As website designers we’re often asked “how much does a website cost?”.
A pretty accurate answer for this is “the same as a car”.
That of course doesn’t help much; you can buy a cheap second hand car for £250, or could easily spend over £200,000 if you’d prefer a Lamborghini … so quite a range.
Making a few assumptions and generalisations here, a half decent ten year old car may cost from £1,000 – £2,000, or you could buy an average nearly new one for £10,000 - £20,000; the £250 and £200,000 examples are extremes.
Websites are similar; yes you can get one made for £250, in fact there are even website generators that will build you one for free, and yes you can easily spend £200,000 if you have a complicated specification. The vast majority however are likely to cost between perhaps £1,000 and £20,000 … the same as a car.
When buying cars there certainly isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution. That’s why some people prefer SUVs, or 4x4s, other prefer sports cars, hatchbacks, supercars or estates. Buyers make decisions as to what they main requirements are, whether that is the number of seats, speed, safety, economy or comfort.
Buyers also have a budget in mind, and once they’ve decided on a type of car need to choose the manufacturer and optional extras. If they opt for a Kia its likely they’ll get a far cheaper deal that if they were to buy a similar model from Mercedes. Of course they’re certainly not buying like-for-like, and it’s the little extra touches that Mercedes will add that make the car better quality and arguably worth the extra money.
Back to websites again; there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, and before a website designer can advise on a solution they need to know what the client’s main requirements are.
Once the requirements are outlined in a project brief a web designer can start to arrive at a solution, but there are still lots of options available. It’s all of the extra detail and optional extras that can make a website higher quality, more effective, and more expensive.
It’s therefore useful to website designers to have an idea of a client’s budget as well as their requirements before determining a price because, as with cars, usually the website can be adjust to meet the budget.
If you go to a BMW dealer and ask them to recommend a car, it would make sense that they recommend a BMW even though it may not be the best choice for the client, after all that’s what they know and sell on a daily basis. The same can be said for web designers; if a web designer only makes WordPress websites for example, it’s likely they’ll recommend a WordPress website even if it’s not best for their client.
It’s therefore important to speak to a web designer who has experience with different platforms and makes websites for different types of budget; that way you can be confident that any solutions have been carefully selected from the whole of the market.
It’s also important for clients not to compare websites on price alone; especially If the price has been given from a brief specification such as “how much is a ten page website?”. If you phone up Kia and ask “how much is a five door car?” they may reply “£8,000”, whilst Mercedes may reply “£22,000” and Porsche “£55,000”. So by comparing price alone, the Kia seems best value, but this may not be the case.
This concept is similar with clothes, houses, appliances, mobile telephones, computers ... and websites; you get what you pay for.
So if you ask a website designer “how much is a ten page website?” they may give you an indication of price, but should ask questions about the purpose of the website, what it is expected to do, what budget you have, how it will be marketed, who the audience are, and possibly even suggest a meeting to discuss this with you.
Only when the web designer has this essential information can they begin to create a solution, provide a price, and typically let their client know how they are likely to recoup the upfront cost from sales in the future.
We are Webbed Feet UK, are website designers in Salisbury, Wiltshire and have been making effective websites since 2001. If you would like discuss any website build with us, from a one page brochure to a large bespoke website build, then please do not hesitate in getting in touch.