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What Does A Website Cost? 

by | Last updated: Feb 4, 2024

MEANit Web Design Agency- What Does A Website Cost?

What Does Website Design Cost? A simple breakdown of Website Design Pricing with some Case Studies below.

Website costs vary, just like cars or houses, from free to tens of thousands plus, but a reasonable Rule of Thumb for website design cost by a competent developer is to expect to invest about €250 to €350 a page. Any less and you have to worry that the Developer is inexperienced or is charging too little and will deliver little of use or value for you.
Why pay less to get less, when you can pay more and get better returns“.

So, there you have it, in theory, you can get a 5-page website for about €1500 and a 10-page website for €3500. BUT, stop! Before you give somebody any money, think about planning, design, and SEO Search Engine Optimisation. Are you going to get custom graphic design or just a design theme? Who will optimise your new web presence to ensure that it gets found in a Google search for the right keywords or phrases? And by the right people. How will you advertise and promote it? Who will manage it? Who will maintain it?

The bottom line is that asking for a price is usually the wrong question. Why exactly do you want a website at all? What do you want to achieve? Who is it really for, as in your target market? It is very important to have a coherent plan before you start. Include the planned wireframe or layout, graphic design, content, Search Engine Optimisation, and advertising strategy in this plan or Brief. How do you plan to benefit from any investment? What targets are you setting? You would not build a house without a plan.

Making your new web presence work well for you takes someone’s time and that human time investment needs to be factored in at the start. A good web design agency should be able to guarantee that you get a very good return on your investment in their experienced Team who have done this hundreds of times before. Check out their previous work in your space.

We even offer a Money Back Guarantee to ensure we only work with clients where we can deliver value – it keeps us focused. It means that we have skin in the game. That way we only choose to work with clients, where we can see that we can add real value for them. So there is no real cost as such to you, just a temporary investment or drain on your cash reserves.
What would it cost you to get it wrong?

FREE is doable if you have the time to commit. However, if you plant the right seed, you will harvest the right return, so you want to get this decision right.

See our own Pricing Page HERE or read our FREE 5 step guide to getting your own website built HERE and/or
read the four ballpark website design cost options below to get someone competent to do it for you. This is just a simple guideline to give you an idea on the investment you are likely to require.

Option 1. DIY website

Expect about €1500 to €2000 for a 5-page web presence set up for you on say a WordPress open-source platform – can you do the rest yourself? Create and add the content, as in sized images and text? Manage your own SEO to optimise your new website & Digital Marketing to attract the right visitors and convert them to customers. Invest a bit in a low-cost design theme to make the site look good. (Without the SEO Search Engine Optimisation nobody will see your website at all)

NB: Ideal if you have no budget, but loads of spare time and patience,  you can learn to totally DIY a website yourself here. You can choose a hosting platform, install WordPress, add a Design Theme, add a Page Builder, and off you go. Any help you need, you will find in our Blog, which is full of FREE guides.

Option 2. Starter Website 

Expect about €1500 for the 5 to 10 pages done for you plus about €75 a page or €375 for good basic on-page SEO to be done for you. Will you use a design theme for under $100 or template or do you want a Graphic Designer to custom design a look for you for under $750? If so, add in that cost. Then you are still looking at about €3000 to €3500 investment and more if you want to include a Brief or plan and good Custom Design and SEO or search engine optimisation, to get you found in search, closer to €4800. See our Pay as You Go option HERE, if your available budget is tight or you are risk averse or cautious about investing.

Option 3. Business Website CMS Content Management System

Expect about €3000 investment for about 10 to 20 pages and add in some good input from an experienced qualified Digital Business Consultant for a proper Brief, a plan or strategy for €750. There is an option to get the initial Keyword Mapping done and done well will cost €750 – this is so important, but usually gets missed. And add in on-page SEO to get found in Google for about €750. Getting your business online properly should include adding targets and setting up some metrics, to ensure that you get a good return on any investment. Add in any fees for design whether it is a low price theme of around €99 or a custom graphic design for about €750 to €1500.

