How much does a website cost?

by | May 6, 2021 | Knowledge Hub

One of the biggest questions that gets asked is ‘How much does a website cost?’.  With so many options available when it comes to creating a website, the cost to build one can vary considerably based on how it is built and what you need it for.

It’s always difficult to give a definitive price without knowing exactly what type of website you need. Things such as added ecommerce functionality, blog capabilities, SEO-optimisation and more can affect how much you’ll be looking to pay. Let’s take a closer look at how much your website could cost and what factors might affect it.

How much does a website cost?

So, how much does a website cost? Well, as mentioned, it’s difficult to nail this down to a more precise figure. As a little guide though, in the last year we have designed and built websites from around £1,500 to over £10,000+. Typically, for a simple brochure website you’ll be looking at the lower end of that price range. The more functionality you need your site to have, the more it will climb towards the top end of that price range. You generally find that the majority of website designs & builds will be between £3,000 – £5,000.

What can put the cost of a website up?

For starters, before you even get to the website build, you’ll have other costs to consider. One of the most important ones is your domain name. If you don’t know what a domain name is, it is what you type into the address bar at the top of a browser to find your site.

Then we move on to the website build itself. As already noted above, extra functionality can increase the cost of your website. A standard website that is simply used as a brochure or a business card won’t need much more than basic pages to function. However, it’s e-commerce websites that will see the highest costs. This is because you need to pay to add this to your website, often through the purchase of a plugin. Other plugins will also add extra costs. These include online ordering, membership subscriptions, trade logins and online booking systems.

Once your website is built, you’ll also need somewhere to host it. This will of course come at a price. Usually, you will be able to host your website for anywhere between £3 all the way up to £200. This depends on the type of hosting that you need.

All of these factors can have an influence on the answer to how much does a website cost. 

What about website builders?

Yes, it is true that using a website builder to create one yourself is cheaper. In general, you could be looking at around £6 – £100 per month, depending on the functionality that you need it to have.

However, many people tend to misinterpret how much extra work needs to go into it. It’s not just a case of building it, publishing it and never thinking about it again. A lot of time needs to go into managing it, updating it and creating fresh content. This is why, website builders may be cheaper financially but they can cost you a lot of time and money to manage.

Although the “drag ‘n’ drop” editors are fairly easy to use, they can be very restrictive with pre-made templates. Also, they tend to be marketed as mobile-friendly (which is essential), but you’ll find that you’ll need to make manual adjustments to make sure things actually look good.

One thing that is crucial to building a website is technical knowledge and website builders do take away the need for website coding. However, websites need a lot more than that to be successful. Search Engine Optimisation is crucial to increasing website visitors and if not done properly it won’t work as well.

In general, if you’re looking for a sophisticated, well-built website that is fully-optimised, a web design agency is the route to go down.

Things to consider when looking at prices

When you first see how much a website costs, it can be a shock to some. It is a lot of money, but when it comes to getting your company in front of potential customers and giving the right impression, it really is worth it.

It’s also important to think about all the work that goes into building your website. Firstly, you’ll need a designer who works on how your website will look and feel, ensuring it represents your brand. You’ll also need a developer who can then build the website based on the design. This takes many hours of work, ensuring that it works correctly, has all the functionality that you need it to have and to ensure it is optimised for mobile.

Once it’s all designed and built, content is needed to fill the pages with. This is done by experienced copywriters who create SEO-focused content that reflects your brand voice and can get across the information that you need your customers to know. Additionally, you may need a professional photographer who can take impressive photos of your work, your premises and also your team. Adding this personal touch to your website can really make a difference.

 

So there it is, our answer to how much does a website costs. Hopefully, this has helped you understand how much a website can cost and the work that goes into it that can increase the price.

As website design and build experts, we like to think we know what we’re doing. If you do have any questions about getting started with your website, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and our team will be happy to help!