Projects – DC” Two days of collaborative learning February 8-9, 2010
- 25. Resources Implementors we (heart) Radical Designs (radicaldesigns.org) Best-of-breed campaign, event, social media SF Bay Area FloatLeft (floatleft.org) Consummate Drupal professionals Washington, DC PICNet (picnet.net) Best Joomla! sites, Nonprofit Soapbox SF and DC
- 26. Resources Implementors we (heart) Happy Snowman (happysnowmantech.com) Excellent Drupal shop SF Bay Area OpenFlows (www.openflows.org) Drupal and CiviCRM NYC
- 27. Resources Design shops we (heart) Design Action (designaction.org) Excellent activist art and design collective Values-driven and passionate Oakland-based Quilted (quilted.coop) Innovative and creative design cooperative Values-driven and passionate Bi-coastal
- 28. Summary You CAN control your web destiny, and web site costs Know what you want before building Process, process, process: have a plan Less is more: when in doubt, leave it out Avoid moving targets Use existing code, avoid writing new Talk to folks about what you're doing
- 29. Questions? Submit your questions using the chat box.
- 30. Continue the Discussion… Additional questions can be answered by posting in the Web Building Forum: tinyurl.com/ ycsb7nx
- 31. Get the Most Out of TechSoup At TechSoup, you’ll find a range of technology services to help your nonprofit: Read helpful articles in our Learning Center Request donated software , hardware, and online services Join our community forums to learn from your colleagues Browse upcoming events and conferences
- 32. Thank you to our Webinar Sponsor! ReadyTalk offers dedicated product demos for TechSoup organizations 4 times per week. For more information: pages.readytalk.com/techsoup.html
- 33. Thank you! Please complete the post event survey! Kami Griffiths, [email protected], 415-633-9392