From the outset, we have offered three payment options for our web design services:
1) Pay an initial 40% deposit, and then pay the remainder when the website design is finished and ready to go live
2) Pay an initial deposit and then pay the remainder spread over 12 months
3) Pay all of the fee up front
Those costs all cover you for 12 months of hosting and our support during that time to make updates to your site or help you in using any of the features included such as e-commerce, a portfolio or blog.
Once the initial year is at an end, you can maintain our excellent ongoing hosting and support services for a fixed monthly fee (usually with a 10% discount on the year 1 monthly cost).
We have the initial deposit payment for two reasons - we are committing our time and expertise to your web design project, and we also know you are serious about getting your website completed. We have occasionally been told that 'We don't pay creatives up front' - we've never really understood that type of comment, since without any up front outlay, a client has no investment in the project and could choose to disappear and waste the many hours of time it takes for us to put your new web design draft together.
Some web design companies only offer monthly payment schemes, perhaps on a 2 year or longer contract term. Let's take a look at a comparison between our 40% deposit route and a 2 year monthly payment alternative, using our base price of £70 deposit and £10 per month:
1) Our price for two years
Year 1: £70 up front + 12 x £10 = £190
Year 2: 12 x £9 = £108
Total price for 2 years: £298
2) Competitor charging £20 a month for 2 years:
Year 1: 12 x £20 = £240
Year 2: 12 x £20 = £240
Total price for 2 years: £480
That makes our cost over 2 years quite a large £182 cheaper - if you continue with either service for longer than 2 years, these cost differences mount up quite considerably. Also be aware that some companies are also charging extra for hosting, your domain name and any SSL certificates - that will further increase the expenses for your website.
Even for a cheaper £10 a month comparison, by the time you add these extra hosting, domain and SSL costs on top, our inclusive website design prices are still going to save you money whilst offering many advantages!