“How much should I pay for a website?”, one of the most popular business owner questions to date and the answer is far from simple so let’s dig in.
There are tons of variables that go into determining the cost of your website. Are you going to DIY it? Are you hiring someone for a totally custom website? Or is it just a website template set up? This is the basic tier of determining factors when it comes to cost, DIY is the cheapest route, template set up is in the middle, and custom is the most expensive but offers the most value.
If you’re DIYing your site your costs will probably range between $100 – $400 depending on the website platform you choose and the additional features you install. Template setup on the other hand can typically range between $500 – $2K depending on the template you purchase, the amount of content, and the platform. Lastly, we have custom design which generally ranges from $2K – $200,000 with $2K being on the extremely cheap side.
Custom website design has such a wide price range because there are hundreds of deciding factors when it comes to the cost of a custom website. I’ve gone ahead and made a list of the deciding factors below.
THE DESIGNER
Unexperienced designers may be on the cheaper side, experienced designers may cost around 5 figures, and larger design agencies usually cost upwards of $20K and can run into the 6 figures. Every designer does things differently therefore provides different deliverables & has their own unique process. Cost will be heavily determined by their skill set, the deliverables, and their process.
THE PLATFORM
Different platforms posses different capabilities and can impact the cost of your website depending on your goals & expectations. For example, if you want a totally custom Shopify website it might cost more than a totally custom WordPress website due to the fact that Shopify has their own coding language which requires more work to customize than something like WordPress.
THE CONTENT & REQUIREMENTS
Your content & specific needs also play a huge role in determining cost, this is why I never provide a firm quote to clients until after I’ve had the chance to speak with them & grasp a better understanding of their needs. A large scale e-commerce site is going to cost far more than a 4 page service based business website due to the amount of work required to make the website. If you need special website features like a membership area, scheduling software, etc. that will also rack up your total investment.
TIMELINE
If you’re okay spending about 2 months building out your website or working with your designer’s timeline this portion won’t impact cost but if you need a website ASAP you’ll likely be hit with a rush fee to make it happen.
MAINTENANCE
Lastly we have website maintenance which involves paying for things like your website hosting, third party apps, and even sometimes your designer to continuously do up keep on your site. Your website is a live ever changing virtual store front which means it has to be taken care of just like a physical location.
In conclusion, the cost of a website is very subjective based on these variables which is why the answer to this question may vary heavily depending on who you ask!
Ready to get a quote for your custom website?
May 28, 2021