If you're planning to build a new website for your established business or for a start-up then your first instinct will probably be to question how much your new website will cost. You will most likely have a budget in mind and you will be hoping to find a provider that can deliver your project within this budget.
The main factor that will determine the cost of your website is your needs. In the information technology industry we refer to these needs as business requirements. Even if you've sought quotes based on a single set of design requirements, there can still be a wide variation in costs from different suppliers. These pricing differences will be confusing if you're not sure what you're getting for your money.
If you only want a quick guide at this stage, you can expect the following types of price ranges for website development costs:
These are the type of website development costs you can expect to pay for a professionally built site, as required by a business. If you're looking for a personal website you might want to consider alternative DIY options using website building software.
However, to get the full picture, you also need to consider ancillary costs associated with all websites and other factors that will guide you to make the right decision when selecting the type of website and the type of provider that will give you the result that matches your needs.
As per the saying “you only get what you pay for”, there are also other important aspects you should consider:
If you focus purely on the lowest price, you might be compromising the outcome on some of these other aspects. We recommend that you focus on the value that a website is going to bring your business, both initially and also in the longer-term.
In this article, we'll try to keep things simple. We'll broadly classify business websites into three basic types:
If you have a small business where you just want to showcase your capabilities and don't intend to sell products online, a simple display website is usually ideal. These type of sites are sometimes referred to as static websites since the content is the same for every user that accesses the site.
The site will give you an internet presence that expands on the limited information you can fit on a business card. Visitors will come to your website, find out more about your business and view a summary of your products or services. The intent of the website is to make users are sufficiently interested so they make an enquiry with you.
For a single page display site, you can expect to pay between $1000 and $2000 for the website development costs.
If you have an established business, you will naturally have more content so you can convey information such as:
This type of content is predominantly designed to foster trust with a potential new client and attract them to your business, so they're more likely to enquire with you.
With this additional information to convey, you'll end up with a multi-page website that will cost between $2000 and $6000 to build. If you want further work such as Search Engine Optimisation to boost your search results, you can expect to pay up to $10000 for the site.
If you want to sell your products or services online and take payment on your website, you require an ecommerce site, otherwise known as an online store. An e-commerce site is technically different from a display website. It has the “front-end” display that shoppers interact with but it also includes a “back-end” which contains a product database and enables shopping cart functionality and a payment gateway. This makes an e-commerce site considerably more complex.
A small e-commerce website with five or six product categories may cost from $3000 upwards whereas a large-scale site will typically range between $10000 and $20000.
A website consists of a number of files that need to be hosted on a web server. Depending on the amount of storage capacity your website needs, hosting costs with a reputable supplier will range between $9 per month and $23 per month for standard websites. They will be significantly greater than this if you're hosting large or complex sites or web applications.
A website domain provides the address (URL) for your website. You should budget for ongoing costs between $20 and $54 per year, depending on the type of domain you choose.
Your new asset should be protected so we recommend that you purchase an SSL certificate for your website. This certificate enables an encrypted connection and will authenticate a website's identity so users feel confident to access it. Google also penalises non-secure sites in search results. Depending on the level of security you want and the size of your website, an SSL certificate will cost somewhere between $79 per year and $599 per year.
Hopefully this article has helped you to determine an approximate budget for your web design project. As mentioned, different website providers will have widely varying costs. These cost variations may depend on factors such as:
It's advisable to seek quotes only once you're clear about your requirements and the type of website you need. Your selection process to choose the right website provider should focus on the proposed value from your financial investment, not just the outlay that you're making.
If you'd like further information on website costs, we're happy to help. Contact us to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation.
