# Is $400 a reasonable amount for website development?



## jdispatcher (Dec 28, 2010)

I have a budget of 400 bucks that I want to use to hire someone to build my website and get it placed on google. My goal is to have a professional style website that will allow me to do everything I need to do and more. Is this a realistic amount? 

Also I'd like some tips on features or add ons that have helped you folks become successful clothing designers.

Thanks for the help.

jack


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## ajordan2 (Dec 28, 2010)

I would go to freelancer.com to find a designer. I've had a lot of success there.


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## scaf77 (Jan 10, 2011)

You could get a website for that but not an ecomerce website.(IMHO)


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## mikefont (Jan 10, 2011)

Really it depends. I mean if your looking for a basic, neat looking site coded in html then ya I suppose 400 would do it fine. If your looking at something that has allot of details in the design..and more then 3 pages then thats where the price goes up.
U gotta remmember thats its not just making a template for a site, it also includes slicing it up and then coding it. but 4oo outa do it i imagine


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

You might get a basic site for $400 but I'm not sure how useful it would be. Another option might be to look into one of the website hosting plans that offer templates. I know yahoo stores is one. Start there and make some sales and bring in some revenue and then create your own site when you can afford to spend the money to get exactly what you want.


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I would purchase a template and software such as Dreamweaver or Expressions Web so you have a site you own and one that can grow as your business grows.


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## stf_ceo (Dec 9, 2010)

These are your options

1. Save $600 and post on scriptlance.com 

2. Yahoo has a couple restrictions wrt website development so I'd suggest hostgator. Hostgator has pretty much unlimited everything and access to templates. Look for one that fits your style and you can take $400 maybe to scriptlance or freelance or elance.com. 


3. Big cartel site. Offers great customization and you can get a decent customizAtion for 400 bucks.

Negotiating is key. Don't accept initial bid. Always negotiate. Don't rush. Check work of designers to see if it matches your style. 

SWITCH has left the building!!!


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## RobertG (Oct 13, 2010)

As said before, for $400 you might have a simple regular design, but a webshop is something quite different.
I do this kind of work, if you want you may pm me.

Kind regards, Robert


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> My goal is to have a professional style website that will allow me to do everything I need to do and more


That doesn't give us much information about what *exactly* you want your site to do. The "and more" part also leaves things a bit open for giving you an idea if $400 is reasonable.

If you're just trying to have a shopping cart online for your clothing line, you could do that for free with storenvy.com

There's also a bit more professional similar type sites available at bigcartel.com and shopify.com (with monthly fees).

As you make some sales, you could invest the profits into building out your own ecommerce site. You might be able to learn what you need and don't need along the way as you start selling.


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## jdispatcher (Dec 28, 2010)

That's what Im doing now. I don't depend on the business for my lifestyle at the moment so I can sink most of the profits back into expanding it. (Lucky that way.) I just wanted to get a feel of what it would cost to have a site like Tapout (as an example). I don't want any flash videos and such, I just want it to work well with hand held devices and such. I go through godaddy right now but I would like to have the site look more like my vision for the brand.


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## peightal (Aug 21, 2010)

Check out Big Cartel.


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## tyzfknit (Oct 3, 2010)

I just cost 400 RMB...


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## SickPuppy (Aug 10, 2009)

$400 is way too much to spend on a website with all of the ecommerce templates out there. Buy a template and get some web hosting, a $5 per month plan should do it. 

Putting a website online is only part of the battle. SEO is what most new website owners forget about. You need to understand SEO or pay someone to do it for you. Most Internet shoppers will only view the top 3 to 5 pages of an Internet search. Spend your money on SEO. What good does it do you having the best looking website on the Internet if customers can't find your site because you land on page 250.

Check out www.templatemonster.com you can even find webhosters that will install the templates for you.

I would not recommend the Magento templates they are slow and not very user friendly


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## jdispatcher (Dec 28, 2010)

The designer I awarded the bid to was told that that was the priority. I had thought about doing the templates again but I don't have the time to design the shirts, manage the deliveries and build the new one. It was easier for me and I'd rather get exactly what I'm looking for then mostly what I want.
Thanks for the info though!


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## jorge001 (Feb 9, 2011)

We have a new web project. Based on a catalog, social community, surveys etc. The costs amount to 10,000 $ Today Web 2.0 is required to be competitive.


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## Dante2004 (Aug 23, 2010)

$400 won't get you much.

Several web hosts out there will have oscommerce (or something similar) available for free as one click installs. So you could technically have an e-store up and running in just a few minutes for "free" (minus what you are paying for hosting which could be as low as $4-5 / month.

However...this would be the basic template. You would still need to customize it with your company logo(s) and modify the color scheme to match your logo. Then you would need to populate the online catalog. This could be very time consuming...

Could $400 get the job done? Sure. But you won't get a "top notch" site for that.

Finally, you said "get it placed on Google". You don't just "do" this. You can submit your site to google, buy adwords, etc. But essentially google finds you - then places your site in the search rankings based on a trybillion different factors.


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

The other thing that people are forgetting is that it isn't just "placing on Google". It will do you no good to rank highly on the search engines if your site doesn't convert. The site has to run well, have good navigation, present the products attractively, and do a ton of other things correctly in order to achieve a sale. If you don't have that in place first, it doesn't matter how well you rank, because people won't buy.


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## SeasonEnds (Sep 9, 2007)

My most basic sites start at around that price. There are some awesome free templates out there. However, in my opinion, a free template will never give you the brand awareness that a clothing line requires. Get on a web host and install ZenCart and see if you can find someone to skin it in a completely custom way. It might be a little less expensive that way and it will pay off later when your customers recognize your brand.


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