Getting a Website Designed and Built

[Stuuuuuu]

Thanks for the tips everyone. A lot to think about...

 

[cucumberman]

...for a reasonable price? Just been quoted £5k+ which was a bit of a shock and several times above what I was thinking. Can anyone advise? I'll paste below what I sent to the designers.

I've been developing a digital product (i.e. pdf files) which I plan on selling to schools.

What I'm looking for:
* a great and professional-looking website where schools can pay electronically (not just through PayPal but by credit and debit card / bank transfer too) and immediately receive an e-mail containing the product(s) of their choosing as an attachment.

>>> use merchant transaction. There are a few available like PayPal (both PayPal and cards), Verisign, there are several others. Bank transfers for online transaction is not common. It's done manually through direct debit forms.

* If possible, I'd like the pdf files to have a small automatic watermark/modification to say something like 'Licensed for use by [school name] only. Unlicensed use prohibited.' before being automatically sent to them as an e-mail attachment.

>>> bespoke watermark. This one is tricky if you are expecting it to be automated process. Can be done manually though for every transaction. Why not password protected PDF instead?

* A design that looks quite formal - like an authority such as a government department or similar.

>>> There's hundreds and thousands of templates. If you use Wordpress you have access to mojo marketplace. You can also browse themeforest.net to find a design you like. Or start from scratch which I like to do.

* A design that loads quickly and works well on all types of devices including tablets and smartphones and all browsers.

>>> you want a responsive template. Most themes now are responsive and retina ready. Loading time is dependent on the files associated with the design. Good practice of minimal design and script will make for faster loading.

* Needs to be Mac-friendly at my end.

>>> What you would want is cross browser compatibility. It's not the OS that determines how the website looks, although you might have plug-in difficulties in OS, such as Flash or codec stuff but with a good theme these problems should not arise.

* Various e-mail addresses set up to work with the domain name and the ability to set up more when I need them.

>>> When you buy a domain and host, you get to have the email name. Your email platform will be in your CPanel list

* An automatic follow-up / confirmation e-mail sent to anyone who purchases the product(s).

>>> you can set this up with your merchant setting and add in your email, or most email platforms really.

* Collection of data as entered into a form on the site by a school and the automatic storage of this in a database which I can access at any time.

>>> Sett up a form, point the form to an SQL database. This is for read/write access. If you are talking about read/write/rewrite access to schools then that's a different kettle of fish altogether because of sign-in privileges.

* Depending on how things go, I may want to expand the number of pages and downloadable content significantly over a number of months.

>>> as per designing the website the first time. Just 'Add New Page' and 'Upload New Media > Set to Downloadable'

* Optimisation for Google / Bing rankings.

>>> use SEO and AdSense plugins and set up accounts. Pay for ad listing in social media like FB.

* Automatic storage of the details of all the people who buy the product (based on what they enter in the online form).

>>> the forms will handle this.

* I have a large database of e-mail addresses (somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000). I would like a marketing e-mail to be sent to all of them (with an attachment), followed up by a second (different) marketing e-mail sent to those who didn't purchase the product the first time round. Can this be done in a way that the e-mail isn't flagged as spam? I need to be sure that the e-mails will actually make it to all of the intended recipients.

>>> that is a big list. What are you selling? You can transfer the .csv list to your SQL database for your host email. Spam check is from your client side, nothing can be done other than telling them to check their junk mail or set their spam check filter.

* Can the name of the recipient be included in the e-mail subject? I.e. ‘John Smith, Product X Now Available’ I have the names of the intended recipients in the .csv file along with their e-mail addresses.

>>> for update emails, I'm not certain. For emails right after clients filling a form, coding the form will make it possible.

* Contact page with FAQs at the top. These should each be clickable to reveal the answer.

>>> Add Page. Link page to menu bar.

A few questions:
* About hosting of the files: how would it work in terms of storing the files and them being available to be automatically e-mailed to purchasers at any time (potentially to numerous people all at once)? The files won't be particularly large.

I'm not sure about automated timed release emails. There are timed release contents though. I think it's safer to just go to email, select Recipients > All, and attach the file and send. If automated I can see several things that can go wrong.

 

[Ric]

For an email send of that size (i.e. 20,000-30,000) , you should really be using a third party such as MailChimp. They can stagger the send if you so desire.

As mentioned in my PM, Shopify might be worth looking at for your site if you want to keep costs down initially. It's $29 a month, which I guess could soon add up, but it means you don't have to throw a load of money up front at the project.

 

[stonerblue]

Kin hell.., i'm struggling setting up my facebook business page.

 

[Stuuuuuu]

Kin hell.., i'm struggling setting up my facebook business page.

Haha! Yeah, my colleagues think I'm really good with tech but I am absolutely clueless when it comes to anything to do with websites or networking.

Thanks again to everyone who's commented on here; it's great to have some impartial advice.

 

[steviemc]

For an email send of that size (i.e. 20,000-30,000) , you should really be using a third party such as MailChimp. They can stagger the send if you so desire.

As mentioned in my PM, Shopify might be worth looking at for your site if you want to keep costs down initially. It's $29 a month, which I guess could soon add up, but it means you don't have to throw a load of money up front at the project.

Yep, I've found Mailchimp really good for large mail sends and promo campaigns. Not too costly and automates the processes of removing redundant email addresses and enabling customers to easily subscribe/unsubscribe from future mails/promotions. I usually send to less than 2000, therefore the service is free, but it saves me so much time that I'd not hesitate to pay for the service if I needed to exceed this limit.

 

[Stuuuuuu]

Yep, I've found Mailchimp really good for large mail sends and promo campaigns. Not too costly and automates the processes of removing redundant email addresses and enabling customers to easily subscribe/unsubscribe from future mails/promotions. I usually send to less than 2000, therefore the service is free, but it saves me so much time that I'd not hesitate to pay for the service if I needed to exceed this limit.

This sounds really encouraging. Do you not come up against spam filters though?

 

[117 M34]

What are the PDF files you plan on selling to schools?

 

[Stuuuuuu]

I'm keeping quiet about it for the moment!

 

[1961_vintage]

What are the PDF files you plan on selling to schools?

First up is a simple guide how to design, build, implement, maintain and support your own commercial web presence for less than £5k.

Content is currently being populated but should be finalised in a day or so.