February 7th, 2012 | by Matt Olson | in: Resource Blog, Website Design, Website Development, Website Marketing
One of the questions we receive most often as a web design company is “How much does a website cost?” Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to give a good answer or even a ballpark budget without more details. With little to no information, our answer would be “Anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000″ Since this answer is not helpful at all, this article is going to break down website components into smaller pieces to get a better idea of what goes into designing and implementing a site.
Clients sometimes do not differentiate between the website and the services associated with website design: branding, illustration, SEO, social media, etc. Some components are decided as part of the website design, some of them are optional and are considered additional services.
A good starting point for determining how much your website will cost is the number of pages you want it to have. Here at Matmon, before we start anything we help you fill out a client questionnaire. This questionnaire helps us determine how many pages, calls to actions and functionality your website needs in order to determine how complex each page will be.
Price: The fewer pages you want and less amount of creativity needed the cheaper your project will be. For a 3-5 page website, budget around $1,000-3,000 and sites that require branding will fall between $5,000 – $10,000.
Do you want to be able to update your website on your own, or do you want a website that will just be an online presence that you will very seldom make changes to? If you’re interested in the former, we advise you to go with a website built on the WordPress platform. The back-end of WordPress is easy to access – you only need a computer, web browser and Internet access. It is simple for clients to make their own updates and be independent with updating their websites.
If you need a small website to serve as a simple online brochure, using a traditional HTML coded site and accessing it via FTP may be the solution for you.
We have more options available but a robust WordPress CMS or a simple HTML site are the most common solutions for Matmon customers.
Budget more for a WordPress site development and ongoing system updates as it usually takes longer to properly customize and support than a traditional site. However, you can do most of your updates on your own with a WordPress site, whereas you will more than likely need our support to update a traditional HTML site.
A website can either be plain with pages, pictures, text, maps or videos (these items are considered content rather than features). A feature is something in addition to content, such as a blog, forms, custom web applications, or eCommerce. This also is something that will be covered in our questionnaire, so that you get features that are just right for you and your users.
The more features, the higher the price. It takes a pretty firm grasp of your eCommerce needs to establish a budget.
At Matmon, we don’t do template websites. You can be sure your website will be unique. Some websites require more customization than others. Certain drop-down menus, information that pops up when you pass your mouse on an item, text effects, showing alternate images, etc. Are all features that look effortless but may require extra time and should be planed before your website proposal is signed.
The more customization, the more expensive the site will become. For every price range given, aim for the highest price range if you want your website to do more tricks.
Getting your website optimized by search engines happens during and after the website’s development but is not a mandatory component. For this reason, this is considered a service and not part of the website design
It varies according to your site, but count around $500-$1500 for one-time SEO project.
Where your website will be hosted is important. If you spend a lot of money on a website, you want to make sure it will be up at all times and secure. Matmon hosts its websites in our secure data center facility.
Prices can range drastically for web hosting as well: $25 for a simple HTML site, $75-$250 for most WordPress Sites and $1000 – $2000 monthly for sites that need their own specialized servers
If you’re a business that is just starting out, we can create logos, business cards, brochures and more. This is not part of the website design process either and should be done before the creative process starts.
Price: depends on what needs to be created.
Once you have your new website, a good thing to do is to monitor its performance. Matmon can track visits, clicks, who comes to your site, how many times, how long they stay, what keyword(s) they used to search and much more. This is especially important if you are trying to recruit new customers through your website.
Price: In the $75 range for a monthly report.
Once your website is delivered, you can choose to update and maintain it on your own, or we can do that for you. We offer hourly fees or monthly packages so that you can choose what is best for you. Obviously if Matmon posts your updates, the most often you need your site to be worked on, the more it is going to cost.
Please keep in mind that these numbers are just a range and your site could be below or above these numbers. Additionally, giving an estimate for print media, advertising, social media and other services varies greatly according to the work you want done.
For a complete estimate of your web design project, please complete this survey and one of our representative will contact you with your quote.
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