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It all boils down to how much work is involved. Specifically, the 2 factors determining how much work is involved are the size and complexityof your site. That means a nice-looking, professional 10-page informational website with standard customization is going to cost less than a highly customized 50-page site with all the bells and whistles. In terms of actual dollars, the cost to build a website for a small business could be less than $1,000 or more than $10,000. Thats a big price range. So lets break things down so you can get a realistic estimate for what it will cost to design and develop your website. NOTE: The information below is forsmall/medium-sized businesses. Its not meant for large corporations with deep pockets that have full-time employees designing, developing and managing their websites in-house getting paid $80k-$120k/yr. The 2 Options (With Pricing) For Designing And Developing A Small Business WebsiteOPTION 1: Hire A Professional If youre super busy running your business and/or tech just isnt your thing, then you need to hire someone to build your site for you. Its that simple. However, if youve searched online and visited sites of website designers/developers, youve probably encountered:
The good news is we rolled up our sleeves and did the research for you regarding what it costs to build (or redesign) a small business website in 2022. For competent, experienced web designers that did list their prices, we found the going rate in 2022 to build a modern, professional small business website was typically $5,000-$10,000 but could be as much as$20,000 (or more) depending on the number of pages on the site and the amount of customization required. Website Design vs. Website Development. Website design and website development are often used synonymously, but theyre two very different things. Website design is like working with an architect to create theblueprint for your house. Website development is like working with a contractor to actuallybuild your house. The 2022 pricing estimates listed above are for website design *as well as* website development (i.e. the complete, all inclusive cost). Now that you have a ballpark idea of what things cost, heres a closer look at the specific factors affecting the price of building a small business website:
Re: website pricing PRO TIP # 1: If you want to hire a professional to help you with your website, but you dont feel like you can afford one lump sum payment upfront, see if they offer financing. That way you get a really nice website *right now* to help grow your business, but not deplete your bank account. PRO TIP # 2: Be careful with budget pricing. Unusually low prices often translates to shoddy workmanship, an unpleasant experience or nickel and diming you for every little thing. As they say, you get what you pay for. OPTION 2: Attempt To Do It Yourself (DIY) If youhave a basic understanding ofweb technology and youre fine doing the work yourself, you can totally build your own website. The raw materials youll need arent horribly expensive:
In total, youre realistically looking at about $300-$600 in expenses to get up and running. Obviously the main cost with the DIY option is your time. Even for a simple site, dont be surprised if it takes you 20-40 hours to produce something of decent quality you can be proud of. And thats assuming youre already somewhat familiar with how to build a website. If youre totally new to this, multiply that time estimate by 2x or 3x. Im not exaggerating. Building a modern, well-engineered website is way more time-consuming than most people realize. But if you have more time than money right now and you dont get overwhelmed by web technology, the DIY approach is a perfectly viable option. The Cost Of Website Updates, Upgrades, Maintenance & LicensesOnce your website launches, your works not done. Just like buying a house, youll need to invest time, effort and money to maintain it. For example, youll have annual hosting & maintenance fees and possibly annual licensing fees for premium plugins and services. Its likely youll purchase new images as you upgrade and expand your site. You might add staff or hire freelancers to assist you in creating new custom web content or videos to boost your marketing efforts. Your site also requires ongoing technical maintenance to install updates and security patches to WordPress core files and WordPress plugins to protect your site from being hacked. Yes, even small business sites are targets for hackers. If youre comfortable performing these updates yourself, great. But sometimes routine updates break your site, so you need to know what to do if/when this happens. Are you prepared to deal with (Actual screenshots below.) You also need an offsite backup system so your website can quickly be restored in the event of catastrophic hardware or software failure (or user error!) crashing your site. Sorry to alarm you, but these things really do happen. If you prefer not to deal with the messy, behind-the-scenes technical upkeep of your site, you can purchase a website maintenance plan for $40-$300/month depending on the services you need. PRO TIP: You can avoid annual licensing fees by working with a web developer that maintains a developers license for the premium WordPress plugins used on your site. In other words, their developers license covers your annual licensing fees. For example, a premium form plugin like Gravity Forms has an annual license fee of $59/yr. A premium image gallery plugin like Envira Gallery will run you $69/yr. But our clients avoid these annual fees because theyre covered under our developer license. As your business grows and evolves, your website might need more sophisticated functionality. If you can implement these technical upgrades yourself, great. Otherwise, the going rate in 2022 to hire a competent, experienced web developer is $100-$125/hour. Expensive Website Design & Development Mistakes To AvoidSince building my first website back in 1999, Ive wasted a TON of time and money on:
No need for you to repeat these mistakes. Pro & Cons: Hiring A Professional vs. Do-It-Yourself Approach To Building Your WebsiteHiring A Professional PROS:
CONS:
Doing It Yourself PROS:
CONS:
The Shortcut To Building A Great WebsiteHire someone. Yes, Im biased, but Im also being honest. Creating a modern, professional website that generates leads and sales for your business is way more difficult and time-consuming than most people realize. If funds are tight right now, and the DIY approach to creating your company website is your only option, then just do the best you can. However, if you can afford it, hiring an experienced web designer/developer to build (or redesign) your website will save you tons of time, money and headaches and the finished product will be better than you couldve done on your own. Its the same reason I gladly pay dentists, accountants, auto mechanics and roofing contractors for their expertise. They can usually get the job done quicker, better and cheaper than I could do myself. |