The tried and true ol’ mighty question of the modern world.
How much does a website cost? How much does a designer cost? What are my free website alternatives? The list of questions goes on and on…
It’s funny. Now that there are more options than ever, people are finding it harder to get a website.
Why?
More is less. More options actually means less control and an abundance of overwhelm. What we used to understand is now broken up into thousands of potential solutions. Just google ‘web design’ and your head will start to spin.
So how much does it cost? Well, that depends. If you went to a car lot and asked the salesman, “how much does a car cost?” He’d look at you and smile, saying “well that depends, what kind of car do you want?”
The same goes for web design.
There are a ton of options and it really boils down to what you need, how fast you need it and how much you’re willing to spend.
Here’s a quick breakdown of some numbers.
The average cost of a website is about $3,000 by an experienced designer or small agency. However, it is not uncommon to receive quotes for $10,000 from senior designers or small to mid sized agencies. If your site has dynamic content that’s user-based, you’re looking at about $20,000 to get a prototype.
But there’s got to be a cheaper way, right?
You can always use resources like freelancer.com or fiverr.com, which are incredibly useful when building out your projects on a budget. For example, you can have someone install WordPress for you for $5 (that is not a typo) and hire a designer on Freelancer for $250. The issue with this is— how do you post a job? How do you know if you can trust the designer? What if you don’t like working with someone overseas? How do I know they’re not stealing my data?
The questions alone are enough to make you quit. It’s overwhelming. The fact is, resources like those are more for people like us and companies like ours. If we don’t have enough time to update our blog posts, we’ll hire a copywriter to quickly do it. For the average user creating an account for a single project is a nightmare. The whole ‘outsourcing’ my project concept is extremely overwhelming. We agree.
If you’re serious about getting a new website then the easiest option is to hire a trusted design company or sign up for a monthly service. The options are broken down below.
There’s basically a couple options you can take.
- Contact agencies, receive proposals, assign a winner, initiate project, complete project, sign off, final payment. This takes on average 2 months to complete and starts at about $3k. This guarantees the best possible results.
- Sign up for a free web services like Wix.com, Tumblr.com or WordPress.com
- Sign up for a premium niche-based web service specific to your goals and inline with your audience. Pay a small monthly premium and stay ahead of the competition. A great option for at least 70% of businesses.
Yes, there are some free options out there.
But there are some precautions you must take.
First, everyone knows a free website that has a label on it. You can not sell me on thousands of dollars of consultancy services if your website says “free website by WIX” at the bottom.
It makes you appear as if you took a ‘shortcut’ to create your own website.
What if you take a ‘shortcut’ to provide me with legal advice? To build a house? To do anything you say you can do?
A free site eliminates legitimacy and should be avoided like the plague.
Your website is your face on the internet.
So, what’s the deal with our website pricing? How much does a responsive, WordPress website cost?
Anywhere from free to millions of dollars.
The price of our websites depend on your goals, but you can view a general outline of our pricing page here.
Note from the Author:
This post is a work-in-progress, so I’m sure there’s several key points omitted. There’s also a few visual charts in the works that will be updated soon. I wanted to get this posted for all you “early birds” who are wondering how much a website costs. I hope this helped.
Was this article helpful at all? If you’re looking for a website, what would you consider paying on a monthly or annual basis? If you’ve already produced a site, what did you pay for it? If you’re a designer or developer, what do you charge on average for your web services? Let us know in the comments below!
