How Much Should A Winery Web Site Cost?

Design Vineyard isn't afraid to tell you.

This rather-straightforward practice got noticed by 37signals, which they termed "refreshing."

If you follow that link and read the comments, you'll see that not all designers felt the same way:

While it’s admirable that a prospective client should have a general idea of what a project will cost them, that doesn’t mean you should advertise your prices like Walmart.

The comments are worth a read. Tyson Caly of Design Vineyard does a good job of explaining his point of view. For one thing, it works.

What do you think a winery Web site should cost?

Comments

[Tyson Caly]

Thanks for the shout out Mike!

[rick]

Nice Tyson. I like that. I especially like it that the prices are realistic - too many people still live in the "My cousin's kid can build us a site for $300" world. I've not read the comments yet but I can see designers disliking this because some of what a good designer does is a kind of consulting to determine what the business needs and wants. They might even ask questions and make suggestions based on what they learn and that can affect the site. As a counter to that, I'd imagine that if you work in a vertical like winery web sites you have a much clearer bead on what each level of site will end up being, so there's less discovery and hence less customization of the requirements.

[Fabius]

I read the post and all the comments, and it's all very interesting and professional. However, as a potential client (small winery with no web-page yet) I have to say that the first and most important thing I want to know is "How much is it going to cost me" (And secondly "What am I going to get for that price"). All the rest is secondary for me. So SvN's idea of posting prices for different packages is just what I was looking for. In fact I don't understand why no-one's done it before.

And I also have to say that I have also considered paying €300 to my cousin's kid! (but haven't dared to do so!) On a low budget, the difference between €3000 (minimum!) and €300 is very tempting! (even if the kid may well make a shoddy job of it!)

[rick]

fabius,

As I think we've talked about in the past, if you're on a budget you can (and should) register a domain for your winery and setup a blog site at wordpress.com, typepad or similar, put up a decent looking template and put up some basic information about your winery. all of that is FREE aside from your time and will take you maybe a day. You don't need complex information - who you are, what wines you make, a background page and a contact page.

[Fabius]

Rick,
Yes, we have talked about it in the past. It was thanks to you and Mike that I got round to setting up my blog (on Blogger) just over a year ago! I already registered a domain name. I'll try and find the time to do what you suggest, thanks again for the advice :)