Now that you’ve decided what you need, how much should your website cost? The simple answer is “it depends on what your needs are.” Website pricing can range from just a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars, all dependent on the functionality and customization needed and the team of designers that you choose to work with. Agencies or web design companies, for the most part, will provide higher pricing than hiring a friend-of-a-friend because they provide strategy and consulting that many freelancers can’t. Plus, with an agency you get the added benefit of working with a team of specialists in their respective field (creative design, marketing, programming, etc.). There are hundreds if not thousands of agencies and freelancers in the United States alone, and a lot of them do very good work. The problem is finding one that fits YOUR needs. Here are a few questions that you should ask yourself in your search for a web designer.

How important is my company’s brand? That is, how custom does the design need to be to match my brand?

This question is important as it can determine whether a template website can work for you. Template websites are exactly that, basic layouts that can be used at a cost. The problem with templates is that other companies in your industry may use them, even a direct competitor, so there is very little to differentiate you from the competition. However, custom designed sites can be more costly but can lead to better conversion rates due to their relevancy with your brand.

How much control do I want to have over my website?

This is very important. If you don’t mind paying someone to update your website now and then, this isn’t a major concern. However, if your serious about using your website as a marketing tool, you’ll want as much control as you can have to reduce ongoing costs and increase the speed at which you can add new content. Make sure you find a company that can give you control over the content that you want to have control over.
Now, while searching for an agency, here are just a few ideas on how to separate the “snake-oil salesmen” from a true partner who wants to help you grow your business.

Submission into search engines

Many web design companies tout this as one of their “core services,” especially for their search engine optimization services. This service is actually free and can be done by anyone. Here are the links.

“Naturalized SEO”

Many companies offer SEO (search engine optimization) services along with their site design services. That’s not unusual. However, as of recent, we’ve discovered a handful of companies that offer “naturalized SEO.” While this is most likely standard SEO services, this terminology isn’t used very frequently in the industry. If you run across agencies that state that they offer specific services but use nomenclature that you haven’t seen anywhere else, make sure that they have the references to back it up. That, is, as with any partnership, make sure to double check a company’s references before signing a contract.

To the Top of Search Engine Results

Many companies promise or offer to get you to the top of the search engine results with a guarantee. Honestly, any company can get you to the top of the rankings, the problem comes when asking for what keyword. Ranking for terms that no one actually searches for is very easy and that’s what many of these companies specialize in. On the other hand, many companies offer great case studies on the number of #1 rankings that they assisted a company in achieving and received a legitimate amount of traffic from that work. Now the problem is whether or not that traffic converted to business. Traffic that comes to the site but doesn’t do anything but visit the site and leave isn’t worth a lot in the scheme of things. Your site exists to generate business/leads/contacts/communicate/etc., not simply to collect pageviews. Remember that an Interactive Marketing campaign should cause interactions, and a valuable campaign will cause valuable interactions.

10 Comments

  1. Very informative! Thanks, again.

  2. you make some great points Nick!

    My last site I paid someone to design I ended up having to pay them every single time I wanted a new page uploaded. And what really stunk was they registered my url in their name and then ran off with it. So be careful guys when you are doing business with someone. Read and know your stuff.

  3. Hi and thanks. I’m definitely keen on posts and information on web site seo. You don’t know where you are likely to discover a original method (well, new to me at least). Although there will almost always be general Seo strategies, a little modification here and there, and your blog will receive best positioning. If you work with WordPress having the right plugins in addition to a really good premium template can help your Seo. It’s also necessary to keep up to date with the changes in search engine algorithms.All the best

  4. Thanks for the information. Exactly because website pricing can range from just a few hundred dollars to millions of dollars, it is difficult to evaluate and compare proposals. I guess that your report can help on that.

  5. Thank you Nick to post your thoughts ๐Ÿ™‚ is this cost vary according to region?

  6. to get on top people should focus on top keywords by doing thorough keyword research.

  7. I like this content because it’s not too salesy and it’s concrete information. I speak with businesses everyday and they receive calls from all types of sales people promising them alot of different things.

  8. Websites costs too much . But earns triple too if handled properly. Thanks for the post anyway.

  9. Hi Nick,

    Interesting article! As a freelance designer, I find it sometimes hard to put a price on a website. It always depends on what the client needs. Also the quality of work you can offer always makes a differents

  10. In short, the cost of a website depends on lot of things. Authority, ranking, traffic potential revenue and so on.

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