Website Design Is Dead

[Crabcake Johnny]

Yes...it is. It's dead. It just hasn't been buried yet. Before I get blasted too hard, there's always going to be web design when what you're looking for is very unique and requires a lot of customization. That would not be anything relating to this industry, however.

I can't go a few days without an angry email or call that all goes something like this; "3 weeks ago I paid a designer $800 and *&%$@#!!!!!" This is not towards anyone on this board - just general website designers agents find on the web.

If you need an agent, agency or quote site, you do not need a web designer. You need to simply find a nice Wordpress theme and either set it up or pay someone a minimal amount of money to set it up.

There are so many issues with traditional web design I don't even know where to begin:

*Typically have to pay the entire amount in advance
*Obviously can't see the final project until it's done
*Typically you cannot make changes on your own which means you bleed more money and are on your webmaster's time frame to get anything updated. You can make simple and quick changes in Wordpress in minutes.
*Website design takes days to weeks. You can get a WP theme set up in hours.
*Wordpress plugins. I don't know what to say except they rock and can perform functionality almost no webmaster can create - contact forms, autoresponders, SEO packages, etc...

There are a lot of theme sites:
WPZOOM — Premium WordPress Themes, Best WordPress Themes
Premium Wordpress Themes | Templatic - WordPress CMS Themes
WooThemes | Premium WordPress Themes
Premium WordPress Themes | Elegant Themes

Pick a template. They're sharp looking - sharper looking than anything most web "designers" can put together. Your website is your store front. It says everything about your business. It either says "low class and no money" or it says "wow, GREAT looking site."

I speak to people with really bad looking sites all the time and they claim they convert nicely. Define that. So if your site was better looking wouldn't you convert more? They can't answer that since they're unwilling to test it. You like 15 leads a day? Ok, then how about 30 leads a day with a sharper site?

If anyone tells you that your site's appearance doesn't matter...ummm, well, ok. I'd like to hear that explained. It matters. This is all relevant since getting a very sharp looking website in the past typically meant forking over a lot of dough. Now it's clicking "buy now" for a $30 theme.

The nice thing about picking a WP theme is - there it is. There's the end product. Yes, it has to be configured properly with content added. You would be able to farm that out for around $100 flat. Maybe less.

 

[ksigmtsu]

My personal fave:
Premium WordPress Themes, Web Templates, Mobile Themes | ThemeForest

Yes its an affiliate link. They do pay me commissions. However, they're the best single place I've found to theme shop for high end themes. They have code snips/stock images/icons/video clips also, and with a half decent coder you can have a site running one of those themes then stick graphics on it.

You just need a logo/banner made by a graphic designer, which is like a 50-100 dollar cost at the high end, or 5$ on fiver at the low end, plus content, which is 5-25 dollars a page depending on how you get it and the quality if you don't want to write it yourself.

That's what all the pieces actually cost.

Theme = 35$
hosting = 50$
text content = 125$
keyword research = $5
logo = 50$
guy to install the crap = $50 an hour
Domain name = 10$

That's a realistic expense. Any part you can do yourself, you dropped the price by that much.

I personally will install a theme and host for a year for 100$.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

That's about right. You can hit elance.com all day long and get it all done for about $50 flat minus the cost of domain/hosting. Elance is also a great site getting a logo/banner designed.

Right now I'm starting to develop my own themes. A bit of a learning curve to create themes but it's strangely fun.

If you have a question, youtube has the answer. Want to install WP in Hostgator? Ok:



Also, like Brooke, I'm gonna gear up a lot of free training on exactly how to buy, install and set up any WP theme.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

I use WooThemes and Elegant Themes, and am starting to get into StudioPress. Which incidentally for the mooch in all of us can be found for free on any "blackhat" seo forum lol.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I'm configuring a theme from Elegant Themes as we speak. It's going to serve at the home page for my organization. Rock'n theme - $35. Instead of choosing the $35 theme - if I instead contracted with a web designer to build an identical site it would cost more that $2,000 and likely take 6 to 8 weeks.

I installed my this morning and should be done by tomorrow.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

Speaking of Elance. Once you get someone to create 1 customized site for you, just replicated it.

From copying my developers code and youtube videos, and copying other sites code, I am able to do my everything from A to Z on my own except for Javascript.

Photoshop Elements came free with my laptop. A few youtube videos later, I can create my own logos and header images.

Call to Action quoteboxes? Learned HTML and CSS. Am now able take another site's quoteboxes, remove any copyright stuff and make it my own. Flippa is great for that.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I'm taking it just a step further - using this:

iThemes Builder | iThemes

To create my own. You could be on their Youtube channel for a year: iThemescom's Channel - YouTube

I'm getting pretty darned good with getting into that style sheet and editing the css.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I had someone build my sites. Much less than the numbers previously mentioned and no ongoing fees. Results? I think we know the answer.

I wouldn't change a thing and most of you wouldn't either. And that's the way it should be. If we're all happy, then no need to change. What's good for one person is not necessarily good for others.

 

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

Jiffy Lube is dead! It's so easy to change your oil these days. Why would anybody ever take their car to Jiffy Lube ever again?

That said, I do agree with all of your issues with traditional web design John.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Aaron - but that's my exact point. Why take your car to the dealership for an oil change that take 3 times as long and costs 3 times as much as Jiffy Lube.

A web designer is "taking your site to the dealer" and WP is Jiffy Lube.