How much does it cost to own a web page?  What are the costs involved?

For projects of less than four pages we will accept payment upon completion.  For pages that are four pages or more we require a down payment of 40% of the quote price in advance.  The final 60% will be due upon completion.  If at any point you decide to cancel your contract with us for your web page we will honor the cancellation request with the following conditions: A minimum of $10 per completed screen will be kept from the down payment.  If the contract is cancelled the bill from Future Wave Computer Solutions will be for the percentage of the project that was completed prior to cancellation.  This bill will be paid out of the down payment and any remaining down payment will be refunded.  If the amount completed exceeds the down payment then a fee of 25% of the amount completed that is not covered by the down payment will be billed.  Creating a web site is very time consuming and we must bill on work done.  NOTICE - To date no customers have been dissatisfied with our service.  No cancellations or refunds have been requested.

ITEMS F1 F2 HQ Creation of a single screen (1600 x 600 max) (max. 6 hours labor) $50 $50 $50     If screen is elaborate going beyond 6 hours here is hourly rate $10 $10 $16 Submission to Altavista, Google, Infoseek, Lycos, Northern Light, Yahoo, About, AOL Search, MSN Search, and Hotbot FREE 1st time $10 additional FREE 1st time $10 additional FREE 1st time $10 additional Domain name registration $13.50/yr $13.50/yr $13.50/yr Hosting Free and up Free and up Free and up Secure socket layer (encryption for credit cards and orders) Varies Varies Varies Shopping Cart Varies Varies Varies Custom graphics (if logo needed beyond our artistic abilities) all graphics on this page and on the three in the pages shown on this site were made without the need of a professional graphic artist so, in most cases you will probably not need this.  The Future Wave logo was designed by the graphic artist in approximately 10 minutes time. $60/hr $60/hr $60/hr Submission to 100s of search engines Varies Varies Varies Progressive marketing strategy (resubmit and observe to improve search engine rankings and traffic) $50 $50 $50 MAINTENANCE FEES F1 F2 HQ Simple update up to 200 words or up to 4 pictures (up to 30 min) $5 $5 $6 Medium update up to 500 words or up to 16 pictures (up to 1 hr) $10 $10 $12 Large update 500 -> 2000 words or 16 to 48 pictures (up to 3 hours) $20 $20 $25 Complete overhaul of a screen that already exists (up to 6 hours) $30 $30 $40

Before becoming too afraid of these prices look at these example web pages that might be made:
EXAMPLE #1: A simple presence using the most affordable means.  This customer wants a single screen describing their massage parlor and a second page with contact information, driving instructions, a guest book, and detailed traffic statistics.  This will be submitted to the top search engines.  This will be an HQ high quality frameless site.  This site will be hosted on a free site and no domain name will be required.
2 Screens @ $50 each = $100
TOTAL PRICE: $100      Compare this to a small business sized add in a newspaper at $24/week and it is apparent that this is a very good price.

EXAMPLE #2: If you visit the site http://elkhunt.tripod.com/ you will find a site with a 4 minute hunting video, and multiple pages of pictures.  This site generates as many as 800 visitors during some months for its hunting in a very small region.  It is an F1 frames site.  The total expenditure for this page has been $320 plus two payments of $40 each when a new page was added twice with 16 pictures each page.  The bulk of this expenditure was the creation of the four minute video and converting it to two online formats.  So, this page has cost a grand total of $400 and is hosted on a free host so, the owner does not incur any additional fees.  This form of advertisement is very large and has negated the need for our customer to pay postage and mail out VHS tapes.  His customers can watch his video online.
TOTAL PRICE: $400

EXAMPLE #3: Here is an example of an elaborate site with 10 screens of products, 1 order form page, and 1 thank you page.  This page will feature a domain name registration and hosting on a site with secure socket layer.  This is an example of a more costly page targeted towards an active online business.  This site will also use a progressive marketing strategy. The product screens include thumbnails of 40 items each that will open to larger pictures. This is a high quality frameless site.
12 screens @ $50 each = $600
Domain name registration = $13.50/year
Hosting = $10/month ($120/year)
TOTAL PRICE: $600 + $133.50/year
It is possible there are means to HOST the page on a free site and ways that instead of paying for secure socket layer you can use credit cards and process them securely with a small fee for the service instead of a monthly charge.  Which if such a process were used would reduce the price to.
MINIMIZED PRICE: $600 + $13.50/year

When looking at these prices feel free to get a quote on a similar page from any other web designer but, beware some of them charge an hourly rate instead of a quote for a fixed rate.  As an example there is a local web designer who just started who charges $20/hour.  Let me redo these quotes with an AVERAGE of half the time that we allow to make a website which is 3 hours per screen.  Keep in mind we do quick work due to a lot of practice and experience someone just starting will take typically possibly more than 3 times as much time as we do to make the same page (if they can).  So, let's go on this rate of 3 hours per screen at $20 per hour.
EXAMPLE #1: $120
EXAMPLE #2: $480 + whatever they would charge for making the video
EXAMPLE #3: $720 + $133.50/year
This is a kind comparison too because, in reality it will take quite a bit more time.  Let's show this in the light of our maximum of 6 hours per screen.
EXAMPLE #1: $240
EXAMPLE #2: $960 + whatever they would charge for making the video
EXAMPLE #3: $1440 + $133.50/year

From what I have seen this web page design of the upper case pricing is closer to what most professional web designers are charging for their services.  So, let me show you what you save on these examples going with us as your web designer.
EXAMPLE #1: you save $140
EXAMPLE #2: you save $560 + whatever it would cost to make the video
EXAMPLE #3: you save $840 + potentially $120/year

I hope this has helped and I strongly encourage you to get quotes from other web page designers but, beware any that offer their quote on a strictly hourly rate with the possibility of it being increased.  If you find someone offering a better deal than we do then we will match their offer though we would like to see proof.  We are not in the business to take your money and try to get as much of it as we can.  Rather we want you to get a good deal and we want to make your web pages because, it is something we like to do and can do.  It is one of the ways we support our families and live where we do.