How much will my website cost? The million dollar question – (and hopefully that’s not the answer). This is such a fluid question though. Ask ten different web design companies and you’ll get twelve different answers. A better question to ask is “How much should I budget for a website design?”

Price will vary for this answer as well, but I can give you realistic advice and a ballpark price for you to budget for a website design. I will break down the prices into Non-Profit/Start Ups, Mom & Pop Shops, Medium-Sized Businesses and finally Large Multimillion Dollar Corporations.

Non-Profit / Start Ups

I am going to group these two together because a lot of times the budgets for these two segments are very similar – Free or ridiculously low. “Can we get it for free, or donated?” I will agree that there are times to use a free WordPress theme or a service like Wix. (Some developers want to shoot me right now!) The reason I say this is your money is tight and you need to spend every penny where it counts the most!

HOWEVER – Keep in mind that many of your supporters who give donations to your non-profit will visit your website and it needs to show legitimacy. “75% of your users will judge your business’ credibility from your website’s design.” – Source “Kenesis” This statistic is HUGE and is worthy to note that some of your budget’s pennies might actually be best invested in your website. Start Up businesses need to consider this as well. If you’re in an industry where you’ll need to “look the part” to gain an audience or be successful quickly – you’ll want to spend a portion of your start up budget for your website and branding!

If you fall into either of these segments – you’ll want to budget for a website design anywhere from $1,500 – $5,000. This is such a wide range because most web design companies charge by the type of code they have to develop on, how many pages you’ll need and what type of features you want. For this price you should get a great looking website (perhaps on a template) that might have up to 10 pages with a nice slideshow on the home page & a photo gallery or events feature.

Here are some other topics for you:
Are Free Websites Really Free?
Are Free WordPress Themes Good to Use?
You might be able to find a web design company who will donate a portion of their time to your cause too! We do! Check out our Giveback winners.

Mom & Pop Shops

This segment includes the smaller companies who have invested in a small office space or some sort of brick ‘n mortar and have already started to sell. Your business can really take a huge step forward in your industry if your website is impressive and can be found on Google’s search results! “94% of your users find their first impression in your website’s design.” – Source “Kenesis” Ninety-Four Percent! That’s just about every single visitor to your website!

If you’ve already got a website that was a freebie or built by your nephew then you may consider investing in a re-design! Check out this article on “How to tell your boss that you need a better website.”

Budget-wise expect to invest anywhere from $3,500 – $7,000. Again – this price range will be influenced by your desired type of code, pages and features that you’ll need. If you’re looking to sell products online – that budget could jump significantly based on the amount of products you’ll be listing. For this price range you should be able to get a Responsive website with up to 10 pages or so. Your social media links should be included with maybe even a dynamic feed, a blog and perhaps even a custom theme to perfectly match your branding.

Medium-Sized Businesses

Medium-sized businesses typically have a marketing director or someone who is on their team designated to manage their marketing online and offline. These companies very typically already have a website but it’s probably out-of-date and needs to be coded to be mobile-friendly. “Almost 50% of any mobile user landing on your website that has a bad experience feels as though you don’t care about your customer.” – Source “Margin Media” Ouch! We know this isn’t true – but you’ve got to invest again in your online presence to be sure to continue to look vested in your online consumer.

Even for a redesign you’ll probably need to budget anywhere from $5,000 – $10,000. This budget will be effected by the amount of content you have on your existing site that needs to be migrated to your new site, plus whatever new features you’ll be needing – like Responsive design. Check out this video to learn more. For this price range you should be receiving a fully custom solution on a content management system, fully responsive, up to 20 pages, basic SEO included and perhaps even features like a blog, events calendar & video gallery.

Large Multimillion Dollar Corporations

Just because you’re in this segment does not mean that you have to spend millions on your website presence. Your marketing team might even have someone in-house who can code a website for you, but I’m not convinced that’s the right route to go. You’ll want to have an outsider’s perspective on not only your brand, but also your industry. You’ll want fresh eyes on what you’ve been doing in the past and if your numbers show that all is performing well, then reaching out to a new pool of ideas might spark other avenues of marketing / networking and ultimately revenue!

Your website more than likely has a lot of out-dated content on it and you’re probably wondering, “Do we need to keep it all?” You might have wanted to incorporate some new social networks that you’re using or provide a login area for your customers to access sensitive or saved information. You might also be wondering – “Is there something that we just haven’t though of that would really take our website to the next level?”

The answer to these questions will be the deciding factors that keep you ahead in your industry and pushing your company ahead of the pack on Google search results. You want to look fresh for the next generation of consumers, and the only way to accomplish this is to stay up-to-date on your online marketing. No longer is it adequate to have a “mobile version” of your website. That’s actually very out-dated coding. “40% will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.” – Source “Econsultancy”

Budget for a website design or redesign like this could be as low as $8,000 and climb quickly over $25,000. Features on your new website will effect price as well as the amount of content that will be necessary to copy into the new site. If you have any sort of login area or products that you’ll sell directly online – you’ll see that $10K jump because of security and extra coding.

Keep in mind

Keep in mind these numbers are what I suggest you SHOULD budget for your websites, but if your vision is bigger than what I’ve considered, or if you’d like to propel your company vastly beyond your competition, hiring a web development firm could swell these numbers quickly. Also if you add other services like Maintenance Packages, Responsive Design, SEO Services, Social Media Marketing, Content Writing or Email Marketing – you’ll see an increase as well.

Cities and Outsourcing Effect Price

We’ve seen that hourly rates vary city to city and if a company outsources overseas this too can effect price. I highly recommend finding a company whose team is local to your business and can meet with you in person. If that’s not an option, then find a company whose team can Skype with you on a regular basis through your project. This type of communication will not only cause the project to progress smoothly, but will give you peace of mind that after the website goes live – they might still be accessible to you.

You’ll also want to do a search on Google for “Web Design (City Name)” to see if the company you’re about to hire comes up on the first page of Google – Organically (not paid). We suggest doing this because if you’re about to pay a company to help you better your website and to try to get your website found on Google – they themselves should have a website that performs at the top! If theirs doesn’t come up, ask them to show you a few of their clients that perform at the top of the results. This is a great test of, “Do they practice what they preach!”