The cost of a web site varies depending on the site and complexity, but here are some basic price points:

• Our "Basic" package starts $4,000, and it includes custom design, blog, and contact form and others. 
• A more fully featured site ("Plus," Premium" packages) has available options including video integration, dynamic sitemap, tags, and gallery starts at $6,000.
• Complex sites with content workflow, forums, drag-n-drop navigation control, and other advanced features start at $9,500 ("Max" package.) 

Please see our Packages page for a detailed comparison. All of our packages are built on the latest stable release of ExpressionEngine (1.6.8). If you're interested in building on the EE 2.0 beta, give us a call to discuss the pros and cons.

We've also had a number of fantastic projects for clients who already had the visual design ready. We'd be more than happy to estimate a "Build-only" project, based on your design. We strive for a pixel-for-pixel translation from design to CSS to EE pages, and can also recommend any modifications as needed.

We include a minimum of two 1-hour training sessions with every package, as we feel that although ExpressionEngine control panel is one of the easiest to pick up, there's always a learning curve for even the simplest content management system.

Session 1: Editing & Creating Content

The first hour is to go over the basics of how Edit, Publish forms work, as well as how the sections ("weblogs") and sub-sections ("categories") work. We try to use real content ("entries") as much as we can, depending on how close we are to launch.

Session 2: Advance Maintenance & Technical Overview

The second session is spent on more technical maintenance, from creating a new template, settings on various extensions, and going through the member group areas and other aspects of keeping the website up and running. This may include a quick overview on Google Analytics, or any other 3rd party functionalities.

Sessions are usually conducted through web conferences for a "live" demo. We've trained well over a couple of hundred clients and other users on ExpressionEngine, and make sure you are very comfortable in using the system after the launch. 

SEO is at the forefront of every site owner's mind these days, and rightfully so. Without a strong SEO strategy, not even the best designed and built site will see enough traffic. Content-based SEO is usually up to the authors and editors of the site, but regarding the internal, "under-the-hood" optimization, we practice a rigorous and comprehensive protocols. Using various add-ons and custom fields, we build a site that:

• has a clean, semantic URL structure for every section and entry
• gives you full control over each URL segment
• gives you full control over section and entry-specific keywords as well as site-wide meta data
• gives you full control over display of each page title
• allows flexible control over each alt and header tags
• automatically pings Google, Bing, and other search engine upon new or edited entries
• generates XML (machine-readable) as well as human-readable sitemap

We have worked with a number of companies specializing in SEO/SEM for mid- and large-sized clients, and have proven to meet every requirement. Now we've ported over the same practices to our small and startup clients in an affordable package. 

Moving an EE site to another host takes a few different tasks to complete. In most cases, moving to a different host (from our development server) takes about 2-6 hours as long as the server meets the EE server requirements.

Of course, if the final domain is not already pointing to the new server, it may take another 6-24 hours for the DNS changes to take hold across the different name servers. We can carefully time both changes (site, and the DNS) so there is a minimum time between the time we start the migration and when the site is viewable by the public.

After the site is moved, we're on call 24/7 to make sure the new site is performing exactly the same as when it left our server. We also go through a thorough "post-migration" quality assurance check as standard procedure. 

One area we pay a lot of attention to is post-launch maintenance and technical support. One advantage of working with a full-service agency like us is the personal service and professional level support, even after the project is "done."

1-Month Post-Launch Site Warranty

We do this in a few different way. First, we offer a free 1-month warranty with every project. This means that if there are any technical issues that missed our Q.A. period is fixed without question for a full month after the launch.

Discounted Hourly or Monthly Maintenance Plans

Even after the initial month, we're here for full email, phone, or web conference support through our comprehensive maintenance and support plan. These plans are available hourly or a monthly packs in 5-hour increments. With any package plan, any unused hours are "rolled over" to the next month, so you're never paying for unused hours. Package plan hours can also be spent in upgrading or adding enhancements of the site as well. Both hourly or monthly plans are also heavily discounted from our regular "studio" rates, and are well-below other agencies' per-hour costs as well. 

