What does a website cost?

Overview

Website pricing is not a straight forward thing, in fact it is very similar to renting an office. You can go for a cheap office, you can go for a nicer office in new community strip mall, or the office suite in that landmark building. It all depends on budget vs. the impression you want to give your potential customers when trying to convert and keep them. Just like renting office space, any website will get you online, but the impression and effectiveness of your choices will be drastically different.

For those that have worked with developers before, our process may seem different. For those who have not worked with a developer before, in generally it means a quick phone call where the developer gets excited and then being emailed an estimate. You might even get several from different developers. But there is no way a developer can learn much about a company with just a phone call, let alone create an action plan and estimate to go with it.

Our process takes several meetings where we learn about your company, services and customers. What makes you unique, what goals are you trying to obtained. After we gather all that information, then we generate a well thought out estimate, which may go through some back and forth iterations based on the following:

Planning

Planning takes a bit of time, it includes a survey that we collect and review for our meetings, time for research and to inventory your current content if any in addition to creating a timeline and milestones.

Conversion

Though not required, we highly suggest every client go through this phase, where we work with you to create customer profiles, and from that design effective visitor workflows. This phase may also include creating an autoresponder series and starting sales copy.

Content

This phase includes reviewing existing copy and making suggestions on what should be rewritten, or if it's a new site what needs to be created. This phase also includes purchasing stock photos or what we prefer hiring a photographer to take actual photos of your business to give your site that extra personal touch.

Design

We provide three different design options. The first is template based, where we research a find a template that best fits your business style, this is the most cost effective and least time consuming. The next option, and our most popular, is a semi-custom design where we again research and find a template, but then we customize it with your colors, fonts, styles. etc. this option costs more and takes a bit more time. Last is a fully unique custom design, this option costs the most and takes a bit of time to create a one-of-a-kind site.

Build

This is where things start coming together and we begin building out the website, this including importing the theme, setting up each page and doing content load. This phase also includes customizing requested features such as slide shows, photo galleries, contact forms, etc. Finally this phase includes browser testing and basic analytics setup.

Completion

This phase focuses on launch, it includes a final Q/A meeting, updating your DNS to point to your website if it hasn't already happened as well as helping you setup your e-mail with your chosen email provider.

Training

Training will vary based on client and what features they've selected, but generally we provide a couple training sessions that you can scheduled as needed, CMS and other specific training.

Costs

So to give you an idea of how much a website costs, here are four ranges:

Entry. Starting around $1,500, at this level budget is the number one priority. You have thought about just getting a cheap website with SquareSpace, WIX or that Craigslist designer but you want to have your website built with the future in mind on a platform that will grow with your business.

Basic. Starting around $3,500, budget is still a priority at this level, but you want more then just an online brochure, you want to target an audience and start moving them down your online sales funnel.

Standard. Starting around $5,500, at this level budget isn't an issue, you are an established business and you want a website to reflect your unique service or studio. The goal is to increase your online footprint and generate more conversions while servicing your current customers and/or students.

Premier. Starting around $12,000, your company wants a fully unique experience for those visiting your website, from amazing graphics, to heavy amounts of SEO and content marketing. At this level there is a big emphasis on the user experience and how people interact with your website.