In this day and age, a good website is a must-have for every business. It creates a powerful first impression and impacts how your audience perceives your brand.
To stand out from your competitors, your website should be fast and mobile-friendly, allowing customers and prospects to make quick decisions before making a purchase.
If you want to keep your leads on your page, you need a good web design.
The Cost of a Website Design
Your website is the central part of your inbound marketing strategy and the most important marketing tool you have.
A website design agency can charge $4,000 to $25,000 for a simple custom website design and $25,000 to $45,000 for more complicated, custom-built websites. There are also talented freelancers who prefer to work alone and charge a little less compared to an agency while providing you with a stellar website.
Looking for the cheapest option? You can try your hand in designing your own website. However, It doesn’t stop there. Trends change and at one point in time, you need to redesign your website to keep up with your competitors.
How Much a Do-it-Yourself Website Costs
Building or redesigning your own website is the cheapest option which can cost you a few hundred dollars to more or less $3,000. The unforeseen expense here is the time and hassle required from you. However, if you’ve got the skills and the ability to code, then the odds are in your favor.
If you have a limited budget and want to start small, here are a few suggestions for D.I.Y. websites:
- ThemeForest – ThemeForest lets you choose from a wide variety of website themes with varying functionality, performance, and ease of use. They will cost you around $30 to $100 and work well with WordPress. Make sure to choose a theme with plenty of positive reviews and doesn’t require technical skills for editing.
- Genesis Framework by StudioPress – The Genesis Framework is not your average website back-end. This mobile-friendly and search engine optimized framework offers great themes and allows you to easily create content and edit the visual features of your WordPress website. The framework and theme will cost you around $100 to $130.
- HubSpot’s Website Platform – HubSpot’s Website Platform features customizable themes as well as built-in features for SEO to content management. You can also test your design skills and build one from scratch using their drag-and-drop builder. If you want more custom features, you can always hire a developer to add them in. This platform costs $300 per month.
The Importance of Content
Would you buy something if you can’t find anything that describes what the product is and what it does?
This is where content comes in. It is considered the most important part of a website redesign which also consumes a lot of time.
Building your website around your content is the ideal approach to a website redesign, not the other way around. The goal of your website is to persuade your buyers to avail of what you offer and that’s where your content goes to work.
If your prospects are not yet ready to buy but are doing some research or read blogs, you’ve got your content to thank for.
Content First, Design Later
Creating content for a website goes through a process. If you’re doing it yourself, first map out all of the pages you want your website to include before writing the actual content. This can help you pick out the best website theme that will suit your content strategy.
Although most freelance web designers can create content, most of them team up with a skilled copywriter do the specific work. Whether the content creator is sourced by you or your designer, make sure they are on the same page. You will also sleep better if you ask your designer to let you in the process of content creation.
Now, when it comes to an agency, content is already part of the redesign process and their experienced copywriters are just waiting for their queue to fill in all the work.
Why so High?
Back in the days when the Internet was still in the works, a website doesn’t do much for a business. Fast forward to the age of the Internet, a business cannot survive without a website. What’s behind the shift making the cost of a website redesign so high?
- Supply and demand – One of the reasons why the cost of having a website redesigned has been increasing is because of supply and demand.
In the past, running a successful business is not dependent on the Internet or a website. However, times have changed. Companies nowadays should be visible online and cannot be without a website. In fact, prior to launching, potential businesses first check on the availability of domain names and how the URL will look. - The process – The techniques and tools in designing a website is constantly improving, making websites more advanced in the process. Although it does make a D.I.Y. website easier to design, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Every good designer knows that they should be ready to cope with the evolving digital landscape and be on the lookout for innovation. Let’s take for example the importance of a mobile-friendly website. Good designers have foreseen that the introduction and success of the iPhone would make an impact on how people navigate websites. Back then, mobile design was a complex and expensive feature and both designers and clients tend to avoid it. However, when Google suddenly raised its standards by allowing its search algorithms to show preference to mobile-friendly websites, everything went boom.
Working Round the Clock
A good website is like the perfect employee who tirelessly does all the work for you even while you sleep or go on a holiday. It does a great job consistently, using the tools that you’ve provided. All you have to do is find the agency that will give you this perfect employee. While it is true that humans play a vital role in a business, you need to pay them month after month, year after year.
A well-designed website is always on call, on all corners of the world, helping you rack up those sales asking for nothing in return but professional design.
Make inbound marketing work for you and invest in a professional website that is innovative and future-ready.
General FAQ
How much does a website cost?
A website can cost anywhere from $1,500 – $6,000 for a start-up business, to $8,000 – $80,000 for an established business. The cost of a startup business is cheaper because we use ready-made website templates, all we do is add in your content and photography. A custom website for established businesses involves a well-thought-out strategy, wireframes, designs, development, plugins, and man-hours to deliver a well-thought money-making lead machine.
What is the future of website costs?
The online world is ever-changing and so do the methods involved in building websites, the strategies required, the time needed to deliver a website, and the technology that goes into the structure of a website.
What if I can’t afford a website?
Luckily technology has advanced enough in today’s modern age to allow businesses an easier method of being able to afford a website redesign. The current shift in payment methods has moved towards a subscription-based model, this makes it affordable for both business owner and brings in a steady stream of income for the website designer.
How do I know when I need a new website?
The average life-span of a website is always changing, with advancements in technology and trends it is almost impossible to keep up.
Things to look for are:
– Is your website ranking on the first page?
– Is your website converting leads, generating inquiries, or making sales?
– Do your services represent your business today?
– Is your website aesthetically pleasing?