Prices in €s + VAT – €6000 to €7500 depending on modules required and any customised graphic design or SEO. This is where most of our clients start. For them, it is rarely about the actual website design cost and almost always about the return on their investment or ‘value add’ for them in increased sales, increased margin, better customer service, or being more competitive.

Option 4. Managed Business Website

You could employ a junior or new hire and say look after our web presence, website, search engine optimisation, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, social media, blogging, reputation management, reviews, Google Business Profile – everything! How much will that ‘Junior’ cost for each year? €24,000 or €36,000. Will you hand this important responsibility to the lowest-paid member of staff, who does not have the relevant experience or understand the digital tools required. And how long will they stay? What happens when they leave? Why not consider outsourcing all of it to a competent experienced web design agency partner using the same investment, however with better, longer-lasting results? Guaranteed results from people who can use all the digital tools required – Together we may have the answer to your challenge.
If you could double your money for every euro invested, how much would you invest? Get in touch and lets explore it. What have you got to lose, except opportunity?

Check out some of our Case Studies of website elements and the related website design cost below here.

Talk to us about Website Design Cost now

 

Which website elements do you need for your business at this time?

 

    • Content Management System, Initial content entry for 5-10 pages, you get unlimited web pages, Attachment management, image, and video media manager, image Gallery, SEO tools, Google Maps, YouTube, Preview Mode, Contact Form, Website Statistics/analytics – €1500 to €3000
    • Website Design Template choice of Client or Designer. You can get a free or low-cost theme around €50 and then have your developer tweak it a little or customise it, but every change is more cost. Or you can get a good graphic designer with web design experience to create a design that works for you, preferably based on a theme too. Again, if you want a customised Home page design allow a budget for graphic design – anywhere from €500 to €1000  as website design cost on average, less for any interior pages.
    • Website Brief – This foundational plan is written up to direct the designer, developer, and digital marketer. Most websites are done without a plan, which is crazy. This Brief is written up by the business development manager after a discovery session/discussion with you the client. Otherwise, who knows what you want to achieve with this new website, or who the competitors are, or what are your future plans. It sounds basic, but most agencies do not have an experienced business developer or sales professional. Allow €750 to €1500 depending on who you get and what value they bring you.
    • Monthly Support & Maintenance Options if required need to be available so that you have the backup of someone watching over this digital doorway. All websites need theme and version updates and security patches applied regularly. This is code or software and is prone to problems if you do not look after it. Any plugins also need to be maintained. Probably an hour or two a month or about €75. See our Support Plans
    • SEF – Search Engine Friendly page set up option €50 to €100 per page, a basic requirement for Digital Marketing. But Digital Marketing is so much more than this, so talk to a competent Digital Marketer before you build a website at all.
    • Keyword Mapping – If you have your target keywords, that is fine, give them to your web design agency. If you do not have or know your target keywords,  but it is important to you, engage someone to do this before you build a website. This is the foundation of all your SEO Search Engine Optimisation, which gets people to the website organically. It may need €750 to €2000 depending on the size of your site.
    • Host – Buy suitable secure 5* hosting, where they offer good customer support – expect to pay about €10 a month minimum to Cloudways or Siteground or InMotion
    • eCommerce – Adding a Catalogue, a Shop and Payment Gateway expect another €1500 and add a bit of training, then you add the stock yourself or pay to have it done for you. Every online shop project is different, some are simple, some are more complex, depending on the products to be sold.
    • NOTE: Regardless of how you build the website, the work only starts once it is done. How do you get visitors? How do you rank well in Google searches? What content do you have to add and when? How do you maintain the website? Who will keep it secure? Where will you advertise it? What is your marketing budget?

Employ SEO or Online Marketing specialists, who can use our tools to drive your business online.

