All WordPress websites are based on themes that can be extended upon their intended purpose – that is part of its power. So the more complex the design or functionality a site owner requires, the more he will have to spend adapting it to suit. We have organised WordPress sites into three types. Each type is progressively more complex and has a higher price tag.
Type A – The no-frills website
Type A is the least expensive option and consists of the bare bones of what you would expect from a brochure / portfolio style website to achieve.
Typically, a Type A website will use an out-of-the-box WordPress theme which are rather like kit-cars i.e. the design is preconfigured with how its structure, functionality and colour palette etc is made up. For example, if the theme allows the background colour to be changed from green to blue, you can’t have it red, unless you are willing to pay extra for customisation.
Warning: Many businesses opt for the Type A site with the intention of making revision after revision until the developer gets it “perfect.” That’s not what the developer has agreed to. The developer has agreed to a basic site at the low end of the cost spectrum and that’s what they’ll deliver. If you want the developer to spend lots of time fine tuning and finessing your site for the Type A price, you will be disappointed.
Type B – The customised site
Type B websites expand on Type A sites in that you can receive far more customisations and revisions as the developer can spend more time with you crafting and implementing programming beyond the limitations of the installed WordPress theme.
Warning. The developer of the Type B site will probably give room for some revisions, but you will not get infinite access to their production team. At some point, if your demands become unreasonable, you may find the developer holding you to the letter of the contracted terms.
Type C – The custom site
If you have very specific needs or requirements that involve integration with sophisticated back-end systems, you will likely need to go down the Type C route.
Essentially, the Type C site is fully customised for your business needs and is essentially useless for any other business. This type will typically come with the most flexibility, the highest level of custom design, attention to detail and of course the highest price tag. You can quite literally have your developer build a site that matches your imagination.
Warning. There is no real word of caution here. If you are willing to pay, your developer will do everything and anything you need.
Final Note:
Your business should only accept a proposal if you feel comfortable that the developer you are dealing with understands your business. We would advise you not to ask for a price blindly without first having a conversation with a developer about your business needs. Otherwise you can’t measure what the structure of his approach is going to be and thus have no real way of measuring the value within the pricing structure they’ve set.
We have put together a simple but effective e-book you might want to consider downloading that will help you cement in your mind what you want out of your future website design project so you can easily instruct your developer to create the impact you’re looking for:
‘7 Areas to Consider Before Engaging with Your Website Designer’ download the article here
