Behind every successful business, there’s a great website. Your website can’t be poorly made because then there’s simply no use in it. When you face the need of creating your own website, you have two options: to make it by yourself or to reach out to a professional web designer. As always, there’re advantages and disadvantages to both methods but eventually, it depends on your business needs and how much you’re willing to spend on your website. So, let’s discover how much does it costs to build a website and how to go about building it.
What do you need to make a website?
Rome wasn’t built in a day and your website won’t be either. Before starting to calculate the approximate cost of your future website you need to know the essentials your website consists of. Here are the main of them:
- Domain Name Registration. If you want to run a website for your business, you need to get a domain name from the domain registrar. Your domain name is your website’s “address” and you can register a new domain name or buy an already existing one. It will cost you around $10 to $30 per year.
- Website Hosting. Your website’s hosting expenses depend on different factors: the type of website you have, the expected number of visitors per month, and the extra services you might need. It will cost you around $24 to $10,000
- SSL certificate. The security of your website is also an important element. HTTPS and SSL certificates will cost you around $10 to $1,500
- Website Design. The design of your website includes UX/UI design, meaning to make the website user-friendly you need to conduct UX research, create wireframes of your future website and, then, settle on its prototype. Also, the website design process involves the creation of a custom style for your website. Web design can cost you around $12,000 to $150,000.
- Content Management System. After the launch of your website, you’ll definitely want to create, edit, and manage its content. For this reason, you need a custom CMS for your website. The alternative budget-saving option can be to use platforms like WordPress, but they’re less functional and less secure. Building your CMS will cost you around $2,000 to $25,000.
- Website Maintenance. To make your website functional and up-to-date, you need to keep it well-maintained. This will help you avoid different issues and mistakes. Also, the maintenance of your website significantly contributes to its traffic and SEO rankings. Website maintenance will cost you around $400 to $60,000 per year.
How much does it cost to build a website with a web design agency?
The cost of hiring a web designer to create your bespoke website design depends on various factors. Firstly, the price range can vary depending on a website type and its difficulty. Also, a considerable factor is the number of web pages your website includes. And, finally, it depends on the features and functionality you want to build on your website. Meaning email authorization, comments section, chatbots, etc. So, you need to combine these factors to calculate how much it costs to make your website.
Here’s a website design cost breakdown (if made by Web Design Agency):
How much does it cost to make a website with DIY website builders?
If you ever wondered how much it costs to build a website with a DYI website builder, you probably know that it can cost you almost nothing. But, not everything’s so simple. When you choose a free version of a website builder like Wix, Shopify, or Weebly you face a lot of issues. Firstly, of course, there’ll be ads on your website, which will make it slower and less attractive. Also, making your design look great can be more difficult in this case as you’ll have fewer templates to choose from.
Therefore, it’d be better for you to use a paid version of this software. Usually, it will cost you $5 to $300 per month depending on the plan you choose and the features you need. If you calculate the total cost of making a website with a DYI website builder, including all the additional expenses, it will be $60 to $6,500 per year.
Web design agency vs. DIY website builders
Making your website with the website builders sounds tempting as it can be considerably cheaper. But is it the best option? Compared to professionally built websites, the websites made with DYI builders lack efficiency in terms of functions and attracting new clients. Website builders won’t give you the same result as making a website by hiring a professional web designer.
What is more, you don’t possess the knowledge and resources to conduct UX research. This part of the web design process can be crucial for making your website user-friendly and appealing to your potential clients. The visual part of your website is another essential part of it. Website builders don’t have enough functionality to make it unique. In this case, you get a website pretty similar to others that won’t give your users a memorable experience. Also, don’t forget that your competitors probably had their website done professionally.
And finally, a poorly made website is just less visible for Google. Website built with website builders can’t be verified in Webmaster Tools which moves the website down the ranking. This way your website becomes not SEO-friendly. This has a negative impact on your marketing efforts as your website will be far less visible. What is more, if you don’t comply with certain rules, Google can even ban your website.
To make balanced decision
In order to know how much a website costs, you have to be sure of what you need. A lot of expenses depend on your business’s type of operation. For example, despite the numerous flaws of DIY website builders, if your business is at the starting point and your budget is strictly limited, they may be the best option for you. But if you have more resources available and want to uphold the competition in the industry, you’d better have your website done by a professional web designer.
Also, you need to remember that you shouldn’t pay too much for your website. Paying too little is also a bad idea. If you want a great website with a unique design, spending more on hiring a web design agency is a good decision. Even if you pay more, you’ll get more eventually. Building a bad-quality website can be the reason for ineffective sales results in the future. On the other hand, you also need to consider the features and the number of pages you might need for your website. It depends on the size of your business. Spending all your budget on a high-end website, when you own just a small business might not be the best idea.
For this reason, before calculating expenses on your website development, study all the details, and consider all the elements your website needs and the ones it can successfully function without.
Features that can be essential for your website:
- High Performance
- Mobile Compatibility
- User-Friendly Navigation
- Security
- Quality Content
So, how much does a website cost?
There’s a simple rule regarding website creation: the better you want your website to be, the more it will cost. Some features like chatbots or comment sections can be optional, but the ones like Content Management System and website maintenance can be crucial. For this reason, if you want your business to run successfully, think of your website as an effective platform to represent it and not as just another budget expense.