How Much Should You Spend on a Website?
Whether your business operates offline or online, it’s crucial to build and maintain a website in today’s digital world. How much should a website cost, though?
A website is and should be an investment into your business or organizations growth. A tool to represent your online presence. There’s a stark difference between investment and cost and there are many variables that must be addressed in order to determine the proper investment for a website.
When deciding on how much to invest in a website, some things you may want to consider are: what is the goal of the website? Who is your demographic? And What specific functions does you website need?
The answer to each of these questions will significantly impact how much money will need to be invested into building a website that accurately represents your business and does what it’s needs to.
On average, the upfront cost of a site, which includes launching and designing it, is $12,000 to $150,000, while routine website maintenance ranges from $35 to $5000 per month — or $400 to $60,000 per year.
Even a basic site has many crucial aspects to be considered and worked out. Web developers know this – problem is, most clients don’t, and I understand that. Before I got into website design, I was baffled when I learned what companies were charging for web design. I also didn’t understand how many levels and complexities went into a successful website. It’s the designers job to better educate clients, without boring them on these crucial details. So you see – there are many variables to consider and to work out before answering the question; “How much does a website cost?”
I hope this gives a better understanding to those who don’t know much about website design and I hope that it gives developers the motivation and encouragement to better educate your clients.
