How Much Does Website Development Cost? Factors and Considerations
Do you own a business? If yes, you need a business website.
This is not an exaggeration. We mean it. We live in an era where people use search engines to get information on products or services before they buy them. Having a website is a must to reach out to your potential customers.
Do you know that an average Internet user visits 130 web pages per day in the US?
For example, you sell shoes. When a potential customer planning to buy shoes checks on the internet about shoe sellers, you must be there. If he does not find you, he will visit the first search result on the search engine.
You just have lost a customer. Can you deal with it? That's why you need a website.
However, more than just going for website development. Ensure you develop a scalable, impressive, and feature-rich website that adds value to visitors' lives. An average customer takes only 50 milliseconds to form an opinion about a website.
A rich, engaging, and user-friendly can address many issues at once. Let's find out why a business needs a professional website.
Why Do You Need a Website?
There are various reasons why you should have a business website. Having an online presence is crucial in today's tech-driven era. Not just that, but it will be one of the critical factors that will determine the success of your business.
Even if you own a small business, you need a website. A study states that the absence of a website costs small businesses 70-80% of potential customers.
Let's check out some reasons why you need a website.
#1. Credibility
You can earn credibility for your business with a website. You have competitors who sell similar products or services. You can get a competitive edge with a user-friendly website that helps you communicate directly with your customers.
Also, a business without a website will infuse doubt in people's minds about your legitimacy. You can make an excellent first impression with a well-designed website.
#2. Brand
A website allows you to turn out as a reputed brand. Offering details like who you are, what you stand for, and what you can help people know about you and your offerings. A website would only allow you to convey your journey and offerings to your target audience.
#3. Traffic
Even a well-optimized SEO strategy needs a website. In an era of cut-throat competition, designing and implementing an SEO strategy is a must to drive more traffic and genuine leads to your website. However, to achieve that, you have to go for website development. A well-optimized website will secure the top ranks on search engines and show up when users type a relative search query.
#4. Customer Support
With a website, you can also serve your customers meaningfully. For example, you must get calls about working hours, location, and other queries. A website can help people find all the information they seek without disturbing you.
#5. Updates and Announcements
Your website is your online shop that stays open 24/7. You can post updates and announcements there for your customers. Keep them updated with essential sales offers, discounts, and other key news. They will pick relevant offers to make purchases.
What Are the Benefits of Developing a Website?
Let's check out why businesses should go for web development.
➤ Look Professional
As we discussed, people will question your legitimacy if you don't have a website. With a website, your business will look more professional. Developing a well-designed and user-friendly website will encourage people to take you seriously. It is very crucial for small businesses. It would be easier for a small business to be considered serious with a website.
➤ Become an Industry Influencer
A website offers you a unique opportunity to become an industry influencer by sharing valuable information on various industry topics. A website lets you share your knowledge and expertise with your target audience. In the long run, people will turn to you for specific information. You will be able to become an industry influencer without spending a dime.
➤ Build Your Brand Recognition
All marketing materials must have your website address to inform people about it. It can help you create your brand's reputation and recognition.
Even if people want to avoid buying from you, sharing your website address will be the first step to engaging them. What if they suddenly need to buy a product? Your marketing material will be there in front of them.
➤ Improve Your Online Visibility
There are many use cases where businesses have closed their bricks and mortar shops and gone online. Go online with your offerings and reduce overhead costs to a significant margin. Not just that, you can offer products at lower rates when you don't have any overheads to pay. It will give you a competitive edge.
➤ Promote your Bricks and Mortar Locations
You can increase foot traffic to your physical shop by adding location details to your website. Search engines will pick up information such as store locations, addresses, working hours, and phone numbers. A study reveals that 75% of local mobile searches result in offline store visits.
➤ Add Awards, Reviews, and Testimonials
Furthermore, you can add positive reviews, testimonials, and awards to your website to distinguish yourself from your competitors. Did your business receive any awards recently? Promote it on your website. Have you received some good testimonials? Add them to the website and enjoy the limelight.
➤ Expand Your Target Audience
Penetrate those unexplored territories with a business website. Let them find you through a website. Break geographical barriers with a promising website and accelerate your business growth.
Why is it Difficult to Estimate the Website Development Cost?
When it comes to estimating website development costs, it is challenging even for reputed website development companies.
Now, you might find hundreds of articles online stating figures, but they need to be more accurate and need more concepts of developing a website and factors that determine the cost of website development.
For example, you have decided to build a new home. The first question will be what will be the cost. You must find the answer, as the home development cost depends on many factors. Factors such as the locality, floor area, outdoor space, interior, furniture, and many others determine the total cost of building a home.
Similarly, various website development factors determine the cost. We will discuss them in detail in this post.
However, let's assume website development costs.
For a small website with essential features and limited pages, the total cost would be $2,000 to $10,000.
On the other hand, developing a website with advanced features and functionalities will cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $95,000.
Factors That Affect the Website Development Cost
Here is a list of factors that might influence the cost of developing a website:
#1. Website Type
Various types of websites might determine the cost of a website. For example, an e-commerce website will need more advanced features and functionalities. It might cost you more. On the other hand, a simple personal blog website might not cost you much. Some different website types are landing web pages, corporate websites, educative websites, social media websites, catalog websites, community websites, etc.
#2. Website Design
Website design plays a pivotal role in determining website development costs. If you have design templates ready, it might not cost you much. However, if you want to create a unique design, you should spend more. Hire a web design company offering high-quality and impressive web design services to meet your expectations and requirements.
