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How Much Does Web Design Cost?

how much does web design cost

How much does web design cost, anyway? Well, it depends on what you want out of your website.

If you look online, you’ll find all kinds of opinions on the average cost of website design services. Some say that the average costs evens out at a cool $6,760, while others argue that prices range from $12,000 to $150,000 (and if your range is going to be that large, why even give one).

Then, there’s a matter of definitions, with “web design” technically being a different service than “web development,” each with its own corresponding price ranges. That’s a whole other can of worms…

Let’s cut through the noise.

Having been slinging websites for over a decade, I’ve seen all kinds of price points. To help narrow down a web design price range, let’s start with a few assumptions.

  1. We’re talking about web design for a small business – maybe a lawn care company or a dental practice or a restaurant or an attorney. You get the idea.
  2. We’re not talking about custom web development (ie. spending $25k+ on building your own proprietary CMS for your website) because as a small business, you don’t need that.
  3. We’re not talking about going the DIY route through a platform like Squarespace or Wix. You’re not really paying for “web design” if you have to do it all yourself, right?

Keeping those three assumptions in mind, in my experience, you have four different options:

  1. “Rent” a website from an “online yellow pages” provider: $99 – $299/month.
  2. Hire an overseas web designer: $500 – $1,500.
  3. Hire a local freelancer or graphic designer: $1,500 – $3,000.
  4. Hire a web design or digital marketing agency: $3,000 – $20,000.

Now, let’s look into each of these options a bit further to explore their pros and cons.

1. “Rent” a website from a corporate provider ($99 – $299/month)

hibu rent website, How Much Does Web Design Cost?

Hibu is an option. Yellowpages is another.

Compared to the other price points, paying a hundred or a couple hundred bucks per month doesn’t seem so bad. Not at first, anyway.

Then, you realize you’re in a iron-clad contract, and these companies will fight tooth and nail to make sure you don’t end it. You might also realize that you don’t own any aspect of your website.

Still…

Companies like these get you up and running fairly quickly (albeit with a generic template). They also take care of everything, so you don’t really have to lift a finger.

Pros:

  • Cost. Easy entry point, though it obviously adds up over the years.
  • Completely “done for you” solution.
  • Get up and running quickly.

Cons:

  • You don’t own your website. I repeat: you don’t own your website. You’re renting it. Stop paying? It disappears. Rates go up and you don’t want to renew? By, by, Birdie.

There are other cons, but I feel like the first one is enough.

Would not recommend.

2. Hire an overseas developer ($500 – $1,500)

You probably have five emails in your SPAM folder right now advertising website design services from an overseas developer. Are they all scams? Surprisingly, no.

There are a ton of talented web design companies all around the world. Companies in Russia, India, Pakistan, and others charge surprisingly cheap rates (I’ve seen as little as $8/hour) for surprisingly technical and talented work. You can search on Upwork right now or post a job for free and have dozens of well-qualified, highly-review applicants within a couple hours. You’ll probably get a pretty decent product, too.

The problem?

A language barrier, for starters (and that’s no small detail with the complexities of a website design).

You’re also at the whim of your own expertise and vision. Typically, when hiring a freelancer, you’re making a value trade: you know what you want, and their job is to execute your vision.

But what if your vision is… wrong? What if what looks good inside your head looks terrible on a screen?

That’s not a freelancer’s fault – or, frankly, their job. Their job is to execute your vision.

Pros:

  • Surprisingly cheap, surprisingly competent work.
  • Posting a job on Upwork can get you dozens and dozens of applicants in mere hours.

Cons:

  • Language barrier can be difficult to overcome.
  • There’s a lot of digging to find the right person for your job.
  • You’re at the whim of your own vision.

It can be a lot of work to find the right vendor, but this is a surprisingly decent option.

3. Hire a local freelancer or graphic designer ($1,500 – $3,000)

Graphic designer

Think: a graphic designer in college, a person who does this work on the side, or your cousin’s son or daughter. You have options, and you can get some surprisingly good work out of freelancers.

The problem? You’re going to be writing all of your own content. You’re going to be providing your own images – or buying them yourself from a stock photo site. SEO? Forget about it. You’re also going to be responsible for telling your freelancer exactly what/how many pages your website needs.

