A Beginner s Guide to Website Budgets The Website You Can Get For What You Have To Spend

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1 A Beginner s Guide to Website Budgets The Website You Can Get For What You Have To Spend Compliments of

2 So you need to build a new website, or redesign your old one, but you re not sure what to expect when it comes to cost. This is a very common concern that doesn t always have a clear answer. If you ve researched the cost of a website, you know that website development costs vary wildly. You could get a very simple website designed & built for a few hundred dollars, or a complex site for $100,000+ (yes, plus!). Establishing a budget should be an important initial step toward building or redesigning any website. Remember every project is different, and it s always important to research the companies you d like to work with, and get multiple quotes when starting a project. And, in the aftermath of Mobilegeddon, keep in mind that your site will definitely need to be mobilefriendly. There are multiple factors that affect cost - project scope (just how complex is it), who you work with (dude in his basement, freelancer, small firm, or agency), and sometimes even your location can come into account (the cost a website from a New York firm may differ from one in Wyoming). It can be hard to gauge what your project might cost, so this document will aim to give you some guidelines. Please note: Our estimates assume the following and are meant as guidelines - every web development shop, like every website project, varies. Costs are a combination of our experiences and US industry averages. All estimates include planning, programming, setup and launch. Other custom items are noted. New websites are built to be mobile/tablet-responsive. Websites are built in a CMS framework. Clients provide all content (body copy, product/ team images). Medical & Financial compliance can add on to the cost of a site.

3 Budget: Under $2,500 If you re budget is $2,500 and under, you re looking at a very basic website. You most likely have basic content, some text, images, and small site structure, under 10 pages. You ll probably work with a freelance web developer or small web design firm. At this price point, you re best bet is to go with a CMS like WordPress, and purchase a premade theme (we re fans of Themeforest & Creative Market). Premade themes are a very cost effective option, but can be very cookie-cutter. Complexity: Very basic, simple site structure # of Pages: <10 Content: Basic text, images Design: Premade Theme Programming: CMS based Team Size: Freelancer or Small Firm Timeline: 4-6 weeks Your Time Commitment: High (provide all content, purchase theme, lead the project) If You Splurge: Get a really good, responsive theme so your site will be mobile ready

4 Budget: $2,500 - $5,000 In this range, you are still looking at a relatively basic site. Stick with a CMS, such as WordPress or Drupal, and purchase a premade theme. This budget should also allow for some customization of the theme that can give your site a more unique style. You might have some additional plugins added and some site optimization (ie: SEO). Expect to spend a lot of time leading the charge on the project - You will be asked to provide all content, and potentially find and purchase the theme and imagery. Complexity: Basic Content with room for a few plug-ins or some basic SEO # of Pages: Content: Basic text, images, embedded video Design: Premade theme with slight customizations (fonts & color adjustments, custom icons) Programming: CMS based Team Size: Freelancer or Small Firm Timeline: 4-8 weeks If You Splurge: Get really great SEO work on the back end

5 Budget: $5,000 - $7,500 With this budget, you can sometimes get a custom designed website, but design will be minimal. Be sure to finalize your vision for the site, and provide your team with good brand guidelines. You ll be working with an experienced freelancer web developer, small web design firm or a small agency. Graphic design hours may need to be limited to meet your budget. You may also have some wiggle room to add a small ecommerce plug-in or really beef up your SEO. You could also stick with a CMS and a pre-built theme and have your team build a more customized solution from there. Expect to help during the process, but your development team should be able to guide you along the way. You will work with the team to help develop the site map, navigation and site design. You ll likely have a couple rounds of back and forth to finalize your design. You ll need to provide the content, logo and imagery. Complexity: Basic Content, a few plugins, basic SEO, maybe a basic ecommerce plugin # of Pages: Content: Basic text, images, embedded video, potentially some forms Design: Basic with a Custom home and interior page Programming: CMS based Team Size: Experienced freelancer or small- medium web design firm Timeline: 8-12 weeks Your Time Commitment: High (provide all content, purchase theme, lead the project) If You Splurge: Get high-quality imagery, and advanced SEO work or copywriting services

