Someone to Build a Website

Hi.  I am having a really tough time finding someone to build a music web site for me.  I don't want a $25 GoDaddy template, but I also don't need a $50,000 corporate site—something in between.
 
I think someone could make a decent check for not too much time, but I can't find anyone who is available and reliable.  (I don't want a learner, amateur, or first-timer.  This is a professional project. )
 
I have the lay-out, design, and artwork; and a mock-up in PowerPoint and pdf.  Required functions:
• Need to stream music and videos.
• Need to sell downloads, CDs, and some merchandise.
• Can use free code from PayPal, if needed, for payment, but must be able to take credit/debit cards from around the world.
• A blog page (e.g., WordPress) is desirable but optional.
• A photo page with thumbnails is desirable but optional.
• Only required pages are homepage that streams music and top videos and has a buy button for an album, and a second page for merchandise.
• Home page should have buttons for Facebook and YouTube.
• I prefer NOT to use bandcamp for sales because their model is not flexible enough to do what I want.
• Need flawless capture of customer information for shipping products AND for building future mailing lists.
• Must be designed so I can make updates as products are added or changed, or prices are adjusted.  Content (music samples) may also be added at times.
• I have a primary domain but also want to point some other domain names to the site.  (Network Solutions can do this.)
 
Again, I have a mock-up with working links and a requirements document, so this should be easy for someone who knows what he/she is doing—BUT it has to be a professional effort.
 
Thanks, —Konrad

I'm gonna go learned what Wordpress means. Then I might get back to you.

Thanks for the responses.  A few comments:
 
• I can afford to pay a professional fee, but would rather get a bid based on requirements rather than naming a price in advance.
• I didn't intend to get into design specifics here, but I have no problem with using embedded YouTube for video.  Many companies, however, do provide audio players and samples.  Soundcloud takes up too much space and the way it works is not consistent.  The Hollywood Strings site linked below has a good audio player.  Bandcamp also does this, although it does not allow skipping ahead, which I think should be allowed.
 
http://www.soundsonline.com/Hollywood-Strings
 

konradh
Hi.  I am having a really tough time finding someone to build a music web site for me.  I don't want a $25 GoDaddy template, but I also don't need a $50,000 corporate site—something in between.
 
check out Square Space:
http://www.squarespace.com/#musicians
 
They are a great company. Built in software to make you website look totally pro.

Thanks very much.

konradh
It is amazing that someone with a healthy budget, detailed requirements, all the artwork and content, and a mock-up showing the lay-out can't find someone to take his money.
 
I have been looking for a year!  All I get are "I'm too busy" or "my nephew is taking a web class at his high school."
 
Seriously, this is a 2-4 day effort for a pro.
 
WTH?
 
 

Konrad,
 
I'm in IT and all I can say is that a 'pro" as you call it would look at a 2-4 day effort as an aggravation not a project.
 
You may not want to believe it but a pro looks for 2-4 MONTH projects. Unless (s)he is out of work.

konradh
So someone with a small company or working as an independent consultant wouldn't take $2K to $5K to work part-time for a week and build a simple 2-4 page site when the design, layout, and artwork is already done?  I find that hard to believe, but if that's the way it is, I won't aggravate anyone.

I added the caveat "if out of work". 
 
Don't despair. You just need to the find the pro that is currently out of work.

Have you tried one of the many sites that sell templates.
Most of these places have a staff that will also build the site for you.

Templatessold.com comes to mind IIRC

Also most hosting companies have staff or third party individuals that they can recommend.

If I half-way considered myself either a pro or one with all the right tools for the job, I would certainly take the task.  However, so far, I've only created websites using a web-host's own site building tools which hardly qualifies.  Once you start getting into taking payments you want to make sure it's done right and that the SSL is correct or people won't trust the site enough to use it.

If I half-way considered myself either a pro or one with all the right tools for the job, I would certainly take the task.  However, so far, I've only created websites using a web-host's own site building tools which hardly qualifies.  Once you start getting into taking payments you want to make sure it's done right and that the SSL is correct or people won't trust the site enough to use it.

I wonder what craigb(ITHRN) thinks.

Well, I'm pretty proud that I've been successfully building a PHP-HTML-JavaScript website/customer portal that uses both MySQl (for intermediate and/or config data) and an Oracle database for actual data retrievals with final updates provided by restful APIs (which are provided by the system's software vendor).
 
I do the heavy data lifting portion of the system with basic data I/O layout. Then it's passed on to the portal designer (by that I mean the visual aspects).
 
I would have loved to use a frameworks (ala Zend etc.) but our particular needs have constraints put on us by the software vendor that did not make that possible without MAJOR customiozation to the frameworks.
 
Think of what I'm doing is somewhat like Panup's Duckbar. We're kind of a bolt-on to the non-source code provided system.
 
4.5 months ago I knew very little about PHP (did some small mods to a web storefront) and how to access Oracle via OCI (all my experience in Oracle was direct access thru Oracle based Client-Server tools). Today I just know enough to be dangerous. You know. A "pro".

Guys, I appreciate all the conversation and suggestions.  Someone referred by this forum did reach out to me and I am sending him a requirements doc and mock-up over the week-end for a bid.
 
Just to see, I am also going to ask Network Solutions what the options are.  They have custom designers but the last time I reached out, it didn't go well.  I asked questions and the guy answered by sending me a brochure that didn't answer any of the questions.  Maybe a different person there would be better.
 
FYI, I used to be a software designer at IBM and have spent a lot of years in IT so I do understand writing requirements; balancing scope, cost, and time; and all that other stuff.  I also understand that you should always hire a specialist instead of trying to do something that is not in your core skill set.  (Same reason I hire a mastering engineer instead of hacking around myself.)  I am not schooled in e-commerce; media streaming detecting mobile devices; and all that other stuff that is easy for someone who knows what he/she is doing.
 
Thanks again and Happy Thanksgiving to my US buddies who will be celebrating next week.  (I'm a Texan—we celebrate every day.)

jamesg1213

bapu
Well, I'm pretty proud that I've been successfully building a PHP-HTML-JavaScript website/customer portal that uses both MySQl (for intermediate and/or config data) and an Oracle database for actual data retrievals with final updates provided by restful APIs (which are provided by the system's software vendor).
 
I do the heavy data lifting portion of the system with basic data I/O layout. Then it's passed on to the portal designer (by that I mean the visual aspects).
 
I would have loved to use a frameworks (ala Zend etc.) but our particular needs have constraints put on us by the software vendor that did not make that possible without MAJOR customiozation to the frameworks.
 
Think of what I'm doing is somewhat like Panup's Duckbar. We're kind of a bolt-on to the non-source code provided system.
 
4.5 months ago I knew very little about PHP (did some small mods to a web storefront) and how to access Oracle via OCI (all my experience in Oracle was direct access thru Oracle based Client-Server tools). Today I just know enough to be dangerous. You know. A "pro".

I have absolutely zero idea what you just said.
 
Carry on though, sounds amazing.

He gets paid in plug-ins.