Small organization in need of a complex web site

So we decided to call in a contractor. I allowed my IT staff to do the research and to recommend someone for the job. They found a couple of people that claimed to be in the web site building business. My staff and I met with the designer/administrator for the team. We spend hours discussing our needs, and our concepts, and showing her the product we wanted to put on the Internet.

After listening to us, she went to the person who was the programmer. They then worked out a proposal to do the entire site for $4,000. My IT people thought these people could do it, and I did not have a clue. So, we went with them.

But I gained a valuable experience, and learned a great deal from it. First, as executive director, I decided to make the decisions regarding the site myself, and to research what a site like the one we envisioned would actually entail and cost. This took a few months. I was astounded by my findings. First, there was no way a legitimate firm would build the site we needed for $4,000. It appeared that for what we wanted, some firms might charge as much as $400,000.

The facts were disheartening, but if you have run a small non-profit as long as I have…you don’t give up easy, so I continued my quest to find a way to get our product on the Internet.