Sponsor's Message

Politicians love them too -- so you'll find just about anyone who is anyone on the web.

But how much can businesses or individuals reasonably expect to pay to have their web presence created, maintained and hosted?

I'm not in the web design business and I do all my own web design work so I don't even know the "going rate" for such services but, like many others, I think it might be interesting to find out.

The reason I'm wondering is this story from The Australian in which it has been revealed that Aussie taxpayers have forked out over A$4 million to build, maintain and host the website of their IT minister.

Yes, that's right -- FOUR MILLION DOLLARS!

This kind of makes Tuku Morgan's silk boxers and the NZ government's various ill-fated Maori TV investments look cheap by comparison.

I bet there are more than a few Kiwi MPs and government departments who would just love to have a website budget that was even 10% of that amount.

But is this really such an outrageous amount?

Well I guess if you use Fujitsu as your web developer then you'd be told that it was quite reasonable. Somehow I don't think many of New Zealand's very capable web designers would agree.

Readers Say (updated irregularly) HOW MUCH?!?!?!... - Richard cost of web sites... - Robert Walker Wireless... - Dennis Have Your Say

But hang on, aren't we tied up in a "Closer Economic Relations" agreement with Australia?

I wonder if we should send a delegation over to Oz and introduce their MPs to the great value that our developers represent -- even though our currencies are rapidly approaching parity.

It seems that Macromedia also thinks we Kiwis are a little more canny when it comes to getting value in this area than the Aussies. Their managing director says that a similar site built for the NZ government cost just NZ$120,000.

I guess if there's one lesson to be learnt from this little fiasco it's that, as when purchasing any service or product, it pays to shop around.

Free Lunch Follow-up
You'll recall that Monday's Aardvark queried the sensibility of a "lifetime free Internet access" deal that promoted by a full-page ad in the NZ Herald.

One eagle-eyed reader dropped me an email to point out that the "Terms and Conditions" state:

"The ISP means: Explosive Internet Ltd..."

However, a quick check at the Companies Office website indicates that Explosive Internet Ltd was struck off in August of last year.

I think I'll just stick to my existing ISP and keep that $395 in the bank.

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