Not every business or person has adequate knowledge to make a web application that is up to current standards. Some projects end up costing higher than projected or worse still, do not get deployed. Getting a web project right is a delicate balancing task between appropriate resource use and your needs as the project owner.
My go to advice is to get a consultant first; to understand your need and translate it to something close to industry average. This means no surprises down the road or at least not as many. You could also use a search engine, get some sort of existing idea(s) close to yours and then research those.
Here is a basic perquisite to knowledge you might come out with.
First, you will get an estimate size of your project. It grows as your needs do. However not all growth is linear. Some needs will seem relatively simple on the surface but will in fact be quite complex and vice versa. For example, adding another website page with a lot of information is relatively easier than adding the ability for users to login. For the later; a database connection, login security and a front page will have to be implemented. The former is just a page, that’s what the website was doing in the first place and building on it is easier.
Depending on how big your project is estimated to get , the consultant might refer you to a developer, a group of specialists or a firm that handles a large group of specialists. Whichever way you get pointed to; cost is usually the deciding factor. However; the most expensive option happens to be the most convenient. I have covered the why here. The article also covers merits of doing it your self.
Say the research infers you to a group of specialist; this means that the project is large and the most efficient path is with a team. This team will have a project manager whose role is to oversee progress, act as communication conduit between the project owner and developers and merge all the different specialists work into one coherent project.
You might also opt for an all rounded developer. One person who plays all the roles around development. This developer will be versed in design, programming, developer operations and administrative duties. These kind of people are usually quite expensive but definitely cheaper than the entire IT departments they replace. Projects might take longer but the time will be worth it over hiring an entire team.
There are basic prerequisites necessary for any project that are pretty easy to acquire or do not require the kind expensive talent mentioned. If you some how took care of these yourself before approaching a developer; you then stand a chance of bargaining down the costs or attaining some sort of control over the project. You will definitely save on time.
Domain and service subscriptions are better coming of off your account. The domain name acquisition is an easy process and you get to do the search yourself. Service subscriptions might be needed by your developer or team and these would be convenient to both parties if you just made them yourself. You could also ask your developer to take you through these processes but ask favors like these only if you are already in contract. It is your project so you might as well learn while at it.
Logo, design and mock up determine identity. You would be hard pressed to find a software developer who is also a visual artist. Save yourself the embarrassment that comes with bad hand writing and get yourself a graphic designer for these. You will also save considerable amounts of time if you have the design up-front. Software developers fidget a lot around these kind of stuff and you will pay for the fidgeting.
Though this is not necessary, at least have an idea of the trends around the project you are about to commission. What tools or framework are the most likely suggestions for your project? Have you checked out the merits? For example; some programming languages have engineers who generally charge less per job compared to others. Why is this? Are you loosing out on something?
Your budget estimate should be at least half over. Expect to spend half as much more than what you expected the project would cost. Setting your expectations low is setting your self up for happiness. I do not know how this mashes up to the context but I feel like it the best statement for it.
In conclusion. It pays, literally, to have information around your project. If this is too much to follow up you could get a consultant who will break down your project into part which you can then pick out and exercise control over. Remember, it is the end product that matters.