How Much do Web Site Design Services Cost?
The overall costs of your website’s development will largely depend on what type of website that you are looking for. While you may be able to obtain a simple, template-based website that includes five pages of content for $1000 to $2000, a custom designed site or a complete ecommerce system with all the bells and whistles can easily set you back $5,000 to $50,000 or maybe even more. Quite simply, Time is Money, the more time and effort that a web site design company has to put into your website’s development, the more money it is going to cost you.
Factors that increase the costs of a web design project
Several factors can lead to higher costs with web design:
1. The web design company that you choose - Website design is not a regulated industry; web designers are able to dictate their pricing without considering the going market rate for these types of services. If a particular company is well established, caters to a specific industry, or has an impressive client list to back them up, chances are you are going to pay more with them than a small startup company.
2. Optimization and marketing - If you want your website to be “search engine friendly” or are receiving some form of marketing with your website development package, chances are this will increase your overall costs.
3. Flash web design - Using flash to develop a website requires much more effort than cookie-cutter template modification services require. While flash is nice and it can give your website a unique visual appeal, you can expect that to pay extra for these types of services.
4. All-inclusive e-commerce systems - Often times, these types of web design packages offer everything you need to get started online. You will often find search engine optimization, web marketing, web hosting, and credit card processing capabilities included in these packages. While these all-inclusive systems are not cheap, they do offer a mostly hands-off approach to running an online storefront and in exchange for the increased fees, you are relieving yourself of a lot of responsibility by having your web design company handle most of these details.
Generally speaking, template-based websites will require a flat-rate, one-time fee, custom design work, programming and flash web design services will generally be charged by the hour and all-inclusive e-commerce web site design will require a little bit of all of the above with a monthly fee tacked on as well.