 

Responsive Design layoutsGet good independent advice for yourself on Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, SEO Search Engine Optimisation, SEM Search Engine Marketing, Content Marketing and SMO Social Media Optimisation, as well as offsite marketing and traditional techniques, which can be even more important. Plan your online business and then plan your website around a Digital Marketing Strategy. Also talk to your Web Design Agency about a Monthly Support Plan. It is very much a team effort.

Your website should be planned, designed, developed and marketed for your specific purposes, so no two sites are the same and therefore there is no single price for a website. If someone tells you they charge a set price, but they do not know exactly what you need – run away fast. It is like building a house. The biggest disappointment in web is where someone gets a site created that does not do what it is supposed to do. You can waste a year waiting to find out that the bargain website is costing you lost potential sales. When you go looking to build a house, you will get people who can offer you a Portacabin at a set price, but if you get a good architect, a qualified building contractor and an interior designer, then the investment will be a lot higher. Where do you want to live and how long should it last. Ask your potential web design agency to give you an idea of how much you can expect to get back. Expect a good return from any investment and ask about how quickly can you expect it. Set some targets together.

Note: Write off the investment on your books over three years, or add the value of a successful website to your balance sheet. But do account for it accurately in your books, as this is not a one off cost to be written off in one month.

It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.” John Ruskin

Web Design Cost Case Studies

Business Website Case Study 1: The Builder – Construction Company website

Here is a quote we did for a new website for a builder who wanted to be Number One in his area and look professional, with a great gallery or portfolio section to showcase his work and a simple way for visitors to ask questions or book an appointment.
1000.00 – Web Brief and Navigation structure
  750.00 – Design customised for Home page
  750.00 – Keyword Mapping
3250.00 – Website Platform Open Source WordPress Content Management Systemusing the custom design, creating and populating the pages and navigations,
750.00 –  Configuration of agreed galleries, and web forms.
750.00 – Initial SEO
10.00 – Hosting per month
75.00 per month – 24/7 Support – Monthly site audit, updates, and report

This builder also paid a photographer €800 to take great images of 10 local projects.
The total initial spend agreed was €6750.00. The same client set a target of one serious enquiry a week with one good conversion a month, leading to doing a quote. The average expected spend on a typical house is not disclosed here, but one conversion to an actual contract would more than pay for the new website in year 1.
Note: Subsequently, the builder also booked 3 months of Digital Marketing services at €500 per month from month two and asked that the Graphic designer do their company stationery, popups, and van graphics. The builder is number 1 in his chosen area, is very busy and very happy now (Name with Editor)

What costs does this builder expect the site to run? He expects no net cost at all, just a very good return on a reasonable ‘investment’ of about €7000.

CMS Business Website Case Study 2: The Legal Firm

Here is an estimate we did for a new website for a Legal Firm that was not interested in Google ranking. They wanted to look professional and have a simple way for visitors to get questions answered or enquire about booking an appointment.
  750.00 – Web Brief and Nav structure
  750.00 – Design customised Home page
  750.00 Keyword Mapping
2250.00 – Website Platform Open Source WordPress Content Management System
  750.00  – Configuration of custom design, create services pages and navigations and add agreed web forms.
  750.00 – Initial SEO
10.00 – Hosting per month
75.00 per month – Support – Monthly site audit, updates, and report

This firm also paid a local photographer €250 to take great images of team members and office premises.
The total initial spend agreed was just over €6000.00. This client set a target of one new potential client enquiry a month, but the emphasis was on answering questions and saving practice staff time. It was important to the firm to look professional online.

Note: The results included saving a lot of staff time by answering questions online and warding off unsuitable clients. But also the new site is generating exactly the type of new client enquiry wanted by this legal firm, namely people looking for help with Commercial Law, Property Law or Litigation. The Legal Firm is very happy with its new web presence. (Name with Editor)

For an ‘investment’ of about €6000, this legal firm now ranks on Page 1 in their area and looks as professional online as they are offline.

eCommerce – Online Store – Case Study 3

Now you are getting away from Digital Business cards and in to the realms of trading online. Think of it like opening a shop on the High Street or in a shopping centre where 200 sq metres will cost €50k a year in rent and €50k in overheads including rates with twice that in staff salaries. So, bearing that in mind, where do you want to start? We see people offering to do eCommerce solutions for less than €3,000. We also see Magento partners asking from €30,000+. You are going to be somewhere in between.

