How Much Does a Website Cost?
Hands down, your website is the foundation of your digital marketing strategy. When prioritizing where to start for the strongest impact in a digital marketing strategy, oftentimes addressing the website comes first, especially for businesses that are evolving and growing quickly.
Website projects can feel daunting to consider - from a time and team resources perspective as well as a cost perspective - and the immediate question for us from many considering a redesign is “What’s a ballpark cost?”
While we appreciate not wasting anyone’s time, it’s never quite as easy as throwing out a price range on the spot. There are many factors that go into a website project, a ballpark estimate is often doing a disservice to the strategy and the impact the new site will have. Here we break down some of the key questions and considerations when committing to a website redesign to help all parties prepare.
Why Redesign a Website?
It doesn’t have to feel so heavy if you believe in the “why.” Oftentimes SEO, refreshed content, social media management, email sends and advertising are assumed to be the top priorities - the distribution efforts to drive more visitors, and more leads! It may seem easier to dive into those tactics versus even considering a website project. As Entrepreneur points out, website design isn’t separate from these tactics. In fact, when considering SEO in particular, Google factors in much more of your website than you may realize. In order to be seen as relevant with Google and stand out more, here is what matters:
Mobile-friendly: While this may seem like a no brainer, some sites can get carried away with the amount of information they include on website pages making them not so mobile friendly Having a destination that is mobile-friendly will decrease bounce rates, increase conversion rates, and keep users and Google happy.
User-friendly: Meaning your visitors don’t have to fumble around or guess what you do. Guide them through your site, tell them exactly what you want them to do next, give them plenty of opportunities to get in touch, teach them about your differentiators with absolute clarity of your offering and who you serve.
Fast & Nimble: Page speed is key. If your website isn’t giving users what they need when they need it, Google notices. Balancing design, functionality and content with performance is important. You need to be able to easily create new pages and content and your site needs to be able to serve all your content quickly.
Now that we’ve reviewed a few of the top reasons to redesign your website, here is what to consider as you plan for the cost and the team.
What to Consider When Designing a Website?
Whether you are launching a new site or are looking to optimize and enhance your current web presence, it can be overwhelming to choose anything from a content management system to the team to best get the project done. Here are some key considerations when putting together your website project plan:
Branding & Custom Design Elements
The Basics: customizing an existing template with your logo, colors, fonts, imagery.
Advanced: working with a designer on a brand guide and a custom design to incorporate brand elements and/or using custom photography.
Sitemap & Number of Pages
The Basics: 5-20 pages across approximately 5 different page layouts including a blog.
Advanced: greater than 20 pages and greater than 5-page layouts as well as bringing over a lot of content from the previous site. The more content implementation and creation, the more time.
Content Management System
The Basics: a user-friendly interface to login and update and add website pages and easily manage other items such as forms and SEO.
Advanced: an interface to manage custom page layouts and custom tracking.
Functionality
The Basics: 1-3 website forms, SEO and analytics tools.
Advanced: any eCommerce and/or third-party integrations.
Technical Size & Scalability
The Basics: a fully hosted and supported platform without a need for an IT team or technical support or need for enhanced security and/or website and template updates.
Advanced: technical support needed for hosting and performance enhancements as the website grows and browsers, security needs, and algorithms change.
Ok, so really though, what would a ballpark recommendation be and what would you recommend?
Squarespace: For the basic options above, Squarespace is our preferred way to go. Especially for smaller businesses who are just launching and/or are looking for more of a portfolio site that can also scale to help with email, landing pages, smaller eCommerce, and integration options. Ballpark range: $3,500 - $7,500
Wordpress: For some of the advanced items above, and if you are a growing business and rely heavily on content creation and SEO, Wordpress may be a better option (or Shopify if you are predominately eCommerce). Whether you go with one of the robust templates on the market or a custom design, implementing on Wordpress will help you scale your pages and visibility. Ballpark range: $7,500+
Custom: If you need a custom design, custom integration and/or a robust amount of custom page layouts or functionality, you’re going to need the time and resources to do it right. Cutting corners in the short term could hurt you in the long term so ensure you have the right team in place - designer, developer, IT - to get the job done right. Ballpark range: $10,000+
Hopefully that helps as you put together your 2020 marketing budget and plans. Whether you are looking to take on the website project internally, or outsource, ensure you are working with a team who has launched a website before and asks clear questions and provides a timeline and launch plan upfront. We’d gladly help you get to just the right option for what we believe is hands down the foundation to your marketing strategy. Let your website be your top lead generation engine.