What Does a Website Cost to Build? A website used to be something you could create with your hosting and simple HTML code. But today, websites are much more complex – they have to be responsive for mobile phones, tablets, and PCs; they need to integrate social media accounts; they require plugins for e-commerce or other specialized purposes.
The cost of creating a website will vary considerably based on the features it requires. For example:
How interactive is it going to be?
What is the purpose of your site?
Does it need custom functionality or integration?
Is there an existing design already in mind?
How fast does it need to load? And so on…
Think of all these factors that go into building a website. It’s no wonder there can be such a wide variance in costs.
In general, however, you can expect to pay anywhere from $3500 and $7,000 for website design and development, depending on all the factors mentioned above.
In some cases, you may be able to find an affordable package deal with hosting and domain name registration included in one price. But these deals typically come with limitations on what you can do with your site and how much control you have over its future design and content updates.
As a result, in this post, we’ll look at the elements that influence website design and development costs—we’ll explain all of the factors that influence pricing your site, as well as how you may save money on them. As a consequence, you’ll be able to figure out how much it will cost you to develop your own website.
The Cost of Designing a Website Based on Types
There are many types of websites that you can create. Each has its unique factors that impact the cost to develop them.
Here are some examples:
Business Website Cost
A business website typically costs between $3,500 and $7,000. This cost assumes a mid-level design for most common functions such as contact information, an about page, services offered, portfolio of work, blog posts, and more.
Most business websites are developed using open source content management systems, such as WordPress or Joomla!, which can be purchased at a meager price. Because of this, the cost to set up a business website is minimal.
The main costs of building a business website are ensuring it has an attractive design and functions smoothly for visitors. Installing open source content management systems typically costs between $0 and $300, although some companies offer managed installation of these systems, which will cost an additional fee.
Other frequently requested elements for Business websites include:
SSL certificate
Contact form
Integration with live chats (Chat.io, Intercom)
On-site search
Mobile-ready design
Mid-sized businesses and enterprises face unique challenges when it comes to business website expenses. Even determining the average cost of developing a website for them is difficult. They frequently have particular requirements for security, functionality, and pages that must be met.
E-Commerce Website Cost
An e-commerce website takes more effort to develop than a typical business website, increasing design costs. On average, most small businesses spend between $5,000 and $10,000 on this type of project.
Designing and developing an e-commerce website usually takes at least twice as long as a standard business website. This is why development costs are higher.
Large businesses frequently hire teams of designers, developers, and SEO experts to build progressive e-commerce websites that can help their bottom line get bigger over time.
For example, some companies choose to create a particular type of website called an e-commerce platform. These websites have all the necessary features for selling products and services and detailed analytics that allow for companies to track conversions, total revenue generated per product, and other valuable metrics. While this type of website is ideal for businesses that want to grow their e-commerce operations, it can often cost upwards of $100,000 to create.
Other frequently requested elements for E-сommerce websites include:
Fully responsive design
Ability to sell products internationally
Virtual shopping cart
Recently viewed products
Inventory management features
Personalized push notifications
Leave reviews and rate products
Integration with shipping providers (FedEx, USPS)
Integration with payment processors (Stripe, Authorize.net)
And many more
E-Commerce Website Cost
A landing page is a website that has just one page. They are often used by companies to generate leads for their business and to test marketing campaigns before investing in them more heavily.
The cost to develop a landing page can range from $2,000 to $5,000. This cost is significantly lower than the average business or e-commerce website because landing pages only contain a single page and typically do not provide customers with any content beyond an opt-in form.
The design of a landing page is generally simpler than other types of websites because its primary purpose is to direct users towards taking action. For this reason, most landing page designs only include essential information and skip over multiple pages, navigation menus, shopping carts, etc.
This type of website is often created to boost conversions (i.e., opt-ins for email lists or product purchases), increase brand awareness, and spread a marketing message.
Getting visitors to take the desired action can be challenging, which is why hiring a designer who specializes in landing page design may be beneficial. There are several things that designers may do to boost conversion rates, including:
Targeting high-value customers with offers suited for them (e.g., coupons, discounts)
Providing an easy way to opt-in (e.g., an action button that stands out from the rest of the page)
Including a clear call-to-action (a statement that prompts users to click through to another page)
Using large images of products or people
Positioning opt-in forms prominently on the landing page
Offering limited-time offers for early adopters
Having a mobile-friendly page
Portfolio Website Cost
A portfolio website is simply a website that showcases the design work of an individual or business.
Many companies choose to create a portfolio site if they transition from being an in-house designer into running their own freelance business because it allows them to demonstrate their experience and skills to future clients.
