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Calculating How Much Your Website Costs

How much does it cost to create a website for a business? Or an online store? Breaking down professional custom website development costs you need to know.

By ShakuroPublished 2 years ago 9 min read
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The product created by Mirko Romanelli

Today, launching a website is not as easy as it might seem. Especially if you’re aiming to grow a famous global brand. Many dangers await you on the way, but you must endure. After all, your website will be the first thing that a customer sees. Our clients often ask us about the price of a website because they need to plan their budgets accordingly. How much does it cost to have a professional website created?

We already have a few articles where we cover website development costs. In this article, we will elaborate on how the recent changes in economics have affected the costs and why WordPress website costs are different from custom-developed websites.

How do you calculate the cost of a website?

The costs for a website depend on many factors: the hourly rate, the number of pages that need to be created, the design, the required features, connections to systems such as CRM or merchandise management, etc. The web designer calculates the number of hours based on the exact requirements of the customer and multiplies this by his hourly rate. Alternatively, fixed package prices are also possible.

Even small websites can incur high costs, depending on the feature and design requirements. But if we are talking about simple websites that come with about 10 pages of content, costs approximately from $5000 gross can be expected with elements of custom development. Anything below that is hardly economically viable for a web designer these days. Below this price range, you should at least question why the offer is so cheap.

Possible additional costs for new websites would be costs for licenses (e. g., plugins, themes, software, Google API, etc).

Other cost items are copywriters, graphic designers, SEO support, web hosting, and test groups. All of these additional costs do not have to occur and are individually different.

Quality differences in websites determine prices

You can compare website creation to housing: you can live in a family house with a garden and enjoy all the comforts of space and pensions. If you live in a tent, you’ll have to buy yourself a new one each season, and can hardly stand it there in winter. Owning your own home is a good investment, but many choose to rent. If you rent, you give away money.

It’s the same with websites: professional websites are sustainable, optimized, and well thought out. The customer gets what he wants.

Homepages “from the kit” are standardized and therefore allow less individuality. Optimization is difficult, even if advertising likes to say that modular websites are optimized for Google, for example.

Websites of cheap providers are not much better: those who peddle dumping prices either no longer need to make money or need customers at any price. In the end, you simply cannot expect a professional homepage at particularly low prices.

Website development prices vary because there are several significant ways to create a website:

  • Do everything by yourself, including designing, coding, and modifying a website, from layout to support.
  • Make use of one of the website-builder solutions like WordPress.
  • Choose custom development done by professional web developers.

How much do WordPress websites cost?

WordPress 2022 global stats according to FinancesOnline

With the minimum configuration, WordPress costs around $11 per month. Realistically, however, you should expect WordPress monthly costs of around $11–$40 per month.

The world’s most popular and widely used content management system powers 34% of all websites on the internet today, but few outsides of the community of most loyal WordPress users know the story of how it started.

There are several advantages for WordPress if you run a small or medium business:

  • It lets businesses minimize the time needed to enter the market.
  • It’s inexpensive.
  • It’s very popular, so the website owner will never be left without support

WordPress plugins allow you to add functionality to your theme – similar to downloading apps to your phone or laptop.

There are many free plugins and many premium plugins with free stripped-down versions (freemium tariff model). For a simple website or a personal project like a blog, you can spend little to nothing here – it’s only when you want something more complex than WordPress costs increase.

Building websites on another CMS than WordPress

It matters a lot whether a content management system is used to create the site or whether it is programmed manually. Not CMS are equally comfortable and allow a similarly fast development time.

While WordPress is widespread and is continuously expanding its market share, shopping and e-commerce platforms often use other CMS.

WooCommerce, the e-commerce plugin for WordPress, powers 22% of the top one million e-commerce sites globally. So, it seems it is the ideal CMS for creating an online store, isn’t it?

A large number of well-known websites use WP! Just look at some that we’ve mentioned here:

  • Zoom
  • Indeed
  • Etsy
  • TradingView
  • Soundcloud
  • WooCommerce and Shopify are cheap and easy to use; a Magento requires a lot of initial effort and has a very steep and long-lasting learning curve. Here, therefore, a non-comparable financial effort is to be expected. It is, therefore, best to compare prices from different providers who may work with different systems.

    Why freelancer outsourcing is not worth it in the end

    A vital part of development is choosing the outsourcing company that gets you right. Of course, you can find web developers at Freelancermap, myHammer, or Projektwerk, who will squander your web development for approximately $50-150 for the whole ordeal, not even per hour. But you should think about one thing: why do they offer their services so cheaply? And how can they even earn a living with such dumping prices?

    Naturally, you can be lucky enough to find a cheap provider out there that will do a good job for you. But there is a very high risk that you will ultimately have to hire a professional to iron out the errors in structure, search engine optimization, and security.

