Work to Begin Soon on JTB Website

[Gamma]

i'm POSITIVE that's what i meant...for real life i'm not joking!!

[Jawge]

Mi helping mi other half in
that direction, whilst I concentrate on keeping the gate. It's
a team thing,so soon I will be able to say a resounding yes!

[Bricktop]

US$280,000 for a website?!? Is that the norm?! I'm in the wrong field!

$3,000 per page is par for the course. You have a web strategist, senior producer, creative director, art director, web designer, web developer and copywriter involved. Yuh tink is jus one likkle man a siddung inna him one room apartment a scratch him seedbag? The likkle half a website my company have cost nearly $40,000 already.

[Mosiah]

I am sure they could get all that at a fraction of the cost had they not eliminated the local designers.

Anyway, is that what you do, Brickie?

Please revisit the ICFC post and make another contribution.

Thanks!

[Assasin]

Seems a little expensive to me. Maybe because I am use to cutting cost.

This however must include maintenance as well and I hope was put out to bid.

I assume they gave it to a company who specialise in the tourism industry and will drive traffic to the site as a promotional thing.

[Mosiah]

I can't wait to see it!

[Assasin]

people within the tourism industry normally use companies that are proven in that industry.

Yes I would want to see the sight too, I hope it can be voted as one of the best in the industry or Bartlett a go have egg on his face.

[Bricktop]

Anyway, is that what you do, Brickie?

Yuh never hear me ask you how much Quantity Surveyor mek in Jamaica? We had a site designed where we can send out invitations to bid, host digital blueprints and specs, and gather a database of subcontractors. That alone cost $40,000 and counting.

[Reggae-Fan]

Let me chime in. At US$280K, the Jamaica Tourist board is getting a good deal for the design/development of this web site. Building a quality website does not include just one individual, there is normally a team of about 5 people working together to get the job done. They will need Information Architect (US$100 per hr) , Art Director (US$150 per hr) a senior developer (US$200 per hr), Junior Developer (US$100 per hr), Project Manager(US$80 per hr), and Quality Assurance Analysts at about us$90 per hr. Stretch that out over a 6 months period and you get a true picture of what it takes to get a quality website built.

Having worked on a number of websites, and having gotten the chance to see the budgets that are allocated for the building of medium to large scale websites, I can tell you that the company I worked for up to recently would have probably come in with a $350K bid to get it done. I'll give you an example of a site I worked on that came in a little over US$300K...took 5 peolple 6 months to get it done. http://www.sellbottledwater.com

Having said all of that, I am 100% certain that the expertise does exist in Jamaica to get the job done. There is no need to send this off to America to get done. Heck, they could pay me and a graphic artists 60K each and we get this site up and running 6 months.

But its a worthwile investment. If you think of what the JTB spends annually to advertise on TV, Magazines etc in the US alone, you will see that the US$280K is a greta value that presents another advertising medium which have the potential to reach persons as far away as the North Pole.

[Reggae-Fan]

US$280K is a good deal. But, there are companies right there in Jamaica that can get the job done for significantly less. See my response below.

[Reggae-Fan]

Yes, there is an abundance of QUALITY software developers in Jamaica. Recruiters in the US recruit them all the time, and have positive things to say about Jamaicans who work in IT...Microsoft recently re-iterated that fact.

[Reggae-Fan]

You under-estimating the value of a website boss. This is more than just a website, its a tool the JTB will use to drive toursist to the nation. I wonder how much money the JTB spend on running ads on US tv stations on an annual basis? Well, think of teh website as an ad that will be accessible by people as far away as the North pole.

You have guys in the US making up to 120K per annum building websites. Makes me wonder what i'm doing wrong

[Reggae-Fan]

No, I am sure that the cost presented above is the baseline for getting the site live. It appears maintenance will be done by the JTB staff, in terms of keeping the site fresh and updated with new content. The JTB can easily find folks in Jamaica to do the maintenace once the core site is built. It would be great to know what technology is being used to build the site, because that will determine how expensive it is to maintain.

[Assasin]

I can only think this is a proven Tourism related company that has done many websites in the tourism industry. This industry is kinda enclosed somewhat. The Maintenance I am thinking is not really the small changes but if there has to be any minor design changes and keeping it on their servers, much like what you Tilla do fi this website.

I

[Gamma]