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Website Programming help!

by IprovideSEO
14 replies
Hey warriors, I am trying to create a customized fully featured website that is similar to facebook (where users can create profiles) but more niche.
I met with a programmer this weekend and he told me it would cost 10k! to create my website. Is that number correct??

Also can anyone give me a ballpark range how much a website with social networking features and event set up would cost?

Thanks
#programming #website
  • Profile picture of the author nthmarketing
    $10K could be very reasonable.

    When you ask a programmer to program something what exactly are you telling him? I've said this many times in the forums but you have to have a clear picture what your asking. "A full featured website similar to facebook" $10K would not come close to touching it, they have millions spent with a full time programming staff to run it on a huge data center.

    Once you start narrowing down exactly what you want then you can go to a programmer with a more reasonable request. Think of it as building a house. If you went to a builder and asked him to build you a house with all the features similar to Bill Gates home I'd imagine the price would be a bit crazy. However, if you asked him to build a house that has this and that and you only need 1200 square feet and no need for LED windows and computerized fanny washer. Then it would be much more what you are interested in.

    So, what you really should be doing is creating or have someone help you create a UML document with Use Case scenerios of the functionality of what your looking for exactly. THEN, you can go to any programmer and show him the document and they can give you a very precise price on doing the job. Never have a house built without a blueprint and NEVER create a web application without the same thing.

    Hope that helps,
    Fred
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  • Profile picture of the author IprovideSEO
    Thanks fred,

    I am looking into UML docs right now. Me and my designer basically created on photoshop what our layout looks like, and also provided example websites of certain features that we wanted.

    The website is definately not going to be as BIG as facebook (because its kinda niche) but we want a feature where visitors can register and create a profile.

    Thanks for the quick response
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  • Profile picture of the author IprovideSEO
    Thank you Deafeye (nice name btw lol)

    If you send me your email I can attach a word doc of the features that I want to include. But from what you and nthmarketing said, it seems that 10k wasn't a horrible estimate and we can easily hit that mark if I really want a legit website.

    Seems like I will be needing investors haha

    p.s. is there a way to outsource programming from a trusting company?
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  • Profile picture of the author wayfarer
    If you don't have it in your budget to do real programming, you may want to just look into finding some software that already does most of what you need, then just modifying it.

    Don't ask me what it is, but I would be very surprised if there wasn't something available for making niche social networks out of the box.
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  • Profile picture of the author IprovideSEO
    Thank you for the suggestion wayfarer, do you know where I could begin to look for such software?
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  • Profile picture of the author wayfarer
    Someone here might know. My best guess is to use Google... sorry I can't be more helpful.
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    • Profile picture of the author wizarddrummer
      Hi,

      In my humble opinion, I think it would cost considerably more than $10,000.00 for a project that encompasses the features that facebook has.

      You have to have some serious design considerations for the database so that it is optimized and can return results quickly.

      You have to have clear and focused objectives for exactly and I mean exactly what core functionality you want it to have right from the get go.

      The reason is that any site of this nature has to have the database design at the center of the development cycle. You build everything off of that, or at least that's how I do things.

      The database is your storage and retrieval entity for all of the data on your system. Adding and retrieving information is a snap if it is designed correctly.

      Does the programmer use traditional Systems Analysis? Object Oriented Approach? RAD? (Rapid Application Development) all of these things and more you need to take into consideration.

      You have to decide what platform you are going to run on Unix/Linux Apache or Windows Server IIS. What kind of Database? MySQL? or something from Microsoft. PHP or ASP or .NET or ...

      And one thing to remember, facebook operated for awhile before it made a penny and during that time it soaked up several hundred thousand dollars in operating expenses.

      I would suggest that you do some serious planning before you jump in.

      In one sense you are reinventing the wheel, even if it is a niche market, it may take awhile for it to take hold and then also consider the fact that facebook is free. If your site is free then what is the revenue source going to be?

      Just my two.3 cents.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claudio C
    Besides laying out the features you need, like people already mentioned, there's a chance you don't really have to create the whole site from scratch.

    If you look at Drupal for example (mentioning Drupal because I understand that system more than other Content Management Systems), it's a powerful CMS with many features and existing contributed modules (similar to WordPress plugins). Together they can create powerful membership sites. But again, look into what you need first before deciding to go with an existing CMS or having one custom build.

    And in the end, that's only the development part. You'll be looking into usability designs, testing,... as well, I reckon.
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  • Profile picture of the author phpdev
    This can be way less than 10K depending on the features. When you talk about Facebook, they have some features like their different APIs and FQL. These are huge features which ate millions. But if you talk about Social Networking and events sharing, I don't think those are huge features. Facebook did't offered current features when they launched. They keep on adding new features with their growth.

    If you have features list ready, you can send me at sales(AT)bluecomp(DOT)net for personalized quote.
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    Ali Usman
    PHP, MySql, WordPress, API Programming, E-Commerce Site, Payment Integration, Twilio, SMS Marketing, Custom Development, Wordpress, Joomla, Interspire, BigCommerce, Volusion, 3dCart and many more...
    sales@bluecomp.net
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  • Profile picture of the author IprovideSEO
    Thanks for the detailed explanation wizard, the database he planned on using was PHP. I found a new programmer though who seems more legit.

    Thanks Claudio, I will look into Drupal because it is probably very similar to what I am looking for. The website isn't going to have all the features that facebook has but is definitley a membership site.

    Thanks phpdev for the interest, I have a new programmer who is much more affordable and is going to layout the payments step by step. The features are not Apis and Fql, just social networking events, sharing, commenting, typical things.
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  • Profile picture of the author Harrison_Uhl
    If your hiring a programmer, make sure you get a Works for Hire agreement, or it will be the programmer who ends up owning the software s/he produced!

    Harrison
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  • Profile picture of the author IprovideSEO
    I definitely will have them sign a contract/agreement.

    Thanks for the Heads up Harrison!
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  • Profile picture of the author wayfarer
    Lol... programmers don't own your project if they don't sign a Work for Hire contract, they just own the copyrights to their own code. This means they are free to use snippets of their own code in future projects unrelated to yours. Nothing you do is going to stop programmers from doing this anyway.

    You still own unlimited rights to do whatever you want with what they produce no matter what, unless you sign away those rights for some unknown reason.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jake Gray
    If you are wanting to be as big as Facebook, you're going to need more
    then one programmer aswell as powerful servers (which aren't cheap). We
    have no idea what you asked him for, so I guess $10,000 for a Facebook-
    type website is reasonable. Again, make sure you aren't getting jipped.

    Do some more searching.
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