How much does a website cost?

How much does a website cost? – We are asked this question day in and day out – mainly because it’s an unknown quantity and it’s the easiest question to ask. Plus it also stops clients from getting embarrassed listening to how wonderful a web design company can make your website to only find out it is way beyond your budget.

“Asking how much a website costs is a safe question.”

Well, anyone who has ever purchased a website will know that the price varies widely. In this regard, websites can be said to have a lot of similarities with cars, and just like when finding out how much a car costs, the price will vary widely, depending on your needs and chosen options.

To make sure you get a good answer to this question, first, you need to decide on a few requirements from your website. That way, not only can a respectable web design company give you a more accurate answer, but it also allows you to compare one company with another better.

Things to Decide on…

How do you define its success?

Picture yourself in 12 months’ time with your new website, and someone asks you ‘Was it a success?’ Did the fact you changed or updated your website have a positive impact on your business? If, so try and quantify what that success would be.

By answering this question, it really gets to the heart of what you are trying to achieve. Is the website there to make it easier for people to find your number and send you an email? Is it to increase enquiries? Is it for existing clients to keep up to date with changes in your business or your industry? Is it to sell products? Whatever the purpose of the website, try and define what its success would be.

Is SEO important to you?

Adding SEO onto the website, in terms of optimisation and copywriting can push up the price, but without it, it will be sheer luck as to where you come in the Google search rankings.

Think if there are keywords or keyphrases you would like or must be found under in search results. A good web design agency can then research these keywords and inform you of the difficulty and costs to achieve them.

SEO is only 1 way to drive traffic to your website and generate leads or sales, so don’t think you must have this.

Is it eCommerce?

This is a simple one, but decide whether your website will sell online, and take payments, or whether it is an information site or a lead generation site. There is no wrong answer here, it just helps a web development company understand the amount of work involved.

What support will be needed after it’s built?

Once the website is complete, what support will you need? If it is a simple brochure site, then may be very little. It may not be required to be updated that frequently, so as long as it is up and running and customers can find it, that will be enough. On the other hand, if your business is an eCommerce business and selling online, think about the support and backup you will need. Can you afford for your website to go down for an hour or a day?

Think about what you need, and then a web development company can price accordingly, and you can compare like for like.

Bespoke or Template?

There are now thousands of templates for websites out there – is one of these good enough for your needs? When you are browsing the web, looking at the competition or other websites, can you tell which ones are templates and which ones aren’t? Templates these days can be used for the whole site, or just as a foundation to build your own customisations.

Bespoke websites allow you to customise every aspect of the site, and have something built specifically for your needs. If you have a unique product or a market-leading solution a bespoke site can affirm that position and put you way ahead of the competition.

Template or bespoke comes down a lot to budget, but if you have an idea of what you want they can you can get like-for-like quotes.

What future developments for it do you see?

It’s easy to go for what seems like a great value quote, which later becomes a false economy if you can not adapt it for your future needs. In this case, you end up having to start again from scratch and spend more money overall.

By having an understanding of where your business is going and where you are likely to take your website, a web design agency can quote a solution that won’t be restrictive later on.

There are many variables that affect the price, just like when purchasing a car, but if you have a hold on the important ones, then you can start to navigate the web design field and get great value for your pounds.