     |
Websites by Palden Jenkins
Terms and details
If you're interested in having a website made or improved by me, here are some details.
I specialise in custom-made, well-pitched, excellently-edited, friendly and imaginative sites, for clients with special presentation needs. Click down the example sites on the left, and you'll see what I'm best at. You'll also find some tips about the issues involved.
Prices
These are usually quoted for a year-long period of service. A site is never perfect in its first version - usually, by the third revision, after a year or two, it's really 'singing' well. This is partially because it's not just a design issue: it's also the presentational content that needs refining, and time and customer feedback give fine-tuning tips. So it's an evolutionary process, and I'll accompany you through the stages.
Usually I charge a down-payment of around 40% of my quoted fee, then regular direct debits or credit-card payments thereafter. This spreads your payments manageably. Your quotation depends to a great degree on your own capacity to provide good material for me to work with. If this is disorganised, presented in awkward formats, needs editing or even writing by me, the fee rises. Also, extras such as photography, research and other refinements incur extra charges. However, this can be worth it for you, in terms of results.
Sometimes I charge on a per-hour basis, invoicing you periodically. I do this if you seek only occasional input, or if the work involved cannot be estimated well. Regular payments mean that I befriend you as a client, think a lot about your site and marketing strategies and take initiatives on your behalf - it buys my loyalty and greater involvement. Invoice-based payments mean that I do what you instruct me to do, without much extra thought or initiatives concerning your site as a whole.
Prices are generally in the £600-3,000 range, covering a whole year, depending on what's involved, whether it's business or charitable, sales- or information-oriented, whether or not there is a shopping cart, the condition of the working material, and whether advisory, photographic, copywriting and editorial inputs are needed.
Materials
Once we have made an agreement, I require working material from you. It may sound strange to say this, but don't expect a website without providing material! This means text, pictures and clear instructions, plus a willingness to give focus to the process and do your 'homework'. 'Homework' means that, while creating the site, I often come back to you with questions, details, requests for clarification or for more materials - and I need you to do this! However, once we have made the first edition of the site, this work decreases a lot - depending on how many updates and changes you subsequently need.
Usually, I require you to send me materials as text in MSWord files or in e-mails, and as picture originals in regularly-used image formats (JPG, GIF, PSD, TIF etc). If you don't know what this means, I shall explain.
Static and dynamic sites
I do 'static' sites that don't change very much - perhaps they're updated every few months on a seasonal basis. If you seek a website to be updated daily, weekly or by yourself or your staff, a dynamic 'content management' (CMS) site is needed - and I don't do them. If you have an existing CMS site which needs text-editorial work and content-improvement, I can do that.
My key gifts are in presentation, design, editing and marketing, not in web-technical issues and programming. If your proposed site is outside my ambit, I shall tell you so - but you can still have advice from me so that you can select a good webmaster, make good decisions and give them the right instructions. This can save you time, money and hassle.
Special projects
Sometimes a client approaches me with an existing site on which they need a page or two with a special presentation, usually for sales or persuasion purposes. Click here for an example. Contact me if you're interested. I also do photography and copywriting, or I can act as web-editor and content-creator on a site built by someone else.
I'm interested, so what do I do now?
Palden Jenkins
|
Send me an enquiry e-mail or telephone me. First, I shall need you to give me an idea of what you're seeking, what your site's objectives will be, how you visualise the site, your client base, your timetable and your budgetary plans. I can then give you ideas about what is involved. I can quote a price and terms only when I have sufficient information from you. Sometimes I shall ask you how much you want to spend, and will pitch my quotation on that figure, adapting my service to your needs. Sometimes I shall offer options with different prices or terms, for your consideration. Once agreed, we start (and not before!).
Timing
Websites cannot be created 'by yesterday'. I can create them only when we have made our agreement and after I have received all or most of the working material from you. Then they will take from one week to one month, depending on the work involved and my availability at the time. Faster service involves an increased fee.
Click here to see examples of websites I have built
You'll also find plenty of useful tips and tricks while doing so!