How much does a website generally cost? Pricing your web project depends on many factors. This is why you need a starting point and the best way to find it is to set a budget.
Everyone who builds a website will have his or her own approach, pricing structure, and cost. A few designers might include things that others will not – one of the examples being content.
You can try by taking your web project outline and asking ten designers to quote on it. You will find that you can get different figures that vary wildly.
There is only one way for you to get around this and that is to set up a budget for your project.
Example #1
- Prospect: What will be the price if I want a brand new website?
- Agency: Can you please specify the type of website are you looking for?
- Prospect: You can suggest some ideas, but how about 20 pages, including WordPress CMS, and having CRM Integration. Moreover, we would like you to include a few videos too.
Example #2
- Prospect: How costly will it be to buy a new laptop?
- Laptop Salesperson: What specifications of laptop are you looking for?
- Prospect: How would a high-end laptop with 4/6 GB RAM, two TB Hard Disk Space, and the latest processor sound? However, you can also suggest any other ideas.
The salesperson can start by offering you a decent laptop for 500 euro. Then, again, they could also offer you a high-end 3000 euro laptop having much better specifications. Hence, at the time of purchasing a new laptop, you need to have a budget in mind. You might want to spend all the money because the more money you spend, the more benefits you will get. However, that does not mean you go out of the way to spend all of it.
Yet, in this technology-oriented world, clients rarely declared their web project budget. It does happen occasionally but established businesses with marketing expertise rarely do so. This often happens in the hope that they might get better value in the long term.
Now that you are dealing with two very different things – one is a website, and the other is a laptop. The analogy works as the number of variables of these products influence the cost greatly. Not to mention the fact that in the web development world, there are many approaches to solving the same problem. You can use different technologies and solutions, but all of them will influence the cost.
The list of specifications and accessories when you are buying a new laptop can span into many pages. The same case applies for a website too. On top of that, websites will host variables that clients might not understand or might never see. A customer will have to pay extra for an external mouse or a keyboard because they can physically see it. However, try to sell the importance of certain necessities to a client having little understanding of web technology. They will struggle. This level of complexity surrounding design and development alone can influence the project’s cost enormously. Moreover, all this is before you even go into the backend systems architecture, speed, and scalability.
However, if you clearly tell your budget to the agency, they will find out the best possible solutions. Most of the agencies will bill you for their time. The more time you want, the more you will need to pay. Therefore, you will to set a budget and spend accordingly to reach an appropriate solution.
If you do not tell your laptop salesperson how much you are willing to spend, their efforts might go to waste. Imagine them having to spend a good chunk of time explaining you the ins and outs of a laptop worth of 3000 euro when your budget was less than 1500 euro. No agency would want to be in such a situation.
Advice to everyone who is looking to procure a web design project
- First, declare a budget for the project because when it comes to creating proposals, agencies are swinging in the dark.
- Share the project’s budget and demand proposals with the agencies. They will clearly break down all the areas where you need to log the time and cost. You should select an agency that has a high motivation to deliver targeted and focused proposals. Additionally, they should also provide optimal solutions, smoother running projects, and projects that offer you the best ROI on spend.
- In case you have any concern that the agency is just trying to defraud you, discard them. Similarly, if you feel the website is trying to get as much cost out of you as possible, discard them immediately. You should choose an agency based on reputation, experience, client testimonials, and record of accomplishment.
- Trust is the key factor to a long-lasting, successful, and prosperous client-agency relationship.
