How much should you spend on the development of your website?
I always relate this question to purchasing a home. With a home, you have so many options. Do you want a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom studio, or a large estate home or somewhere in between?
The same goes for website development costs. Below I break down price ranges and what you can expect form each. But, my suggestion as with anything in life, is to expect to get out what you put in – meaning, if you hire the cheapest developer, I hope you’re not expecting a whole lot in return in the form of ROI (return on investment).
On the flip side, if you hire a web development firm with years of experience and a proven track record, you better expect a great ROI.
Under $2,000
If you have a budget of $2,000 I would strongly consider a DIY (do it yourself) website builder platform. If you do hire a website designer in this price range they will most likely be a freelancer, and freelancers bring risk. Yes, there are some amazing freelancers out there that provide a ton of value. But, the reality is, there are more freelancers that will not provide a good product and/or experience because they either don’t have the skill sets required, or they don’t have good intentions.
Below are some great DIY website builder platforms we suggest:
- WIX
- Squarespace
- Shopify – for ecommerce websites
$2,000 – $5,000
In this price range, you have the budget to hire a company to design and build a small brochure website. By brochure website I mean a website that is basically a brochure of your business.
An example sitemap of a brochure website:
- Home page
- Services or products page
- About page
- Reviews, testimonials or case study page
- Blog
- Contact page (with a contact form and interactive directions map)
Typically, in this price range, you will be hiring a smaller local web development company. The end-product most likely will not be a custom web development project and that is okay. The company may work from a template or work with a website builder software. The goal is to have the content that your target audience needs displayed professionally online.
$5,000 – $10,000
Honestly, in this price range your budget allows you to build about the same type of website as the previously mentioned range, but you can hire a more established company. Maybe this company has been around longer, has a more experienced staff or works with larger companies.
E-commerce starts to become an option at this price range. The expectations for your e-commerce website should be out of the box turnkey solutions. You are paying for the experience to set up your online store correctly, which will save you time, money and headaches.
$10,000 – $30,000
Now you have the buying power to really pick and choose a great company you want to work with. If you are hiring a well-established agency, you still may be looking at a brochure type website. If you are looking at a smaller company, you can expect some custom development in this price range.
Some examples of custom web development projects:
- Database driving solutions – membership websites with permission roles and monthly paying options.
- 3rd party integrations – maybe you are integrating your website with a 3rd party backend database to pull user or product data into your front facing website.
- Complex custom forms
- Custom modifications to an e-commerce solution
$30,000 – $100,000
This is a legitimate budget that allows you to develop an industry leading website. In this price range, you are defiantly working with a well-established, possibly award winning, firm.
Example web development projects that cost between $30,000 – $100,000
- Large e-commerce websites
- Web progressive websites (We believe this is the future of the web because your website can act as both a front facing website and an app.)
- Industry leading websites based on design and user experience
- Custom web development solutions
$100,000+
If you have a budget of over $100,000, you are typically hiring the cream of the crop. Most likely you need some custom solutions that would require a team of developers. The sky is the limit!
I hope this helps you determine what to expect based on your web development budget. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns when pricing your next website project!
