A simple question, which sadly doesn’t have a simple answer. The short response would be – it depends. But let’s dive into more detail.
The cost of a website is dependent on what you need it to do for your business, as well as who you choose to develop and design it for you. A good website can be an incredible asset in increasing your revenue, so it’s important to spend the time (and yes, money) on ensuring that your website is functioning the best way for your business. A positive frame of mind to have when setting up a good website is that this isn’t an expense, but rather an investment, capable of having a massive impact on the level of traffic and conversions on your page, therefore bringing in more profit for you and your business!
The cost of a website is dependent on what you need it to do for your business, as well as who you choose to develop and design it for you. A good website can be an incredible asset in increasing your revenue, so it’s important to spend the time (and yes, money) on ensuring that your website is functioning the best way for your business. A positive frame of mind to have when setting up a good website is that this isn’t an expense, but rather an investment, capable of having a massive impact on the level of traffic and conversions on your page, therefore bringing in more profit for you and your business!
So where to begin?
First, you need to be clear the purpose of your website. Are you looking for a website that provides information about your business, or are you looking to expand the e-commerce side of things? Costing is very much dependent on what it is that you need, so it’s important to have clear objectives, so that when you find your website designer you have a budget in mind. It’s important to know just how you want your website to function so that you can be clear when communicating with whoever you choose to develop and design your website, to ensure it meets the needs of your business.
A static website (for smaller businesses not looking to boost online sales but rather provide information) will only need a few pages, and costs approximately $1000-$3000. If you’re a small business who is in fact looking to develop online growth, you would need a larger website with more marketing tools to promote conversion of this traffic into sales enquiries – this can cost around $2000-$5000. An e-commerce website would cost around $3000 to $12000, depending on how large it needs to be.
Once you have this ironed out, make sure you have selected a domain name and registered it. This can cost between $5-$50 and needs to be renewed every year so factor this into your ongoing costs.
There are a number of factors that impact pricing, namely:
Once you have all the content in place and the website is live, it’s important to remember that there are still ongoing costs that come with the webpage. It will need regular updating to reflect any changes or growth to your business, and this can cost anywhere between $50-$1000 depending on how much needs doing. Plus, don’t forget about that yearly domain name subscription.
The thing to remember with websites is that you get what you pay for – so bear this in mind if you’re tempted to go with the cheapest offer available. You might think that you’re saving money by cutting corners, but it will most likely cost you a lot more in the long run when you find you have to spend more money to resolve any errors in code, no SEO, and nothing targeting towards your customers to drive your sales up. A great website is a fantastic tool for your business, as long as you’re willing to spend the money to build it correctly.
Once you have this ironed out, make sure you have selected a domain name and registered it. This can cost between $5-$50 and needs to be renewed every year so factor this into your ongoing costs.
What else affects the website costs?
There are a number of factors that impact pricing, namely:
- Content: A key component of marketing is the sales copy, which persuades people to engage with the website and purchase your products or services. You can choose to write this yourself if you feel you have the skill and time to hand, but if not, you will need to pay professional copywriters – this can cost around $200 - $600 per page, depending, as always, on who you choose to do it.
- Media: You don’t just need words to make your website pop – images and videos can help your business website look professional and unique. If you want to cut costs, you can use stock photos which cost approximately $200 for 20 images, but does run the risk of making your website look tacky or cheap. You may wish to hire a photographer to take professional images of your products and/or services; depending on the photographer and how many images required, this can cost between $100-$3000.
- Page numbers: the bigger the website, the more media and content it has, and the more work involved into bringing it to life. The developer also has to test all the pages to ensure they’re functioning correctly.
- Design: Providers like Squarespace and Wix offer templates for you to make your own and design your own website, with free and premium options available. This does have the drawback of limiting how unique you can make your website look to stand out from the competition, so you may want to consider going to a professional – of course, this would then cost more. You could ask your website developer to design your website for you, but typically a developer is more concerned with functionality and code rather than increasing online revenue or whatever your website goal happens to be. The best option – and typically the most costly – is a professional website designer, who can optimise your website to meet your business needs and help you select the correct web host. You would need to measure up whether this initial high expenditure will be worth it in the long run (hint: it is).
- Mobile functionality: Over half of website traffic now comes from mobile devices – you’ll want to ensure that your website is optimised for smaller screens.
- Security: The last thing you’d need is your website being hacked, sensitive data being leaked and faith in your business being damaged because of this. Hackers, viruses and malware are a consistent risk on the internet, so it is imperative that your website includes a suite of protection. Yes, this will increase the costs, but once again you should see this as an investment and protection of a valuable asset rather than an expense.
Once you have all the content in place and the website is live, it’s important to remember that there are still ongoing costs that come with the webpage. It will need regular updating to reflect any changes or growth to your business, and this can cost anywhere between $50-$1000 depending on how much needs doing. Plus, don’t forget about that yearly domain name subscription.
The thing to remember with websites is that you get what you pay for – so bear this in mind if you’re tempted to go with the cheapest offer available. You might think that you’re saving money by cutting corners, but it will most likely cost you a lot more in the long run when you find you have to spend more money to resolve any errors in code, no SEO, and nothing targeting towards your customers to drive your sales up. A great website is a fantastic tool for your business, as long as you’re willing to spend the money to build it correctly.