This type of site can range dramatically in cost because it depends on the number of displayed services, the number of articles or case studies that are included, and whether or not there are features that allow for direct contact with the owner.
The cost to develop a portfolio site can range from $1,000 to $5,000.
Factors That Determine Website Design Pricing
It’s essential to be aware of the factors that can affect your website design pricing. While most websites are priced according to how content-dependent they are, some other factors may be considered when determining custom web design costs.
Responsive Website Design
Ugh, mobile browsing is complicated. You constantly have to zoom in and out or constantly pinch the screen just to read an article, let alone scroll down. Luckily, there’s another solution that ensures that your website is viewable on any screen size (provided you’re using a modern web browser).
Responsive or adaptive website design is a type of web development that automatically adjusts your site’s display based on the user’s browser size. This means that users can visit your site from a laptop, desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone, and it will adjust the display based on the device’s size.
It’s cost-effective because it only requires one website to be created, but it also protects your site from being penalized by search engines for not being mobile-friendly. That’s why responsive website design is the better choice.
Custom Animation
Animation can significantly increase the cost of a website. Some examples of animation include:
Parallax scrolling on background images or sections of a site
Automatic menu transitions
E-commerce related animations, like moving product boxes or a rotating carousel of images
Page Transition
Moreover, animation can significantly improve the user experience on your site by adding subtle visual cues that guide users through interaction. Animation also stands out more than a standard site and adds value to your brand. On average, custom animation costs around $1,000 per minute.
Additional Rounds Of Revisions
Maintaining a high level of quality control is essential to your web designer, leading to additional revisions. Additional revisions can be costly because it will require more time to produce the final product.
Your web designer might also need to make additional revisions if your content changes (and it will change). If you’re building a blog or news site, expect to make plenty of modifications as new content is added.
Business System Integration
Oftentimes, businesses have a list of existing or legacy business systems that need to be integrated with the website. This can be costly because it requires your web developer to conform to the specifications of your current systems but still update and improve them so that they fit with the site’s design.
Custom Page Templates
Purchasing a pre-built template can be cheaper, but it will generally cost more to adjust the design for your business professionally. However, depending on the time and effort required to make major design changes, some companies prefer using pre-built templates to save them money.
Custom Functionality
In addition to custom page templates, your site might have unique functionality that needs to be built from scratch. For example, if you need a user login page or an e-commerce store for selling products, it will cost more because the web designer might have to build these functions from the ground up.
Loading Speed
Killing a site with slow loading speed can be a death sentence for webmasters. Users have an extremely short attention span these days, and if your site doesn’t load in under 2 seconds, they’ll move on to the next one.
Even Google has started penalizing websites that have slow page loading speeds because it hurts the user experience. It can also affect your search rankings. So, to avoid getting penalized by the search engines, make sure that your site is optimized for fast load times.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Hiring a search engine optimization expert can be expensive, but it’s also one of the most effective ways to grow your traffic. Optimizing your site can also have a direct effect on your conversion rates.
However, SEO is a challenging rabbit hole to hoe because it requires your site to be perfect in terms of content, page speed, referrals, keywords, etc. It’s also essential that you stay on top of the most recent search engine algorithm changes so that you can keep up with best practices.
They are 100% worth it, depending on your revenue stream.
In fact, we have a bad ass SEO expert we partner with!
Usability And Navigation
Creating a website isn’t as simple as slapping some pages together and calling it done. It takes skill and expertise to create a website that is attractive, easy to navigate, and, most importantly, user-friendly.
If you have a budget for your website design, it might be worth considering hiring a UX expert. While this might increase your website development costs, it will give your site a massive boost in usability and clarity for the end-user.
Custom Theme Design
Maybe you’re not a designer, and you don’t have the chops to create a unique web design from scratch. In that case, you might want to go with a pre-made theme.
However, these days there are so many WordPress themes out there that it can be difficult to select the right one. If you’re going to purchase a pre-built theme, make sure that it’s updated regularly. Otherwise, your site might quickly become out-of-date or incompatible with new WordPress updates.
PRO TIP
Don’t Commit to a One-Size-Fits-All Solution One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is jumping on a one-size-fits-all solution. These can often be the least expensive, but they will also cause you problems down the line.
THANK YOU TO OUR GUEST: SocialManas is one such company with an experienced team of web designers and developers with the know-how to create websites that maximize your return on investment. ___________________
Salty Red Dog Marketing, LLC is a marketing agency in Red Bank, NJ, Westport, CT, and everywhere in between. We service businesses with marketing strategies, digital marketing, social media, and consultations.
Contact: info@saltyreddogmarketing.com
Phone: NJ: (732) 802-6205 // CT: (203) 429-9671