6 Budget: $7,500 - $15,000 Most small to medium websites fall in this price range, and you can get a very good, professional website with this budget. You can expect a customized design tailored to your brand. Your homepage should be a custom layout on par with your competition. Working with a small firm or agency, you can expect that your team will be attentive to your project, and lead the way. Your site should be fully responsive (versus just mobile-friendly) and you should be on a CMS. Your content should be well laid out, you should have basic onpage SEO implemented, and you may be able to include custom features such as plugins, MailChimp integration or ecommerce integration. Expect to help during the process, but your development team should be able to guide you along the way. You will work with the team to help develop the site map, navigation and site design. You ll likely have a couple rounds of back and forth to finalize your design. You ll need to provide the content, logo and imagery. Complexity: Dropdown navigation, SEO, a custom plug-in, and basic small ecommerce # of Pages: Content: Text, images, embedded video, animations, forms, blog Design: Custom - both a homepage and interior page, potentially with some custom icons or supporting graphics Programming: CMS based and/or Custom plugin development Team Size: small- medium web design firm Timeline: weeks If You Splurge: Splurge on going the extra mile to drive home SEO and focus on content curation.

7 Budget: $15,000 - $25,000 If you need complex programming, advanced features, or if your website is larger than normal (50+ pages), your budget should reflect that. Connecting with multiple API s, database development, custom plugins and modules are all considered complex programming. Advanced features may include subscription-based sites or full-blown ecommerce. With this budget, expect a full-scope project timeline: discovery, design, development, review, training and launch. Expect your development team to be your guide through the process. They should help you map out every aspect of the site and should provide insights into your content, design and overall approach. Complexity: Advanced features: Drop Down navigations, advanced SEO, custom plugins, ecommerce # of Pages: Content: Text, images, embedded video, animations, forms, blogs Design: Custom Design - both a home page and 2-3 interior page layouts, custom icons or supporting graphics, potentially a photoshoot Programming: CMS based and/or Custom development Team Size: small- large web design firm or digital agency Timeline: weeks If You Splurge: Pay for great copywriting services, both on individual pages and the blog.

8 Budget: $25,000 + * If you've got a budget of this size, your web project is likely very complex, or you work for a large organization with lot of consumer-facing content. A lot of custom development is required, and you re likely working with a team dedicated to your project at an agency. At this level, you are not only paying for the web design and development, but also for the expertise and resources the agency offers. The agency should be able to help with SEO, best practices for UX/UI and content, and analytics tracking. You might even be building a web application, or have multiple sites that surround a core theme, brand or organization. Complexity: Advanced features, custom navigation, advanced SEO, custom plugins, ecommerce or small web application. # of Pages: 10 + Content: Text, images, embedded video, animations, forms, blogs Design: Custom Design - both a home page and multiple interior page layouts, custom icons or supporting graphics Programming: Custom development Team Size: Small - large web design firm or digital agency Timeline: 16 weeks + If You Splurge: At this level, you are splurging, so make sure your site does what you want it to do. *Once you get to this price point, you're dealing with a custom solution that isn t easily estimated. It will require a lot of detailed discussions and a very thorough scope of work. We recommend that our clients at this level spend a few meetings scoping out the project, then we provide them with a detailed development guide (tech doc), and we determine cost from there.

9 Domain Name Registration - $10 - $50 / year Depending on the popularity and potential of the domain name, the price can range between $10 and $50. It s worth noting that some domain names may be for sale, but are highly sought after, and can cost thousands of dollars to obtain. (Some domains have sold for millions of dollars. Yes, millions.) Other Costs to Consider When Building a New Website Hosting Costs - $10 - $300 / month This depends entirely on how much content you re hosting, whether you re sharing space with other websites or not, and how fast you want your server to be. There are circumstances where your hosting can be more costly, for example, if you require a secure environment, an SSL certificate or expect very high-volume traffic. - $4 - $10 / user / month [email protected] can be hosted through your hosting provider, and cost will depend on how much space you need (volume of s you ll keep on their server.). Google Apps for Business - $0 - $10 / user / month Google offers a pretty comprehensive set of business apps, most notably from your domain routed through the simple Gmail interface. This option provides a much better bang-for-your-buck than traditional hosted , especially since it includes a handful of other useful apps like a Calendar, Cloud Storage, Cloud Documents and more. Plugin Subscriptions - $40 - $150 / year Plugins are commonly used with a CMS like Wordpress and add additional functionality to your site. Common plugins include Gravity Forms, Wordpress SEO by Yoast, and Woocommerce. Maintenance - $225+ / month Most developers offer a maintenance retainer to clients so that when updates need to be made or problems arise (and with the constantly-evolving web, they will), they ll be available to take care of them for you. We d recommend taking a minimum of 3 hours a month ($75+/hour) so that you don t have to worry about updates, etc. (860) [email protected]