Calling All Website Guru's

[03snakenvtn]

I'm looking to start a business in the next few months, and wanted to get an idea of what a website would cost to serve my needs. I don't wanna say too much about the business because it hasn't launched yet, but I'll just say that the website will need to allow customers to sign up for a free reloadable card that they can use on certain products. I will probably give the cards away as promotions and whatnot, but they'll have to access the website to load the cards with money to use on the products. It'll need to be fairly robust, as possibly thousands of users could be logged on adding money to their cards at any given time. I know I could just get in touch with a website development company, but I'm in the planning stages, so I just wanted a ballpark answer for the time being. I'd compare it somewhat to a visa debit card that you have to load money on to be able to use. Anyone have any idea what they might cost as far as initial investment and monthly upkeep costs? Any thoughts very much appreciated.

 

[03snakenvtn]

bump

 

[KurtDog]

Your not selling kardashian card's are you?

Your question is way to vague. Do you have a business plan and investors? Or just an idea that you think is the next google?

 

[03snakenvtn]

Your not selling kardashian card's are you?

Your question is way to vague. Do you have a business plan and investors? Or just an idea that you think is the next google?

No Kardashian cards in my future. I'm just looking for a ballpark figure here, not help actually starting the business or needing a business plan. It's similar to the cards you can get when you ride the subway in New York or Boston, except you reload the cards online instead of in the stations. It has nothing to do with the subway, they just use a similar system to what I'm looking to do. Just a ballpark figure on how much a website would cost that would allow my customers to load and reload their cards online.

 

[KurtDog]

You can start a jankey website that processes paypal transactions for a few hundred bucks. Can it handle thousands of users at once? No.

If you want a real site that can handle thousands of users at once it will cost a LOT more. How much, depends on how complex the website is and how many users you have.

The more users you have and the more complex your website is, the more expensive it will be.

 

[hunterp]

Thousands of users isn't really a big deal these days, but you'll be looking for someone able to setup an e-commerce system for you and that will add to the bill. It will also depend on whether or not the e-commerce system will require custom development or if an off the shelf solution will suffice. It's a little hard to give you an exact idea based on the information you've given, but I would budget a minimum of $5k to get a professional job done.

 

[txyaloo]

Thousands of users isn't really a big deal these days, but you'll be looking for someone able to setup an e-commerce system for you and that will add to the bill. It will also depend on whether or not the e-commerce system will require custom development or if an off the shelf solution will suffice. It's a little hard to give you an exact idea based on the information you've given, but I would budget a minimum of $5k to get a professional job done.

I agree. I'd say $5k is on the low side since you're going to need a credit card processing service for the payments and someone to write an API to add money to these other cards in addition to just the standard website design. How are people going to spend the money they load on these cards if they aren't affiliated with a credit card merchant?

If it's some planned custom solution, you're going to need a way for the POS system or another website to interface with your backend to debit their accounts. That's going to add more to the cost. If this is the case, I'd expect $8,000-10,000 minimum. $5,000 will just buy you a decent website design.

 

[CobraBob]

I don't have anything to add to what has been said above, except to wish you the very best with this endeavor. I hope it works out well for you.

 

[DRTHV8R]

I agree. I'd say $5k is on the low side since you're going to need a credit card processing service for the payments and someone to write an API to add money to these other cards in addition to just the standard website design. How are people going to spend the money they load on these cards if they aren't affiliated with a credit card merchant?

If it's some planned custom solution, you're going to need a way for the POS system or another website to interface with your backend to debit their accounts. That's going to add more to the cost. If this is the case, I'd expect $8,000-10,000 minimum. $5,000 will just buy you a decent website design.

5k would be a bottom barrel system for sure.. you are looking at 5-10k system.. Pretty cheap if you look at it as a software development rather than a website.

 

[lobra97]

vistaprint has em for $9.99 mth and you can change whatever you want /when you want...

 

[txyaloo]

vistaprint has em for $9.99 mth and you can change whatever you want /when you want...

I think you stumbled into the wrong thread

 

[lobra97]

I think you stumbled into the wrong thread

no, vistaprint allows small business owners to have thier own website w/ name for $9.99 month. Girl i worked with showed me, i thought all they did was business cards etc....
http://www.vistaprint.com/websites....mp;+Marketing&dng=Advertising+&+Marketing

 

[txyaloo]

no, vistaprint allows small business owners to have thier own website w/ name for $9.99 month. Girl i worked with showed me, i thought all they did was business cards etc....
http://www.vistaprint.com/websites....mp;+Marketing&dng=Advertising+&+Marketing

Vistaprint isn't going to be able to do what the OP needs done.

A few of us that posted have worked in marketing, management, and web development/consulting for Fortune 100 companies. His solution is quite a bit more involved than a WordPress blog, geocities page, or any other off the shelf solution. His project is going to require a lot of custom code.

 

[lobra97]

Vistaprint isn't going to be able to do what the OP needs done.

A few of us that posted have worked in marketing, management, and web development/consulting for Fortune 100 companies. His solution is quite a bit more involved than a WordPress blog, geocities page, or any other off the shelf solution. His project is going to require a lot of custom code.

didn't say it was the absolute right answer....just an option.

 

[s_x_i]

Outsource it... try the Philippines

 

[ChiSVT]

Sounds like a virtual card type of deal?

You're definitely going to want 256bit SSL encryption and I would suggest adding:
https://www.verisign.com

As for building the site, it sounds like something that can be driven by PHP / MYSQL. You will definitely need to hire a coder, but be careful who you choose.

A lot of those outsourced coders will leave you with sloppy code, poor communication and no customer service after completion.

As for the server requirements; if you plan on having several thousand queries at a time, you're going to need a dedicated solution.

One for the file-system and one for the database. Make sure the database server has a multi-core processor and plenty of ram so it won't get bogged down.

As for costs, it's impossible to say, but a managed solution with the specs below would cost roughly $300 a month..
Xeon 3440 Quadcore
8 GB RAM
2 x 500GB HDs RAID1
100 MBPS Unmetered Port

Your requirements could be more or less, but it gives you an idea.

 

[03snakenvtn]

Thanks for all the replies guys. This is exactly the type of information I was looking for, as I had no idea if it would cost 5k or 50k for this type of solution. It looks like most are in agreement that it's gonna be around 10k for a good solution. Thanks again.

 

[7.62x51]

A solid online store will run you $5k-10k

 

[silverstang23]

I'm an accountant, not website guru, but I would guess $10K

 

[Shake&Bake]

I do this kind of stuff for living, and can tell you plan on having a budget between 10 to 18k. You would want to use off the self types of solutions, custom would be way too expensive. Look to use open source cms with a ecommerce component made to work with that cms and it's data tables and user integration will be seamless. I personally recommend looking into either Joomla, Drupal, or Dot Net Nuke. Used all three and all very good solutions for building a professional and scalable web site.