“But I know exactly what I need”… you might be saying to yourself.

Maybe. But you don’t know what you don’t know.

If you’re just starting your business and want a cost-effective option to get a website up quickly, this option might be your sweet spot. It will likely look good, function fine, and won’t break the bank.

Pros:

  • Local freelancers are easier to work and collaborate with.
  • There are some really talented freelancers out there.
  • Doesn’t break the bank.

Cons:

  • You get what you pay for.
  • Hosting, images, content, and more are likely your responsibility.
  • General upkeep and making changes to your website can be a hassle.

If you’re looking for a cost-effective, quick, personable option to get a website up and running for a new business or brand, this can be an enticing option.

4. Hire a web design or digital marketing agency ($3,000 – $20,000)

Local Sight - web designers

If you’ve been in business any length of time, this is likely the range of cost you should be paying for your website. But here’s the thing… $3,000 to $20,000 is a very big range. Not super helpful for a blog post about website prices, right? Well, hold on a second…

If you’re getting quotes from different companies for your new website, start to look at the value you’re getting for those prices. Because you’re going to run into a common problem: there are companies who can build you a stellar website for $3,000, and there are companies large enough that they can charge you $20,000 for the exact same thing, or even a website of lesser quality.

In my opinion, “website design” (aka, how pretty a website is) is completely subjective, while a website that kicks butt, generates leads, and makes your life easier as a business owner is completely objective.

Here’s what makes a website objectively better:

  • Content. Websites with more content (service pages, service area pages, useful blog posts, project pictures, etc.) almost always generate more traffic. That’s a fact. You need more content than you think.
  • Digital footprint. Few “web design” agencies will offer this, but any digital marketing agency worth their salt should. A digital footprint encapsulates everywhere your business information is found online, such as listing on local business directories (Yelp, Yellowpages, etc…), GPS listing websites (Mapquest, Apple Maps, etc…) or social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc…). If you want to be found online, your website needs a digital footprint. A “web designer” who includes a digital footprint in their cost to build you a website is objectively better than one who doesn’t.
  • Headache-savers. Does the contact form on your website plug into your CRM? Do your Facebook posts automatically appear on your website? Can you take a picture of a job site on an app on your phone and have it automatically uploaded to your website? These “headache-savers” are things most business owners don’t think of. If your “web designer” includes them on your website, they are objectively better than a designer who does not.
  • Website speed. All that beauty comes at a cost. Is your website slow, or does your designer guarantee a speed benchmark? Did you even know how harmful a slow website can be to your business? Again, this is an objective qualifier.
  • SEO. Your website doesn’t include SEO, because SEO is an ongoing service comprised of building content on your website and links to that content. Every designer you come across will list “SEO” as a feature on your website. What they really mean (if you’re lucky) is that the pages they build will be optimized for (hopefully) keywords related to what you do. And that’s the easy part.

Put simply, more = better.

If you’re at this stage in your business, you likely don’t just want a pretty website – you want one that drive consistent, quality leads. Having tons of content, a large digital footprint, “headache-savers,” an emphasis on website speed, and a basic understanding of SEO will get you pretty far in that endeavor.

Pros:

  • A good agency will tell you what you need, not just give you what you want.
  • Everything is handled: content, images, hosting, domains, etc…
  • Still surprisingly cost-effective if you focus more on value than good looks.

Cons:

  • Design or branding agencies charge top dollar for minimum page count. (This can technically not be a con. If you are solely focused on brand-building, a design or branding agency could be your best bet).
  • Tons of choices makes it hard to narrow down a good fit.
  • The priciest option.

A web design or digital marketing agency should be focused on guiding you, advising you, and giving you what you need (which, sometimes, isn’t necessarily what you think you want). They should be a partner. Find a good one, and it’s like marriage – you’ll never need to go courting other options ever again.

What do we charge for website design?

Generally speaking, we work on projects within the $5,000 to $15,000 range.

We’ve done smaller projects, and bigger ones, too.

If you’d like to dip your toe in the water to see what we can do, book a free digital marketing diagnosis.

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