What makes a website "professional"?

[BinaryData]

Hey Neowinians,

 

I've been searching for a good German Shepherd breeder that's local, someone that isn't 4 - 6 hours away. I stumbled upon their website, which looks like a 3rd grader got a hold of a camera. I've been emailing them back and forth for a bit now. The topic of their website came up, and I was honest about it. I've been out of the web designing game for quite some time, and they asked me what it would cost to get a "professional" site. Seeing as I'm going to be purchasing a puppy from them within the next 2 - 3 months, I figured it would be in my best interest to help them out, either by building it for them or finding someone who won't charge them $10,000 for a website. It's a mom and pop business, they live about 30 minutes or less from my house.

 

So, my questions are...

 

#1 What is the average price for a "professional Small/Medium Business" website.

#2 What kinds of things do I need to be aware of while designing?

#3 What's acceptable and what isn't?

#4 How should forms be done? (I know PHP is frowned upon, jQuery?)

 

I get nothing out of it but a reputation boost and a potential "client".

[TAZMINATOR]

Just now, adrynalyne said:

Unless you are using a budget/shady web host, it shouldn't matter if the website goes down in regards to email. The website is a completely separate system from email, using a different IP, different ports, different server-side tech. 

Email goes down too.. You get auto reply that say ... 'Not able to deliver.  It will try again later.'

 

By the way, It was not me who uses alternative email account.. I am not using shady web host.

 

I was talking about visiting website that is down.. you are not able to find what email address that is being used.  You have no way to get ahold of them until the site gets back up.. then you got the address to save for future uses.   If they are published in the phone book.. then that's fine.  Otherwise you won't know how to get a hold of them if their site is down.

[The Evil Overlord]

I give up 

Editing in this site sucks

Not even worth the effort of trying to remember what I wanted to say now 

[adrynalyne]

48 minutes ago, TAZMINATOR said:

Email goes down too.. You get auto reply that say ... 'Not able to deliver.  It will try again later.'

 

By the way, It was not me who uses alternative email account.. I am not using shady web host.

 

I was talking about visiting website that is down.. you are not able to find what email address that is being used.  You have no way to get ahold of them until the site gets back up.. then you got the address to save for future uses.   If they are published in the phone book.. then that's fine.  Otherwise you won't know how to get a hold of them if their site is down.

I didn't say you were the person using the alternative email account. I was just saying that it is very rare both go down at the same time. A smart move is to make sure Google indexes the contact info, so even if the site goes down, it can be found.

[Dick Montage]

On 25/03/2016 at 10:02 PM, BinaryData said:

I was told that PHP is a dying language and it shouldn't be used because of all the vulnerabilities it has

By someone who is pushing personal opinion then.

[BinaryData]

56 minutes ago, Nik L said:

By someone who is pushing personal opinion then.

 Figured as much. Gave no alternate though. Looks like I sparked a good debate.

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

On 3/25/2016 at 10:21 PM, BinaryData said:

Hey Neowinians,

 

I've been searching for a good German Shepherd breeder that's local, someone that isn't 4 - 6 hours away. I stumbled upon their website, which looks like a 3rd grader got a hold of a camera. I've been emailing them back and forth for a bit now. The topic of their website came up, and I was honest about it. I've been out of the web designing game for quite some time, and they asked me what it would cost to get a "professional" site. Seeing as I'm going to be purchasing a puppy from them within the next 2 - 3 months, I figured it would be in my best interest to help them out, either by building it for them or finding someone who won't charge them $10,000 for a website. It's a mom and pop business, they live about 30 minutes or less from my house.

 

So, my questions are...

 

#1 What is the average price for a "professional Small/Medium Business" website.

#2 What kinds of things do I need to be aware of while designing?

#3 What's acceptable and what isn't?

#4 How should forms be done? (I know PHP is frowned upon, jQuery?)

 

I get nothing out of it but a reputation boost and a potential "client".

#4 lol seriously? You can't make a contact form with just jQuery, you will always need server side code like php xD

[BinaryData]

24 minutes ago, Seahorsepip said:

#4 lol seriously? You can't make a contact form with just jQuery, you will always need server side code like php xD

Bro... Clearly my co-worker isn't all that. He's currently on my crap list now.

 

Also, why do you never respond in Skype? I hate you

[Seahorsepip Veteran]

16 hours ago, BinaryData said:

Bro... Clearly my co-worker isn't all that. He's currently on my crap list now.

 

Also, why do you never respond in Skype? I hate you

Never respond? Don't remember getting any messages on my skype account, you sure you got the correct skype account(skype account mentioned on my website)?

[BinaryData]

28 minutes ago, Seahorsepip said:

Never respond? Don't remember getting any messages on my skype account, you sure you got the correct skype account(skype account mentioned on my website)?

Same one we used for previous communications.

16 minutes ago, Riva said:

Honestly, for a small business you are better off with WiX instead of hiring a consultant to make you one.

Well... I'm going to build it as a static site, for both the sites I'm coding. Just need to finish up some school stuff..

[farmeunit]

For Wordpress, you might check out http://www.inmotionhosting.com/wordpress-hosting.

 

Specifically BoldGrid.  I just saw it today in their newsletter, so I can't say much about it, but they have some information on the right side of that page.

 

I would typically recommend Joomla with a Slider plugin or Gallery, etc.  JoomlaShine has a PageBuilder that simplifies adding galleries and such, as well. 

[BinaryData]

3 hours ago, farmeunit said:

For Wordpress, you might check out http://www.inmotionhosting.com/wordpress-hosting.

 

Specifically BoldGrid.  I just saw it today in their newsletter, so I can't say much about it, but they have some information on the right side of that page.

 

I would typically recommend Joomla with a Slider plugin or Gallery, etc.  JoomlaShine has a PageBuilder that simplifies adding galleries and such, as well. 

I stay away from hosting sites like that. A group I work with hosts from inmotion, and we're plagued with downtime, forced upgrades, among many other things. They charged the owner $30 for the domain renewal, and if we didn't renew it, it would cost us $300 to buy it out right. Oh well, I  use dreamhost (BudMan hooked me up)