How Much does a Website Cost?

Of course, “how much will my website cost?” is arguably the most common question that is asked by our clients in the first conversation.  Our answer to that question is not simple.  It’s like asking “How much is a house?”  We all understand that the cost of a house depends on the size, the materials, the qualifications of the architect and builder, the amount of customization, the complexity of the design, the level and number of resources required,  etc.  So too are many of the factors that go into pricing a Website design project.

Some of the components that play into the cost of your website include:

Marketing & Consulting:

Marketing and consulting costs depend on the degree in which you need help with the marketing and management of the project including:

• marketing strategy –  How much help will you need?
• do you have experience with managing a web design project in the past?
• do you understand the expectations of your team throughout the web design process?
• have you thought about your content and messaging?  Will you need a writer?
• have you thought about what pages you want to include and how they’ll be organized?
• do you need help with ideas to communicate your brand message
• are you familiar with conversion funnels and marketing best practices?
• how much time will we need to spend in project management

Website Design:

The cost for the design of your website, assuming you want a custom site and not a template, depends largely on:

• the level of the designer you choose
• whether or not you have already established your logo, branding and style guidelines
• the number of concepts you want to see
• the number of layouts you’ll need
• your UI and UX needs (how complex is the user interface)
• whether you want custom graphics
• the complexity of all design elements

Technology:

Some of the costs associated with Technology or the functionality of your website  include:

• complexity of functional elements included in the website (tools, e-Commerce, events manager, custom database functions, forms, automation, dynamic features, galleries, etc.)
• number and intricacy of designs and layouts to be implemented
• 3rd party integrations or API’s
• complexity and customization of content management

Search Engine Optimization:

The costs associated with onsite search engine optimization need to be considered.  Google ranks websites by the page and not by the site so it is important that each page be optimized for unique keywords that directly relate to the topic on the page. Your website won’t do you any good if no one can find it.  Some of the variables for pricing basic on-site SEO include:

• number of pages to be optimized
• extent of keyword research needed
• competitiveness of industry niche

Other services:

You’ll want to think about whether you’ll  need other professional resources like writers, photographers, video production, etc.?  If you do, those resources will add to the cost of your web project.  Post launch marketing is a subject in and of itself, so we’ll save that topic for another day.

So with all that said, you’re still wondering; “how much will my website cost?”.

As a general rule of thumb our small custom marketing sites, under 15 pages, 2 layouts and using a mid-level designer, start as low as $7,500 for consulting, design, development and onsite SEO.  Larger custom marketing sites including B2B/Healthcare/Technology/Manufacturing, generally run $18 – $30,000.00 plus. Complex websites and Magento e-Commerce websites that require senior level marketing, design and programming can run well over $40,000.

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