So, What Does A Website Cost?
One of the questions I’m asked most often, is about websites and why they cost “so much”.
The answer really isn’t simple, but in my experience with websites, you get what you pay for.
As a Marketing Professional, one of the main questions you need to ask yourself is “What Do I Need My Website to DO”. Because your website is so much more than you think.
A key piece of your branding – it needs to look and feel consistent with your business attributes.
Often, the first point of contact between you and your customer – before you even know they exist, they’ll be gaining knowledge about you, from your website.
A central part of your marketing strategy – your website is the point where many people convert from prospects, to actual customers.
So think about where your current clients come from – word of mouth referrals? Social Media?
Now think “what if” your website was sitting quietly in the background, converting people from Google searches, Facebook posts, or referrals; to customers. With minimal action from you.
I just need something basic.
If you only need something simple, then you might get away with a few hundred dollars. There are a large number of organisations offering relatively cheap websites – GoDaddy, Squarespace, Shopify, Wix…. And that doesn’t include the sole operators, who are designing beautiful websites, but not offering anything else (domain names, hosting, content, SEO….) You basically have a brochure of 3-5 pages. No frills, no smart technology. If that’s all you need then that’s great, go for it.
Please keep in mind, there will be quite a few features that you don’t get:
Your contact form won’t integrate, and automatically store emails address in your database or EDM program (like Mail Chimp or mailerlite). Squarespace and Wix do offer their own EDM bolt-on (for an extra price)
Other integrations – such as booking apps, scheduling, e-commerce, payment, membership pages, affiliate programmes – are all governed by the website system. Some will have their own solutions, others won’t.
You won’t be able to embed videos – in my experience, this is either extremely difficult or only available on a higher cost plan. There are ways around, for example, hyperlinking to your YouTube channel. This directs clients away from your site however, which is normally something you don’t want.
You won’t be able to change the layout (standard templated design for everyone). Sure, you can edit the colours, orientation, font, line spacing, and image setup. But the main structure is quite rigid. This is an issue if you have a strong idea in your own mind, and want your site to look a particular way.
Google Maps integration for your contact page – again, fairly difficult in template-based websites, unless you’d like to employ a coder to sort it out. And even then it’s not perfect…
It may not be compatible with all web browsers – today’s society has many different browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, MS Edge, Samsung Internet, Android…. Templates may not transfer seamlessly across all these browsers, leaving users unable to properly view your site.
It may not be compatible with mobile phone browsers – the situation is similar, with so many different operating systems on mobile devices, making sure your website is optimised for mobile viewing is quite complicated.
If you need something more complex or custom, then expect to pay anywhere from $1,200 to $10,000 for a CMS (content management system) website. Normally this is WordPress or Joomla, but there’s others around.
Maybe you don’t need all of these features “right now”. But if you would like to expand your website at a later date or you realise you don’t look as appealing as your competitors, you may find that you are hamstrung by your cheaper choice.
So What Should You Pay?
A new website is going to take anywhere from 20 to 60 hours (@ around $90 or $100 p.h. for a good, qualified web professional) to build and will typically be broken down as:
CMS install, setup and configuration: 5 – 10 hours
Website interface design: 10 – 20 hours
Interactive features: 10 – 20 hours
Blog set up and design: 5 – 10 hours
Then remember the other things that you may or may not already have – content written, Search Engine Optimisation (this is an entire blog on its own!), website domain purchase, hosting, integration of other apps, uploading and sorting of images (all at the appropriate sizes), hyperlinking your content to correct places…. All of that takes time, and experience knowing the best way to do things.
Complex Websites
If you have a requirement for the following, then your website is most likely going to cost you in the range of $10,000 min.
an ordering system
a membership system
an ecommerce system
an email marketing system
With web design, your money is going towards expertise, time and the ‘uniqueness’ of your site (also known as customisation).
Is one system perfect? No.
Is one any better than another? Again – No.
Before any of my clients make a decision, I ask them to consider all the elements.
What does your current business sales process look like?
What sort of business do you run – e-commerce? Service based?
What functions do you need your website to fill?
Who will manage your site going forward? What are their technical capabilities and time capacity?
You really do get what you pay for!
But you aren’t just paying for the time it takes to build a website. You are paying for the 20 years I’ve spent working on the job, making all the mistakes, doing, re-doing, learning and practising so I know how to design, develop and implement a website that achieves your business goals.
If you have questions, or would like to understand more about your website - contact me for a chat.