What does a Web Design cost?

What does a Web Design cost?

The most common question asked by a company, planning to have a website of its own would be this: How much does it cost to get a website?

Country after country, language after language, this is the main thing that everyone asks first. It is not easy to give a one-word answer to this because a lot of factors are involved in web design.

Let’s go through those in detail in this article.

Main factors within a website:

• Number of pages
• Style & design
• Copywriting
• SEO placement
• Responsive design
• Database integration
• E-commerce functionality

Tips on finding the ideal web partner

• a) Check whether the agency ranks in search engines – So how did you hear about a particular agency that does web design? Is it by word of mouth, or through search engines? Ideally, checking whether the agency ranks in search engines would also be a good thing. After all, an agency that knows to rank itself will definitely be able to rank your company as well.
• b) Does the agency validate leads – Websites are made with conversions in mind. So that means you may have to update and rework on the website to get good leads. In certain cases, monthly changes will have to be done to keep it in competition. Does the agency have a method for tracking emails, phone calls etc.
• c) Checking for client testimonials – Client testimonials are very good reports of what other people think about your company and business. Go through them and you will know a lot.
• d) Experts to keep your website up-to- date – The agency should have enough people who can dedicate time to keep your website updated. This is very important to maintain Google ranking.
• e) Responsive web design – It is imperative for the websites to remain responsive or else, Google will not rank them. In April 2015, Google changed the search algorithm to delist those websites that were not responsively designed or mobile friendly. Find out what techniques they use to make your website responsive.

Parameters that affect the cost:

Apart from the aesthetic part of the web design, there are other parameters that dictate the cost of the website:

1) Domain registration

A lot depend on the domain you need. For example, if you choose to go for .asia, then the price for one year registration would be 10 US Dollar for .biz, its 8 US Dollar, for .co, its 18 US Dollar, fo a co.uk, it would be 8 US Dollar. You can pay for one month or for one year

2) Web hosting

After selecting the domain name, you can register it with them and then choose a web host. The web host gives you the space, tools, support etc. to create email accounts and web pages. You may also need to upgrade your web hosting plans if the need arises.

3) Web Design cost

Prepare a content list to know all the pages and functional features that come in the website.

The cost of the web design comes within this section. And it will depend on:

a) Usability and navigation of website

This will be to decide on the information architecture of the website. Formal testing of the website, for example, usability testing, A/B testing etc. could also come in this section.

b) Design

You can either choose the template route or take a template and redesign it to suit your requirement. In certain cases, you may have to design the site from scratch. The flip side to designing from scratch is that it could be expensive. Custom design site will cover the complexity of the design, number of pages, etc.

c) Content Management System

The cost of the website will be dependent on the CMS. WordPress, TYPO3, Wrike, Contentful, Buzzsprout, Wix, ClubRunner, Drupal and Joomla are just a few of them. However many CMS platforms are free, so that will be good. The CMS will help you make changes to your website, photos, text and make upgrades. You need not hire a professional to do this.

d) Functionality

The cost will, of course, be dependent on the functionalities you need in the site.

Understandably, an ecommerce website will be more costly than a simple website. The more dynamic features you want incorporated, the costlier it will be. Most of the functionalities can be done in open source CMS like WordPress and Drupal.

e) Search Engine Optimisation

What’s the purpose of making your site go live? To get in the first page of Google ranking, right? That’s not an easy task because every website in the world is just striving to do that. You need to do proper research for keywords that will best determine your website because it is the competitiveness in the keywords that makes it click.

f) Email Newsletter

You can either go for the newsletter design template like MailChimp or Constant Contact, or you can get it custom designed.

g) Social Media

Setting up a social media presence is very important. Setting up accounts in FB, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn would add to the cost.

Conclusion

Hence, the cost of web design would be dependent on the above mentioned factors. But that doesn’t mean your website building has to be an expensive.

However, it is equally important to get a credible agency or it will be money down the drain. Though the total cost would take into account the features incorporated into the website, you can safely say that the cost starts around 3000 US Dollar and upwards.

For a simple static website, the cost would be around 3000 US Dollar and for a dynamic CMS website, the cost would be 4000 US Dollar, for an ecommerce site the average would be around 5000 US Dollar. A web agency would offer you several pay options, you can choose the best one.

These monetary values are just starting points. Usually it will cost upwards of 5000 US Dollar, with the price going up to 20’000 US Dollar, 50’000 US Dollar and much more, depending upon the functionalities of the system.

As for the domain, if you are choosing the dot com (.com) domain, you can get it for just under 6 US Dollar per month. Bluehost, HostGator, GoDaddy, etc. are places to tap for this.

The skill of the team is also a major cost deciding factor. If you choose an agency that’s established itself, then their strong skills might turn costly. But it is always advisable to go for agencies that are strong in all areas of web designing. Quality cannot be compromised.

Interesting Articles:
Cost and things needed for Web design
Factors considered in a web design

Picture source: Flickr.com/ Jeremy/ Petr

The author: Reema Oamkumar is engaged as a thought leader at www.Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.