Learn how much you should be spending on a custom Web application for your growing business.

1. How much should I spend on a
CUSTOM WEBSITE for my
GROWING BUSINESS?
Kasim Aslam
Digital Ninja
Solutions 8
www.sol8.com
@kasimaslam

2. Key Decision Maker

3. Key Decision Maker Kasim

4. Didn’t expect a straight answer did you?

5. Well I’m full of surprises. Allow me to explain.

6. If I wanted to, I could have been really annoying and
side stepped the good ol’ price question with
statements like…
every website is different
it depends on your specific
needs
give me a call to discuss your
scope and I’ll price it out for
you

7. While every website is different and your specific needs will
(sometimes substantially) alter the price of your website, why
can’t development firms provide you with a baseline
average?

8. It is actually your fault.
That’s right, I said it.
At this stage in your business life cycle you’re looking for a
custom website and a custom website deserves a custom
quote.

9. The Client who believes his or her needs to be
completely unique is going to avoid anything
that appears to be “out of the box” with extreme
prejudice.

10. The long and tired process of a pre-development meeting in
order to “determine your specific needs” so your firm of
choice can build a “specification document” and provide
you with an “approximate cost and turnaround time” is
completely for your benefit.

11. If you’re having a discussion with
someone who truly knows what
they’re doing they could more than
likely give you an accurate ballpark
estimate within a half hour.

12. I’ve been building custom website and
software applications professionally for
nearly 7 years.
Is every website different?
Yes.
If custom websites were sold at Target, would 90%
of them be on the same shelf?
Yup.

13. I realize this sounds a little fishy - the guy who
builds websites for a living telling you what to spend
on websites.

14. It’s a lot like the diamond ring companies deciding
that an engagement ring should be three months’
salary.
I just really appreciate knowing they
have my best interests at heart.

15. For a growing business looking to
build a custom web application
that is scalable, tailored to convert
users and well positioned to be an
intricate facet of the business’s
ongoing marketing I have found that
$10,000 tends to be the baseline
cost.

16. Now, this does not mean you should
take $10k in cash and throw it at the
first semi-nerdy looking guy you find
sitting by himself at Starbucks. You can
spend ten grand and get a solid custom
website but you can also spend fifty
thousand and get hosed.

17. You still need to perform your due
diligence and choose a firm that can be
trusted.

18. I highly recommend having your website built
with open source technology.
For a great read on open source website development
written by one of the smartest people I know check out
Developers: The Modern Day Mechanic.

19. Here’s what you should expect for your
$10,000…

20. 1. Pre-development Process
Time spent between you, your team and the project
manager discussing:
Your target Your primary Your
demographic calls to required
(buyer action (CTAs) functionality
persona)
Note: Functionality is the single largest perpetrator of scope increase. If you’re
looking to have a highly functional web application created then expect to spend
much more money.

21. 1. Pre-development Process
A sitemap and wireframe presented for your sign
off before mockup creation.
Both the sitemap and wireframe should be
tailored to suit your buyer personas, primary
CTAs and required functionality.
A functional scope of work that outlines, in detail,
exactly what your website will do and how it will
work.

22. 2. Development Requirements
A robust and scalable content management
system (CMS) that will allow you to control and
manage the day to day requirements of your
website including:
-Adding / Editing / Deleting pages and menu items
-Editing content (text / images / videos)
-Publishing blogs
-Managing subscriptions or any registered users
-*I highly recommend choosing an open source content
management system like Wordpress or Joomla

23. 2. Development Requirements
A quality assurance process that allows you to
test every major functional component of the
application prior to go live.
Page deployment that includes the placement
and formatting of content.
Standard / boiler plate functionality.

24. 3. What’s not included
Media and content creation will either be a
separate contract or should be something you
plan on providing.
Advanced functionality or functions that “haven’t
been done before”.
Changes or additions requested after the scope
is agreed upon.

25. Thank you!
Kasim Aslam
Digital Ninja
Solutions 8
www.sol8.com
Solutions 8 Blog
@kasimaslam