You've established that it's time for a new website. You've defined your needs. Now you need to find someone to fulfill those needs. Many people, small businesses and large businesses call themselves web service providers, and you will find that there may be large differences in cost, services and solutions available. In our ten years of experience, we have learned much about our competitors, so here's a somewhat comical, but all too real depiction of the web service providers that you may be interviewing when choosing the right web design company for your needs.

Leisure Time Web Design

Leisure Time Web Design is run by Larry Lowe. Larry loves to talk tech with his friends, so he started a web design company that he can run in his leisure time. Larry has a few local clients in his portfolio and he has been in business for about 5 years.

Price Range: $250-$1,000

What you will get:

DESIGN
It is unlikely Larry will provide a custom design because he doesn't have any knowledge of design, so he will provide you with a generic template and slap your logo right on top.

DEVELOPMENT
Larry is an HTML wizard, so he will build you an HTML website. The problem is Larry ONLY knows HTML, and he ONLY knows it to the extent that he took a class at the local library, so he is no expert.

MAINTENANCE
Larry only knows HTML, so he tells you to call him with update requests and he will take care of it. However, he does not tell you that his leisure time also consists of other hobbies, so none of your requests will be fulfilled in a timely manner.

What will happen:

You will become frustrated with Larry's lack of attention and ability to fulfill your needs, so
you will call Inventure.

Bargain Basement Web Design

Bargain Base Web Design is run by Barry Brown. Barry is a full-time web designer and there are two things you can be sure of when you're dealing with Barry... you will get a bargain and the work will be done in his basement. Barry has many local clients, and even a few regional clients, in his portfolio and he has been in business for 10 years.

Price Range: $500-$2,500

What you will get:

DESIGN
Barry may know enough about design to be dangerous, but that is dangerous in itself. He will provide a “customized template” that will include your logo, color scheme and style but will not truly be a custom, branded design.

DEVELOPMENT
Barry tells you that you will be able to maintain your website because he will install Wordpress. Wordpress is a blogging and website management tool. It is free. If Barry knows it well enough, he will be able to integrate different technologies such as photo galleries, form builders and online transactions into the website. He doesn't tell you that Wordpress doesn't inherently support some of the technologies that you have requested, so he will be hacking together technologies and you may have multiple logins in different areas to manage different things.

MAINTENANCE
Because your site was built on Wordpress, you will need to update it whenever Wordpress updates their software to “Version 2.0.9.3.4”. Barry forgot to tell you this and he is now charging you for version upgrades. He is also charging you for content update requests because you are so confused by the Wordpress management system, and the other technologies that he has installed, you can't actually navigate through your own website!

What will happen:

You will find yourself paying more for upgrades and maintenance than you paid for the website development. The costs will outweigh the benefits as Barry cannot fulfill your requests without hacking together 4 more new technologies and confusing you even further. So, you will call Inventure.

Inventure

Inventure was founded by Clay Burnett in 2001. Clay is a full-time business owner and designer and he works with a network of qualified, dependable resources to provide advanced services. Inventure has more than 80 local, regional and national clients in its portfolio. Inventure offers a Content Management System called InControlCMS.

Price Range: $1,500-$10,000

What you will get:

DESIGN
Clay specializes in design. He will work with you to define the brand, style, color scheme and overall “feel” of your website. He will present you with an authentic, unique design concept and he will be glad to revise the concept until you are 100% satisfied.

DEVELOPMENT
Inventure has a team of specialists that work to meet your every need. The specialists will create an industry standard content management system that will allow you to control all of the content on your website: text, photos, forms, news, events, downloads, links, products and more. Inventure will train you to use the system and you will be able to manage your website. However, if you are short on time, Inventure is glad to lend a hand at an affordable hourly rate for updates. InControlCMS does not have versions, so you will never be charged for upgrades. You will receive regular upgrades as Inventure takes input from their client base to make enhancements to the CMS. Once enhancements are released, everyone enjoys the benefits!

MAINTENANCE
You may become so comfortable with the CMS that you will never have to call Inventure! However, if you do call Inventure for assistance, you will talk directly to the owner. If you send an email, if will be answered promptly and your requests will be handled as efficiently as possible.

What will happen:

You will be satisfied with the cost of design and development, there will be little to no
maintenance costs and you will talk with a friendly voice every time you call with a question. Clay will visit your business from time to time to make sure that all is well in your online world and you will be proud of the updates that you've made to your website and even more proud of the strides that you business has made due to the visitors of the website being impressed with a professional, easy-to-use, up-to-date website!

Elite Elephant Web Design

Elite Elephant Web Design was founded by Ethan Edmonds 25 years ago. Elite Elephant has offices in three different office buildings in three different, extremely pricey, cities. Elite Elephant has hundreds of clients across the globe.

Price Range: $10,000-$100,000

What you will get:

DESIGN
Elite Elephant has a team of in-house designers that wear the trendiest clothes that you can imagine. The designers disregard all of your input in hopes of winning the next big design award. Communication with this team will be nearly impossible as they do not care what you think, or what your audience will think, they only care how cool the design will be.

DEVELOPMENT
Elite Elephant has a development team in-house that will define your project, however they will outsource the work to a foreign country. They do not tell you that their outsource does not speak english at all and has no knowledge of how a website should function, they are just tech experts who ingest directions and spit out solutions that make little sense. You will receive a CMS, but it will not be intuitive because Vladimir from Russia has no concept of usability, so you will be able to update a few things but have to request updates in other areas.

MAINTENANCE
You will soon realize why the word “Elephant” is in their name... they are bulky and move incredibly slow, even when you are paying them hundreds of dollars per hour for updates. They will charge you high hosting costs due to their “state-of-the-art” facility, that they have overspent building. You will also realize that they are only “Elite” because you have just paid for their next shiny office building, brand new pair of designer jeans, and coupe convertible.

What will happen:

They will eventually forget about you, and when they do remember who you are, they will send a bill. So, you will call Inventure!