How much is a website?

What does it cost to have someone build your website?

Disclaimer: This article is a brief, high-level introduction to my website pricing model. I can provide formal estimates for your project after I’ve had the opportunity (preferably in person) to meet and review your needs and expectations in more detail.

Short (and not particularly helpful!) answer:

How long is a piece of string? If you approach a builder and ask “how much for a house?”, he/she’s going to want to know whether you’d like a hut or a castle, or something in between.  So, depending on what sort of building you’d like, the answer to the question “how much for a house?” will differ enormously for different buildings and for different builders.

Longer, more constructive answer:

I design and develop websites from AUD$1.5k to AUD$25k. My skills and experience tell us that high-quality, professional websites are not achievable with an investment of less than $1.5k. Of course, some individuals or companies will deliver you a website for less, others won’t get out of bed for less than $20k+.

Small Website Project

$1.5k – $3k

Medium Website Project

$3k – $5k

Large Website Project

$5k – $25k+

How do I price a website? These are the primary factors.

How much planning/consultancy?

Some projects come to me at the concept stage, others arrive extremely well-specified.

How much original graphic design and/or multimedia?

Some start-up businesses have no graphics or logos to supply at allr, other (typically established) businesses can provide ready-to-go graphics, photos, style-guide, etc. Will your project benefit from custom illustrations, animations, audio, video, or other special effects?

How many pages?

4 or 400?

How much copywriting?

Are the words for your site already written, or yet to be written? If the latter, then what level of assistance (e.g. professional ‘polishing’ of the words) do you require?

How many ‘standard’ technical features does the site demand?

By ‘standard’ we mean, for example, the ability to manage content such as news, events, documents, photos, etc. on your site.

How many ‘non-standard’ technical features does the site demand?

Highly customised programming that matches and enhances your business processes. Streamline your business, differentiate your business with unique online services, and reduce your costs.

And ongoing costs of website ownership?

Hosting

Think of your hosting provider as the landlord for your business online.

$240 – $1,340+ per year per website

Domain Name(s)

A domain name is just like a business name. If you don’t keep renewing it, it will lapse and become available for others to register.

$65 per domain name per year

E-commerce

Will you want to accept credit card payments via your website for goods and services? Your site may or may not also require an ‘SSL certificate’ to encrypt sensitive information.

$400-$1200 per year, plus about $0.30 – $0.60 per transaction.

Maintenance / Upgrades

There’s no such thing as a perfect website (i.e. there’s always room for improvement) and there’s no such thing as a finished website. In my experience, these are fundamental truths of website ownership.

The need for maintenance and upgrades varies enormously from website to website.

Marketing / Advertising (including SEO)

What’s the point of having the best website in the world if no one knows it exists? A big mistake new website owners can make is to be under budget in this area. You will maximise your return on your investment in your website with effective online marketing.

Professional (online) marketing services will start from $100 per month, and go upward from there.