We do not do enterprise or retail eCommerce websites, but we do have clients who manufacture their own products, which sell all over the world, but mainly in Ireland. A typical quote is this one.
1000.00 – Web Brief and Nav structure
  750.00 – Design customised for Home page
  750.00 – Keyword Mapping
3000.00
– Website Platform Open Source WordPress Content Management System
1500.00 – Configuration of WooCommerce eCommerce and Payment Gateway using Stripe. We added the first 20 products and tested the site.
  750.00 – Initial SEF to ensure all pages were search engine friendly, based on keywords provided
    50.00 – Hosting per month through Kinsta
 100.00 per month – 24/7 Support – Monthly site audit, updates and report

A total initial investment of €7750, with ongoing monthly fees of €150. It took over 6 months for the site to rank well, but it is continually generating profitable sales and the client is very happy with their online shop.

eCommerce – Here are some options or guides

1. DIY Website for €1000 plus €250 for prepping graphic content with some Paypal buttons for 10 to 20 items – budget less than €2k to do it yourself
2. Business CMS with WooCommerce type ecommerce plugin, catalogue and cart for 100 to 10,000 products – budget about €5000 normally, but up to €10,000 depending on the number of initial products and any complex functionality to be added. We do this for Manufacturers or people who control the price of the products they sell. Not for Retail or Enterprise eCommerce.
3. Magento eCommerce or similar Enterprise eCommerce – as many products as you like and loads of functionality, plus integration with eBay and Amazon – budget a minimum €10k plus, depending on the number of initial products and any complex functionality. Realistically it is going to be closer to €20k. We do not take on this type of project.
4. Shopify – A simple option, where you rent space on someone elses site and pay a monthly fee. It has loads of limitations, such as SEO is a challenge, as is multi locations, but it can be a great place to start. It may help you find out if there is a market for what you have to sell. As a dedicated WordPress agency we do not take on this type of project, as we do not do Shopify sites.

And be aware the bigger the platform the more ongoing support you will need – think shop staff, only nerdy. Have you budgeted for someone in-house to manage the new shop?

Lastly, remember that without good SEO and Digital Marketing, nobody will even know that your shop exists. So budget 30% for the website and 70% for marketing it. Now where do you stand?

It is common for people to sell the software rather than offer the solution you need, which includes that software, but more importantly includes how that software is configured for you specifically. Most of these Content Management Systems use free Open Source software, so a website can be produced for very little actual cost, but the time and the quality of that talent & experience adds to that investment. So, get a good web partner who understands what you want to achieve, who gets to understand your business and your challenges, your customers and their needs. Build a website to make a good return rather than focus on spending the smallest amount possible. If you are a developer, do yourself and your client a favour, give them what they need, rather than just take what they want to spend. “Focus on the customer experience rather than the technology” Steve Jobs

Tip: Developers are like Chefs, they want to show you how to do it and impress you with what you can do with the ‘solution’. So make sure that you get a website that lets you do as much or as little as you like yourself, which allows you outsource as much as you want, rather than getting something brilliant, but complicated and time consuming or ineffective.

Talk to us about Website Design Costs for your project

About The Author

Do you want more traffic?

Hi, at MEANit we help 34 ‘Professional Services Firms‘ to be effective online annually. Will your business be one of the 34 in 2024?

MEANit-Web-Design-Agency-Michael-MacGinty

Written by Michael MacGinty

Michael is a well known speaker, author and coach on SEO and how to use the web to grow a business. He is also WP Elevation certified as a Digital Business Consultant.
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