    In the end, you pay the bill for your new website, and you want to be satisfied with the look, the speed, or the user interface. You want your customers to feel comfortable on your website, just as they might want in your physical store. If you don’t want to take any risks here, you hire a professional to end up paying the price for a website, which is really justified.

    Support and maintenance costs

    A website needs regular maintenance. Nowadays, static websites are rarely created that hardly change, and do not require software updates. Content management systems are mostly used, which, of course, are further developed by their manufacturers. This is the case with WordPress, for example. The plugins, themes, and the WP itself should be updated at least once a month in order to take advantage of the latest features, remain compatible with the plugins and themes, and close potential security gaps. Many website operators shy away from this work and then either have a vulnerable and outdated website in the long run or pay a professional for it.

    A maintenance job can cost several hundred euros to thousands. It depends on what needs to be done and how often. A daily service is, of course, more expensive than a monthly update run.

    Types of websites and website costs

    First of all, what kind of website you want to create is essential. Some projects are more complex – and therefore usually more expensive – than others. There are a few basic website types that vary in complexity:

    Product landing page / Portfolio

    Zephyr Landing Page Design Concept

    Do you work as a freelancer and would like to give potential customers an insight into your work or product? Then you can get a simple portfolio website where you can showcase the designs, music, or lyrics that embody your work. Portfolio websites are pretty basic too, and most website builders come with pre-made portfolio templates that you just need to fill with content.

    Effort: low

    With 45-85 hours for UI/UX design, you’ll have to dedicate around 55-85 hours for the front end in development. Don’t forget 10-25 hours for QA (testing) and PM (project management). This will result in approximately $6 500-$9 500.

    Company website or business website

    Four Pi Analytics Website Design by Shakuro

    If you have to present your company on the Internet, workarounds are no longer sufficient: A company website must look absolutely professional because for many customers it will form the first impression of your company. You also have to observe some legal rules when launching your company website. The effort involved depends entirely on the size of your company and the required functions: Simple company websites can be created with website builders without professional help, but support is required for larger websites.

    Effort: Medium to large

    The work will include 150-200 hours for UI/UX design. For development process, plan the budget for around 150-200 hours for front end, 50-200 hours for back end, and, of course, 40-60 hours for QA (testing) and PM (project management). The approximate final price will be around $12 000-$16 000.

    Online store

    Cannabis E-Commerce Store Landing Page Design Concept

    If you want to use your website to sell, you need very specific functions: a place where you can manage your products and the integration of payment and shipping options, for example. Here you also have to observe even more legal regulations than with a simple company website. In the meantime, however, there are countless shop systems that also enable the creation of an online shop without programming knowledge.

    Effort: Medium to Large

    Approximate hours will comprise around 120-150 hours for UI/UX design. You will also need time for development: 150-200 hours for development, 30-40 hours for QA and PM. The final price might be around $12 000-$16 000.

    E-learning platform

    Proko art education platform

    Forums are sort of the forerunners of social networks and some, like Reddit, are still popular today. Here, users from all over the world can exchange ideas on a wide variety of topics, mostly in a large number of different sub-forums. Creating a forum yourself is quite difficult, and the administration, if it is not entirely in the hands of the user, is quite time-consuming.

    Effort: Large

    The scope of work will include 150-200 hours of UI/UX design. Also, you’ll need approximately 150-200 hours for front end, and 50-200 hours for back end. After, is an essential part of approximately 40-60 hours for QA (testing) and PM (project management). This will result in approximately $12 000-$16 000.

    Online portals

    CGMA Website Design by Shakuro

    Online portals are much more difficult to create than normal websites. In order for visitors to be able to compare software, for example, specially developed web applications are important, which run seamlessly in the background and are displayed in a user-friendly manner on the front end. Thus, online portals are very complex projects that require professionals.

    Effort: Large

    To build such a website, you’ll have to dedicate 150-200 hours of UI/UX design. Don’t forget approximately 150-200 hours for front end, and 50-200 hours for back end. After, prepare for approximately 40-60 hours for QA (testing) and PM (project management). This will result in approximately $12 000-$16 000.

    **

    The cost of a website depends on what you need. You need a website that suits your business needs with a corresponding number of features and complexity levels and not to pay for options that you don’t need.

    At the same time, you need to look into the future and consider adding features that would help your business grow. Be mindful that the costs in our article are approximate and not final.

    Do you need a quote for the cost of a professional website design? Reach us. We can help you deal with all the web design subtleties, saving your time and money.

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    About the Creator

    Shakuro

    We are a web and mobile design and development agency. Making websites and apps, creating brand identities, and launching startups.

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