Cheap Web Site Design This case study is a perfect example of cheap web site design.  To clarify, let's discuss some of the differences between "inexpensive" web sites, "expensive" web sites, and "cheap" web sites. There is probably no other industry outside of website design where the saying "You get what you pay for" rarely applies.  Surely there are both good and not so good website designers, but the differences between one web site quote and another can be so extreme as to be laughable. At Lighthouse Colorprint, we have many clients who switched their website needs to us from another web designer.  In nearly every instance, effectiveness combined with cost determined whether or not to switch.  For one client in particular, our fee to completely redesign their site, due the numerous problems found within the original site, was merely 25% of the original fee charged by the "other" web designer!  Can you imagine if this happened in any other industry?  This is comparable to buying a 2006 BMW 3 Series (MSRP: $36,995) for $147,980 -- FOUR times what you should have paid! Unlike many web designers, we charge a simple hourly rate of $55/hr.  We do not have "packages" as we have found these to be more expensive for the client.  Why?  As with any package price, there is always padding added by the company to cover the unknown.  If there are no surprises, then the company earns more, literally at the client's expense.  If there is a surprise, or two, in excess of this padding, then the company will typically revert to their standard hourly rate of $100+ per hour ... again, this doesn't help the client. Case in point, Froehlich's had a site designed by another company that needed a complete redesign.  Their website had a dark color scheme that wasn't reflective of the bright and cheerful "brick & mortar" store, there were various coding issues, plus the page widths were much smaller than necessary. Lighthouse Colorprint was hired in 2004 to completely revamp their site.  First, we added a bright white background to better emphasize the Froehlich's logo and productlines.  We then added a "stacked" and repeating graphic of Jams to add a little color along the left side of the pages.  Next, we changed the pages to an "auto-adjusting" layout that would fit virtually any internet browser width.  Then, we changed the formatting of all the text.  This was followed by streamlining all the existing images for quicker loading.  Finally, we altered all the "behind the scenes" coding to better work with the search engines, corrected the various coding issues, and set-up the shopping cart. All told, a summary ... 10 New files created 42 Images streamlined 5 Redesigned web pages 1 CSS script file created Reduced the file size of the website by: 493,879 BYTES! Total Cost (Hours): $550 (10 hrs.) The end result was a smart looking website that better matched not only the look of the store, but also the Froehlich's print material. Froehlich's "PageRank" is now improving (the Google website ranking system) and Froehlich's website visits are increasing.  More visits = more customers = more sales! To quote Froehlich's ... Oh my gosh, it's beautiful!  I love it! Great job. Thank you so so much, I really appreciate all your hard work, and time! You're the best! Put Lighthouse Colorprint to work for you!  Please contact us for additional information. Website Design  |  Full Color Printing  |  Standard Printing  |  Home Page  |  Contact Us