Suggestion on periodic site maintenance and redesign proposal

My client is a group of companies. They want us to come up with a proposal maintaining all the company websites within the group. This is divided into updating site content and redesigning the sites periodically to meets current web trends.

The redesign part (which scares me more) is because after a couple of years (3 to 4) websites evolve and they want the designs to consistently meet global standards.

I will like to have suggestions what the content of such a proposal will be. How do price the content updates and then the website redesigns?

Will appreciate.

Content updates should be based on time & materials IMO, or a certain amount of hours per time period not to exceed. Exceeded hours would be t&m.

I think you're right to be scared of the "redesign" part. How could you possibly know right now what kind of redesign you'll want to do 3-4 years in the future? It's not even possible to know what will be the "standard/norm/best thing since sliced bread" in 6 mo's. You could guess, but you'd likely be wrong.

I would not quote the redesign at all. The simple fact that they know it will need to be redesigned at all should be enough to expect it to be bid at the time the project is requested, at current standards (and sliced bread stuffs).

The point on redesign is very important. Thank you.

Content updates should be based on time & materials IMO, or a certain amount of hours per time period not to exceed. Exceeded hours would be t&m.

Can you give me example of material category you will define.

I am not sure if this is still relevant and would love to know how you got on. This sort of company group management and maintenance is my bread and butter and I think it can be a treasure trove too!

Do not be scared by the redesign. Using a good CMS solves those problems, just make sure any content you produce uses only standard tags where possible and style them in your holding container if required separately from your main design css.

Quote for total management and maintenance plus a design overhaul every 12 months, cost it to be equivalent to two fresh website builds and you will not be far off. Discount from there depending on how much you actually want the work. Put in clauses like 'within reason' etc. As for websites evolving, for goodness sake, they do not change that much and with something like MODX you can keep your sites up to date easily. Besides, don't you want your sites to be kept up to date?

Can I quote them for the work?

Hi,

Thanks for your PM, unfortunately I cannot help in your current situation. Sorry for my slightly flippant post previously. I believe it is important for companies to work with local suppliers when it comes to these sort of solutions, and I only work with customers I can visit on a regular basis.

The documents you ask about are confidential client documents so I can't pass them on. I have also learned long ago to avoid templates or pre-set documentation of almost any kind, every business is different and every business requires a hand-crafted quotation or proposal to fit their individual needs.

In answer to one of your questions, I have only just switched to MODX a few weeks ago and am about to launch my first MODX production site soon although it is currently delayed due to client not having product images available yet.

The single most important piece of advice I can offer you in this situation is to work backwards. How much can your customers afford to pay, pitch your proposal just under that figure. Then work out what you can offer them for that price that they would value and explain to them why it is the best solution. Provide in your quotation/proposal a means for them to measure your success and make sure you are addressing their actual needs. Finally tell them directly what it does not cover. This is important to prevent creep in scope.

Do not value your services in terms of products or things, but in terms of problems it solves for your customer and the potential revenue increases or savings for them. In that way you will have room for profits even if you outsource all the services and just manage those suppliers.

I wish you luck. These customers are not easy to find, are not easy to get to know but can be a rich source of income. Just don't be too greedy, make sure that what you are offering is actually of value to them and always address their problems. Needless to say I suppose but always be professional, prompt and honest.

Best wishes and good luck,

Paul.

Quote from: ojchris at Apr 12, 2013, 02:32 AM

The point on redesign is very important. Thank you.

Content updates should be based on time & materials IMO, or a certain amount of hours per time period not to exceed. Exceeded hours would be t&m.

Can you give me example of material category you will define.

Sorry for not answering, I guess I missed this one.

Materials, under normal circumstances for web would be purchased templates, graphics, etc. If you have to purchase them and bill, those would be your materials. Thus T&M

(I come from a construction estimation background, T&M means you don't eat any actual expenses for labor or purchases)

Frogabog, thanks. Very clear.

pauld123, I sent you a PM