Although any design process can be highly subjective, we try to take a disciplined and methodological approach to balance our own creative ideas with client's personal preferences and wishes. One of the ways to do so is to separate the concept creation vs. feedback & revision "rounds", and then repeat them in an iterative process until the final design is on-target. In a typical project, the steps follow this pattern:

1. Initial client input & any existing brand materials (logo, color, images, if any)
2. Concept creation (x number of concepts*)
3. Client feedback and input
4. Revise concepts
5. Further client feedback and input
6. Repeat steps 3-5 (for x number of times*)

* The number of concepts and each "round" depends on the scope and budget of the project

Regarding the number of rounds, we often go beyond what's called for in the contract. Our designs are as important to us as our technical expertise, and often it's our pursuit of the perfect design that compels us to put in extra work to put the the final touches.

Hiring "offshore" coders or designers is a controversial topic. On one hand it can drastically bring down the cost of the project. On the other hand, quality assurance and transparency are real concerns.

First of all, we have not (and never will) hire any outside designers to handle the visual work. We feel our design work is our "signature", and although we admit we have a certain style or approach, 100% of our work is done internally. As our client, you'll never get less than the very best creative work from us.

On the technical end, 95%-100% of the work are also done internally through our core team members. We've developed a refined process in building our EE sites, and it would be difficult (if not unrewarding) to transfer that process to any inexperienced outside help. The only instances where we would use outsourced freelancer or company is to do CSS and basic XHTML work, and even then each individual will go though a "vetting" process to make sure his/her work is nothing less than outstanding. 

We also make each and every member of the team available, and am upfront and transparent about who's working on the project and in what capacity. 

ExpressionEngine version 2.0 represents a big step forward for the EE platform, and also for its community. 

On one hand, it has a lot of advanced features and usability enhancements to offer. These updates are fairly significant, and will position EE as one of the few content management systems that combine powerful features, affordable pricing, as well as rock-solid support. 

On the other hand, it is still officially in beta, and there's no time table for the full release. There's an incredibly active community support for debugging and getting it past the final hurdle, but with a number of important 3rd party extensions scheduled to be updated for 2.0 in Q1 of the new year, we think it may still be several weeks until we officially start to recommend it as a "production" platform.

However, we're working with a couple of clients in using 2.0 in its beta stage, and will continue to pour our own R&D hours to make sure we are as up-to-date as any other EE service provider. If you're curious about our findings, send us an email or subscribe to our newsletter for updates (see the form on our footer.)   

Updating an ExpressionEngine website is both easy and precise. 

• Changing content means using the EE control panel's "Edit" form to change an entry's title, summary, image, or any other parts of the page. 
• Changing navigation can be handled automatically, or use a special module (like the user-friendly "Navigator" add-on) to enable exact order and naming without requiring template changes
• Changing layout can also be control via custom toggles, to let you switch from a single to multi-column design, change size of a thumbnail, etc.

If you're more technically inclined, we can setup a special training/overview session to show you how the include files work, and how individual templates are setup. 

Customized to Your Skill Level

The key here is we can build each site to match your technical skill level and how much control you desire (more control may not necessarily mean the site's easier to maintain.) And if you or your staff lack HTML knowledge, there's little to be concerned with. EE's back-end is built for non-technical users in mind, and we make sure we take advantage of those features when we code our sites. 

We've been working with ExpressionEngine for about 4 years now, ever since we opened our "doors." And here's our story.

Coming from larger agencies, where 6- or 7-figure CMS were not uncommon (think Vignette or Interwoven), we knew we had to find a great, affordable platform to base our sites on. 

After working with Drupal and Joomla, we did a pretty comprehensive search in finding a better fit. After reviewing and testing no less than a dozen systems under $1,000, we came across ExpressionEngine after reading one glowing testimonial after another. 

After doing a test site, and converting our own ejaedesign.com (the very first version), it was clear that this was the system we were looking for. Robust, flexible, easy to customize and expand, lightning-fast support, and affordable licensing fee that's under $300. It was love at first, second, and third sight. Since then, we were happy to concentrate on ExpressionEngine as our primary CMS of choice, and haven't looked back.