Understanding Your Web Design Costs and Rates
Understanding how much you should expect to pay for a website design can be a confusing and time consuming process. I know, you cam to this page thinking, "I want a website, how much will it cost me?". Well, think about it this way. Websites are a full outward representation of your company, products, and/or services. This is your communication to potential customers that may not have heard of you or may be wanting to get an idea of what type of business you run. This is potentially the biggest deciding factor on whether or not your company is going to earn the potential customer's business or trust. This all being said, it makes sense that your website should be a well-manicured and well-maintained source of valuable information for your readers.
Think of Your Website Like Your Home on the Internet
Your Website is Like Your Home - It Should be Carefully constructed and well maintained to present the optimal outward appearance. If you were in the process of creating your dream home that you wanted to present to the world your innermost hopes and dreams, how much time and what financial consideration would be put in place to go about this process? In the same respect, you website is houses some of your organization's most valuable concepts and information. Similar amounts of careful time, planning, and financial goals should followed to produce a well prepared website.
I know you are thinking, "My web design cost is going to as expensive as a house?". Of course not. The goal is simply to demonstrate two main points:
- Your website should take time and care to develop and prepare. It should not be an afterthought but a beforethought. It should be part of your business plans from the beginning and should be within your strategic planning in the future. Making certain your website is looked after throughout your business life cycle should be an essential practice.
- The development of each website is different. So when you are looking to find out how much you are going to be paying for your website development, or how much your web design costs will be, don't be afraid to ask someone.
We have presented this data elsewhere, though I think it is worth re-showing here.
Average Hourly Rates
- Student/Offshore $15 – $30/hour
- Freelancer/Company $25 – $75
- Expert Consultant $50 – $250
- Professional Firm $75 – $200
Average Cost Guide
- Logo Design:
- $100 – $250+ (Student or Offshore)
- $250 – $1000+ (Professional Designer)
- Basic Brochure Website:
- $500 – $1000+ (Student / Offshore)
- $1500 – $5000+ (Professional Designer)
- E-Commerce Website:
- $1000 – $5,000+ (Outsourced Offshore)
- $2000 – $10,000+ (Experienced Developer)
- Custom Database / Interactive Website:
- $1500 – $15,000+ (Offshore)
- $2500 – $25,000+ (Experienced Developer)
The above can give you a basic understanding of how much you might money is involved for your website development plan.
Organizing Your Thoughts
Think about the following when getting ready to speak to a representative about developing your website.
What Information Do I Want to Show?
Your website should be organized in an easy-to-use manner. It should not cause a user any confusion on how they might be able to do the task they want to do. A well thought out map or scheme of your website content will go a long way in the development process. If you are not going to create one yourself, make sure you ask your web development company to create one for you. It is the only way to make sure both the developers and the customers are on the same page.
What do I want the site to do?
Think about your call to action. What do you want your customers to do when they visit your site?
Finally, Simply Look Around at Other Websites
One of the easiest things to do when talking to web development companies is give examples of other sites that you like what they do on their web pages. Find examples of designs that you want to mirror. Find examples of functionality you like. Find examples of imagery you are fond of. If you cannot locate this yourself, ask your web designers to present you with some, then give feedback based on the sites they presented.
These few simple preparations can help to make sure your website development rate is right on target and your ultimately end up with the online presentation you deserve.
