How Much Does a Website Cost?

How Much Does a Website Cost?

This is a little like asking how much a car or a house costs. What is it that you want your website to accomplish? Are you looking for something that is basically an online business card or are you wanting to provide your customers with a fully interactive, multi-media experience or somewhere in between?

All the bells and whistles?… That’ll cost ya.

If you want a brand new electric car with automatic windows, a sun roof, MP3 stereo with amazing surround-sound speakers and an extended warranty, you’re going to be paying more than you would for some used, gas guzzling junker with a tape player and two roll-down windows. (Unless, of course, you count the cost of fuel, maintenance, replacement parts and the annoyance of having to constantly nurse the car along.) So, do you want to work with a professional design studio that offers the latest and greatest functionality, a beautiful design and a willingness to provide future updates and support as needed? Or would you rather go with the niece of your best friend’s next door neighbor’s second cousin who took one HTML class in high school, is going off to college next week and won’t have time to adequately finish, much less maintain your site? Bet you could get that one for a song!

The keys to determining how much your website will or should cost are planning and research. Plan out what you want your site to accomplish, what elements you would like it to have. Make a list. Do you want a gallery of images or products? How about e-commerce capabilities? Should your customers be able to email you from the site? Chat with you live? Store preferences from previous orders? Interactively design their own finished product? Once you have this list, do some research. Compare your list to what your prospective designer is offering. Check out their portfolio. Do they offer the tools you need? Do you like their work? If you base your decision solely on price, I’m afraid to say you might not even get what you paid for.

Contact us to discuss your website needs and obtain a quote.