The number one question I am asked by prospective clients is, “how much is it going to cost to build a website?”. This is understandable since you want to know how much it is going to cost you, however getting as much information about your design project is crucial so we are able to give a correct quote as each site is different. So having a budget in mind is important.
Everyone has a budget, whether they are going to the grocery store, buying a house or simply going on vacation and you’d want the same for your website. Every business needs a website to help increase their traffic flow and to claim a place on the internet, but many small and startup businesses often hesitate to get their site built as they fear it will cost them a lot of money that they won’t be able to afford.
Seventy-five percent of a website’s credibility is directly related to design, meaning that users favour the visual and the functional factors of a company’s website. If your website takes too long to load or isn’t user friendly do you think that user is going to stick around on your site? No, they are going to move on to the next.
Having a well laid out designed website is crucial for the growth of small and startup businesses. Furthermore as your business grows you want your website to also showcase that growth.
Knowing where to start when coming up with a budget for your website can be tricky, but first you want to establish the purpose of your website. Are you selling a product or service? Is it informational?
Keeping this in mind will help; for instance a five page informational site that has all your company’s information on it is going to be cheaper to design than a five page eCommerce site where you are selling products that you can directly purchase on the site.
Everyone has a number in mind when starting the planning process, so your next step is to create a list of “must haves”, like the features that you need on the site and another list would be, “this would be nice, but at this time is not necessary”.
Start with the basics and as your company grows you can add those other functionalities that you wanted before in the future, evolving in growing your site.
Do your research so you are better prepared. As a website design project is typically a set fee that you pay one time that lists all the functionalities that you wanted. However there will be additional costs as you move forward with the project.
For example monthly hosting, maintenance and support fees. When coming up with a budget keep in mind an annual amount you are willing to set aside for your website, as with everything else sites can break down and will need to be fixed and updated every so often.
With a broken non user friendly website that’s not being kept healthy will in the end result in a stop of traffic flow.
In fact, it can be hard to determine exactly how much a site will cost simply by looking at it’s design. Having a set budget helps to draw the line between what you can afford and what will be out of your price range.
Overall the cost that’s involved in designing a website depends on a few factors such as; time, how technical you’re wanting your site, the design and money. Money is the critical factor as everyone has a set amount of money for everything and it’s how you choose to spend it and where.
Don’t let a $5000 price tag of web design scare you out of getting a site built for you, if that is out of your budget, start with something smaller in your price range like a landing page until you get more revenue within your business and are able to afford a bigger budget for a more advanced site.
