I have talked to a couple of  providers and found the range to vary greatly. (750-1700) These were all 3 to 4 pages and no flash. So I am a bit shocked by the price difference.  Is this common? Did you get a low quote? The old bait and switch? Was the site done, months after you were promised??

After seeing quotes in the 2G range for a multi page site, i decided to do it myself.  So i downloaded the trial version macromedia Dreamweaver from their site, got a book and started chugging away.  Complexity level, 5 out of 10. The hard part was figuring what content i wanted- graphics (from scratch), photos (using digital camera) I got the site up and going before the 30 days trail period ended.  From there it's pretty easy to edit. The site is at 20 something pages.

Now with the other fees-
 1) domain name (19.95 normal rate but can be had for 6.95 on godaddy.com)
 2) Hosting, mid range plan (9.95/month with 100 MB storage /6GB bandwidth) I don't have too much traffic so i'm not even using 1% of that 6 GB bandwidth.  I don't know if that bandwidth would be a problem for a provider site. And yes they allow nudity although not anything "legally considered obscene" ?
 3) advertising- i haven't tried but cost can be very high. Yahoo search engine submission about 250/yr.  Pay per click can be high for adult content sites.  But traffic for a provider site is more effective thru TER, or adult malls (don't know how much those ads run- 60/month ???)

So in all it's a few hundred bucks to maintain my site.  For anyone wishing to publish their own site, it can be done cheaply enough.  your own time is free...then again sometime it's best to do it with a "professional"

i paid $500 for mine and I pay $100 a month for upkeep and changes etc

kisses
sasha love

I'm always amazed at the prices charged to create very simple escort sites.  I have done over 30 different sites and never charged as much as $750.  As a professional designer, I can do it quicker and faster (and with much less hair pulling) than 99.9% of the ladies out there.  I have taught several ladies how to maintain their own site was it was created.  IMHO, having someone that has worked on a lot of web sites to work with you to help create something that is attractive and easy to navigate is very important.  The bottom line though, is it must be a reflection of the lady so having her pick the graphics and basic design is very important.  Hope this helps.

I paid $35 to register my domanin name and I pay $11.95 per month for hosting.

Lauren

-- Modified on 7/8/2002 3:08:22 PM

Here is one designer who did www.marsenetertainment.com  and this one seems reasonably priced.  There are packages for $399- $799.  Or you can teach yourself.  It is pretty easy.  Once someone showed me I was kicking myself for having someone else do it.  

Sometimes hiring someone can be a good deal.  The main benefit to designing your own website is really the ability to  change it at will.  I have spent far more hours doing my website than I would have gained by paying someone to do it.  I did hire one person to do my form because I could not do it.  I do my own site because I like the freedom and creativity it affords me.  Hiring someone affordable is not a bad deal though.

I agree about the costs.  Plus, those who do there own site, or at least maintain it after the web designer does it, have the most control over their own future.

Personally, I think that submission to search engines is absolutely crucial!  Do not depend on others to send you business; go get it yourself.  As an example, do a search on google for 'female escort Amsterdam'.  Sure bet that Kim gets lots of hits from that!  

And using the pay per click or paid submission sites is not that important.  Just get a great submission tool (no, not the $99 for 10000 search engines).  Just one that helps you fine tune the page and then submits it.  After all, google get over 25% of the search activity.  So do it first.

Just my idle thoughts.....

The wide range of prices for this service. I work as a system admin, and some how feel that I missed the boat. I could build the web page(s), offer once a month updates, and hosts the finished site for a year. For less then 500. with yearly renewals of 125.  And still make a profit.
I see some sites that have all the flash and dance in them. The woman tell me that it is 1.5k - 2k and late on top of that. but I do not think that it was worth it. I mean do you feel that you are getting what you paid for???

I posted a reply to this about pricing and search engine optimization.

Either was lost or deleted.  But I basically agree with you.  Just feel the top 30 placement for something like

female escort

plus their city

is really where it is at!  Especially with google which has over 25% of the searches.

I feel like I should add my .02 here since I am a newbie to TER but have been doing web design for 8 years. The cost is relative and the value is subjective. I normally charge $100/hr for my time, and in most cases, I could bang out (no pun intended) one of these basic sites in a day or less (4-8 hours). But, theres the rub (no pun intended either). I might charge more per hour  but I would most likely get it done in 1/2 the time. So its a wash. Hosting is dependent on how much traffic your site gets which is dependent on how popular you are and how many sites are linked or are driving traffic to it. Ive noticed quite a few Yahoo hosted sites that are shut down due to exceeded bandwidth. Theres no excuse for this. You can get a decent hosting package for less than $50 a month with enough band width to do the trick.
$100 per month for maintenance (not including hosting) should be plenty also unless you are changing content once a week.


Without sounding cocky, (no pun...oh forget it) I could design a site in an hour that would be better than 80-90% of the independent and service sites Ive seen out there. Dont get me wrong, there are some nicely designed sites out there, but most look like someone just sat down and read the FrontPage or Dreamweaver manual and cranked it out. But, add another hour or 2 onto that and you will see an even greater difference in the sensitivity and sophistication of the design. You should be able to look at a site that cost you $700-$1000 and really be able to see the difference between the level of design, interface and overall visual quality of another site that cost half that. Yes, things like flash take longer to develop, but do offer a higher impact IF the designer knows how make the most out of it. Quite honestly, I say forget the flash. I would suggest that your PHOTOS are the most important part of your business and consequently any website and that you should spend the majority of your hard earned cash on getting a really good shooter to make you look like a million. Give a good web designer some great photography as the raw materials for your website and if he (or she) is good at their job they can create a great selling tool for you. As always YMMV

Remember those famous words of Fernando Lamas...
"It is better to LOOK good than to FEEL good!"

--Shaggy

Oh and if anyone would like to know more about what I can do for them, drop me a note here on TER.

my website package was only 300 and it lets me do my own updates. check them out if youre on a budget or just want control over your site!

You are right...
I paid a one time fee of $450 for dreamweaver4 studio plus and a monthly fee of $14.95..Talk about cheap and manageable. What a bargin.