Pricing
We love working with small businesses. In general, most small web sites can be built for as little as $375. A 1-2 page informational site can cost even less. Ecommerce sites, database-driven sites and content management platforms take a little more development initially, which increases the costs. Here are some possibilities for larger sites:
Joomla Content Management System
Budget Install Base Price: $650*. Includes Joomla install and one template.
Complete Install With All Content: $1200.
Price includes install, configuration, customization, training and support.
Wordpress Content Management System
Price
Range $300-$850*
Magento Ecommerce Site
Complete Install With All Content: $1200.
Includes install, configuration, customization, training and support.
Pinnacle Cart Ecommerce Site
Base Install and template configuration: $650.
Site data population: $35/hr.
*Clients have the option of reducing costs by entering content themselves once the main structure of the site is built. This is not only a great way to save money, but is also a good way to learn your way around your new CMS. In addition, training and support can be billed separately if needed or removed to reduce cost.
Hourly rate for development: $50
Hourly rate for content-only updates: $35
Billing is done in 15 minute increments.
Ongoing site maintenance is billed at the hourly rate. Updates are made within 1 business day.
Content Management Systems
Content management systems allow clients to update information, add pages, and change the navigation on their own. The learning curve is often easier than learning HTML because the interface resembles other software programs you might be used to, and it is accessed through a web browser, meaning that you can update your content from any computer. Once you understand the concept, adding content is easy.
Microtribe specializes in CMS development with Joomla 1.5. Joomla is an open source php-based platform with advanced functionality and a large and active development team and network of users. Joomla enables small companies to have access to functionality previously only accessible to companies with a $10,000+ budget for development. A Joomla CMS will give you a truly dynamic vehicle for communicating with your audience.
Drupal is another open source option. Drupal can be a better choice for larger companies, as it is more scalable (expandable for big growth). Drupal is known for being a better choice for social networking sites, however, recently many Joomla extensions, or add-ons, have been developed to address this need.
And last but not least, Wordpress is a great choice for small sites and clients who need access to a CMS but don't have a big budget. That said, Wordpress is hardly feels like "settling for less". It is an easy-to-use, sophisticated platform that is very user-friendly, and comes with a wealth of online documentation. Wordpress is known as a blogging tool, however it is easily customizable to suit the needs of any traditional web site without "looking" like a blog.
Joomla Training Here
Expert, patient, and non-intimidating Joomla training here. You have the option to include free training and support for Joomla in your Joomla install package price, or pay separately to reduce costs. If you already have a Joomla site, but need more help and don't have time to sift through pages of search results, I'm one of the best Joomla trainers around. I will show you the ropes and get you comfortable updating and maintaining your site with ease. Most folks get up to speed in just 3 hours, with a follow up a couple of weeks later.
Upgrade Your Web Browser!
Web designers have the challenge of building code that will appear uniform in a number of viewing environments. Internet Explorer causes the bulk of our discontent, especially those versions before IE7. Microtribe encourages everyone to stop using Internet Explorer 6 as soon as possible and switch to ANY other browser. The best browser is arguably Mozilla Firefox. It is "standards compliant" and is very customizable. The Opera browser is also quite good. And Google Chrome, released in late 2008 is a lightning-fast, rapidly-improving new browser, recently discovered to be more resistant to Hackers than some of the other browsers. If you have to use Internet Explorer (and I mean HAVE to) use the latest update, IE8, but please consider switching if you have a choice.
Internet
Explorer drives up the cost of web design, because web developers have to write extra
code to get it to work correctly. Gradually, people are migrating
to better browsers, but progress is slow, so please share this information
with everyone you know. If we work together to make Firefox the predominant web
browser (and it is heading in that direction with over a third of
the market share) we can send Microsoft an important message.
Enjoy the following articles on the inadequacies of Internet Explorer.
Just Say No to Yahoo and Go Daddy!
Microtribe does not recommend or work with Yahoo or Go Daddy hosting or domain name registration. If you are currently a Yahoo or Go Daddy customer, we ask that you switch providers before we get started. Both companies are incredibly difficult to work with, with poor customer service and non-intuitive user interfaces. If you've stumbled upon this site and are thinking of using Yahoo or Go Daddy, here's our advice: DON'T! Below is a list of companies we currently recommend. We choose companies that are smaller, easy to work with, easy to get on the phone, have knowledgeable support, great pricing, and simple user access.
Hosting Companies
A2
Hosting - A great Michigan-based company. Good service and green conscious.
iHostASP.net (Windows-based hosting only for asp.net applications)
Domain Name Registration
Omnis (when registering, be careful not to sign up for hosting too - they can be sneaky).
Email Marketing
MailChimp is free if your list is less than 500 folks. MailChimp has some great features and is easy to use. We also recommend Constact Contact for larger lists, and increased templates, if you're not customizing your template.
Referrals
For high-end Ruby on Rails development, we highly recommend Reuss New Media and Neoteric Design.
Call me for a free consultation today at 503.505.6880.
