How much does a website cost?
Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash
As a website consultant, I get asked on a regular basis - “How much does a website cost to build?” The truthful answer is, it depends.
Let’s think of a website like a used car. How much does a used car cost..........?
Exactly. It all depends on what kind of car you want. What features you want - parking sensors, heated seats? How reliable you would like it to be? Then there’s the ongoing costs - MOT, Tax, Insurance? And then, where are you going to park it?
You can spend as much or as little as you like on a car. My first car was £450 and cost me £450 a year to run and often another £450 each year to fix it. But that was what I decided I wanted to spend, so that’s what I spent. I eventually got rid of it and bought a new one. This time, I decided to spend considerably more, but this car doesn’t cost me as much to fix, plus, I have electric windows, power steering and a radio that works.... hooray! In the same way as my car, a website will cost what you decide to spend on it.
Things to consider when deciding how much to spend on a new website.
Who is going to build your website?
There are three main options here.
Built it yourself
There are some amazing DIY website packages out there. WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Shopify, Arcadia….. The list goes on. Pick a template, drop in your content, push a button and you’re live. Questions to ask yourself here, is how valuable is my time? Would my time be better spent getting business than building a website? If you have the time and the desire, go for it! If not think about option 2.
Get a freelancer
There are so many freelancers out there who would be willing to build you a great site. Freelancers may not offer you the support you need on-going though, or the website build may need more technical development which they are not able to provide. In which case, you may want to consider option 3.
Engage an agency
This is the most costly option because it usually involves a whole team of people. The designer, the developer, the project manager, the account manager, the support staff and of course the CEO who’s keeping it all going. But the team means you get dedicated support through the whole process and beyond.
Obviously, like my £450 car, the more you spend, the nicer, more reliable and better maintained your car/website will be. :)
What features do you need the website to have?
They key here is ‘need’, not want, but ‘need’. Whatever your budget, you don’t want to spend money unnecessarily. Remember the website is for the user, not for you. For example, don’t spend money on building a costly bespoke chat function, if your users would prefer to pick up the phone or come and see you in person.
Do your research. See what competitors are offering. But most importantly, ask your user.
Plug-ins vs bespoke features
You can also make use of some great online tools or plug-ins available that won’t mean costly development time. For example, if you want users to book events online, consider hooking your site into Eventbrite rather than building a whole event system from scratch.
If you choose the plug-in option, check with your developer any costs associated with updates to your content management system. These can break some plug-ins.
Design and visuals
Your website will need to follow your brand identity. If you don’t have one, you will need to create one. This could range from just a typeface to a logo to a whole branding guidelines document. There will be costs associated with this if you need to produce them.
You may also want to consider photography. Here you can choose to use stock photography or commission a photographer. There are a host of stock photography sites, Unsplash being my favourite. Be careful when choosing your photography. You want to relate to your user as much as possible and not alienate them.
For this reason, some choose to create illustrations for their website. These can avoid the issues of stock photography or misrepresenting your user.
Whatever you decide, you should consider putting aside a budget for visuals.
If you do employ a designer for these elements, please remind them to pick a web-friendly font (not all fonts have a web version). If you get a designer to design your website, make sure they have web design experience. Designing for the web is different from designing for print as the site elements need to be interactive, not flat.
Content
Similar to deciding if you want to build your own website or employ someone else to do it, writing website copy could be a skill you’d rather outsource to a website copywriter. If you’re going to outsource, you’ll need to assign a budget for this.
You may find my ‘how to write for websites’ blog useful.
Ongoing costs
When you are putting together the budget for a new website, don’t forget the ongoing costs. For example, where will your website live? These costs need to be paid for annually and will be on top of your website development costs.
Domain registry
You will need to buy a domain before you can even think about building a website. Domain prices vary greatly and can be cheaper if you pay for them for longer periods of time. 123reg, Namesco, GoDaddy, 1&1 are a few companies you could try.
Hosting
In order for a website to be live on the web, it needs to be hosted. There are many options for hosting. Some website templates such as SquareSpace offer hosting and domain costs, others offer it as part of their domain registry. How much you spend also depends on how much traffic your site might get (Bandwidth), the speed, reliability and security you want.
Security certificate
What is a security certificate (or SSL certificate) and why do you need one?
Well in basic terms, it means that your site has been verified as being owned by you. That is, the user can trust that you are who you say you are. When you are on a site with an SSL, it will show a lock symbol by the URL and will start ‘https’ rather than just ‘http’. The ‘s’ shows you have a security certificate. There are different types of SSL from different providers, or some provide it with hosting like SquareSpace. Security certificates are extra important if you have a shop site and are taking payments or collecting any sort of data.
Maintenance
Content management systems like WordPress and Drupal are constantly being updated with features and security elements. Depending on how complex your site is, you may need to put aside money to support upgrades to your system.
Additional development
Your website is up and running, but PLEASE don’t just forget about it. It’s important to review your website at least annually. Is it still meeting the needs of your users? Is it still up-to-date? It is relevant to your business goals? Is it making the best use of new technologies?
It’s really important to also put aside money each year for additional development of your site. In the same way, as you look after that car - keep it running well and you won’t need to buy a new car every year.
So, how much does a website cost to build??
As much as you want to spend.
If you need help with developing your website
Get in touch