#3. Number of Pages
How many pages do you want to develop for your website? The number of pages will also determine the cost of your website. For example, an ecommerce website with hundreds of pages will incur more expenses compared to a corporate website with a few pages.
#4. User Interface and User Experience Design (UI/UX)
User interface and user experience are two primary factors that will determine the success of your website. Both are very crucial to get more traffic and drive more conversions. Invest some time in researching before you start designing the user interface. It might take one to two weeks to complete the UI/UX phase and cost you up to $1,000 to $4,000.
#5. Integrated Payment Systems
Another factor is integrating payment systems into your website. Here, you will need to ensure security by taking security measures. However, most secure payment measures are taken care of by payment service providers. You should secure your website with features like SSL and others.
#6. Domain Registration and Hosting
You need to purchase a unique domain name for your website. Also, you will need hosting services. Though you can manage hosting in-house, businesses prefer to outsource hosting services to keep headaches away. You will need to pay for domain registration and hosting services.
#7. SEO
Search engine optimization is a digital marketing technique that brings genuine traffic and leads to your website. Some white-hat SEO activities are on-page and off-page website optimization, content writing, image optimization, meta tags and description, keyword research, etc. If you need an in-house SEO team, you must outsource it to a company.
#8. Language Versions
Having a multilingual website has its perks. Do you want to develop web pages that can also be translated into other languages? If you are into international business, it might be a smart move. However, you might need to pay additional fees for content creators.
#9. Front-End Development
Front-end development is all about the visual touch point and the interface that users interact with. The front-end development also includes the responsiveness of the website and the use of animations and other graphics.
#10. Backend Development
The website's backend determines the smooth functioning of the website. When a user clicks on any button in the interface, the backend or server-side triggers actions based on the inputs. The main cost-influencing factors are third-party integrations, complex queries, and data processing tasks.
#11. Content Management Systems (CMS), Development
You must develop CMS software to create a dynamic website with regular content updates. It will allow you to create, upload, edit, and manage your content regularly. You can use existing CMS engines, such as WordPress, Drupal, and Shopify, or develop a custom CMS that might cost you more.
#12. Outsourced Web Development Company Location
Sometimes, the location of the company you have hired will also affect the total website development costs. For example, if you have hired a foreign web app development company, it might cost you more compared to an American company.
What Are The Considerations to Think of While Developing a Website?
Randomly going for website development is not recommended. You will need to consider various things before starting the website development process. Let's discuss these considerations.
#1. Branding of Your Website
The first thing you must consider is your business's branding. Make sure that your website represents your brand in all ways. It will help attract more customers and also contribute to your ROI.
From your business logo to color schemes, fonts, design, and other elements must have uniformity to create a brand tone. Also, your website content and other elements must convey a clear message. When visitors land on your website, they should be able to understand what your business is all about instantly.
#2. Usability
Having a user-friendly website is very crucial. They will not even think before abandoning your website if they find it too cluttered and unfriendly. The website should be easy to navigate with proper headers, labels, and a search bar. Also, it is significant that your website is mobile-responsive.
#3. Security
You also need to think of your website's security. Cyber attacks are prevalent, and you must take all the measures to avoid such attacks and data breaches. Strengthen your website's security by eliminating security vulnerabilities and mitigating risks.
#4. A Solid SEO strategy
Think of a comprehensive SEO strategy in advance to guide developers to build a website accordingly. SEO helps in driving traffic and genuine organic leads to your website. Hire the best SEO company to design and implement an SEO strategy and design and optimize your website accordingly.
#5. Features and Functionalities
Which features and functionalities do you want to add to your website? You need to consider it before the actual development process starts. Discuss with your core team and list all the features and functionalities you want to add to your website.
#6. Clean and Uncluttered Design
The design of your website plays a crucial role. Your website's design must offer a seamless user experience to your visitors. Research reveals that 89% of visitors leave a website due to bad or poor user experience.
Ensure you have a clear, concise, and uncluttered website design with proper font, layouts, and images.
#7. CTAs
Placing proper Calls to Action is crucial for conversions. A study reveals that 70% of small businesses need CTAS on their websites. Ensure that your website has proper CTAs that can drive more conversions.
#8. Active Blog Page
Having an active blog with regular posts can help in SEO. Google loves websites with dynamic blog pages. Come up with original, valuable, and engaging information to woo your audience. You can post the latest industry trends, news, and other information. Also, you can post about your current offers, discounts, and additional business-related information.
#9. Mobile Responsive
Do you know that over 50% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices?
What if you don't have a mobile-responsive website? Are you okay with losing 50% of visitors who will visit your website but won't take appropriate action? Ask the web designer to design a responsive website.
#10. Comprehensive Site Map
Design a comprehensive sitemap that helps visitors navigate your website smartly. When you add new pages to your website, revise the sitemap.
#11. Original Content
Your website's content not only helps people understand your offerings but also helps search engine crawlers to understand the website. Crawlers will rank your website accordingly on SERPs. You must have highly engaging, original, and valuable content on your website to encourage visitors to take proper action. Hire the best content writing service provider to write your website's content.
Conclusion
Having a website is a must thing in today's era. However, just designing a website will not serve the purpose. You must develop a responsive, scalable, feature-rich, and user-friendly website.
Website development costs depend on many factors, such as features, website types, SEO, front-end and back-end development, domain, and hosting. Ensure you discuss all these factors in detail with the website development company you hired.
Also, consider various factors, such as sitemap, content, mobile responsiveness, usability, security, etc., before kickstarting your project.