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.
But as per the saying “you only get what you pay for”, there are 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.
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.
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 westandabsite, find out more about your business and view a summary of your products or services. The intent of the website is to make users sufficiently interested so that they enquire 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.
Hopefully this article will help 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 therefore 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, we're happy to help. Contact us to arrange a free, no-obligation consultation.
