First of all, let’s get this out of the way… you need a website. Period.
And not just any ol’ website, but a great website with clear, crisp professional, easy to navigate design with superb user ability and functionality. Furthermore, you need a website that is just as easy for you to use administratively, as it is for your site visitors to use.
It doesn’t matter if you are a national corporate brand, a smaller brick and mortar with ‘plenty of business’, a brick and mortar with only local business, or an ice cream shop that only sells to people between 5′10 and 5′11 wearing baseball hats before 3 pm only… you still need a website! Your business can be broad or niche, it can be large or small, and despite what you may believe… you need a website!
Now, what does a website cost?
Like the businesses they represent, websites are not all created equal and serve various purposes, therefore they can vary greatly in cost as the level of design and functionality increases and becomes more complex to suit your company’s needs.
Basic Website - $2000
>$2000 A basic designed website, acting primarily as an online brochure to merely establish a necessary presence online to answer the questions ‘do you exist?’, ‘are you professional?’ and ‘what do you do?’, can be done for a mere market average of $2000. This website will not allow you to interact with your audience (social networking, blog), transact business directly through your site (ecommerce), or enable you to manipulate and update the pages and content within your site without hiring a web programmer/designer to do it for you(Content Management System does enable this for more $$$).
But the site will serve to help brand and market your company, showcase your products and services and inspire sales as a lead generating tool.
Unfortunately, the design of your website will be template at such low costs. This means that your site probably mirrors that of other sites on the web with similar design and structure.
With our firm, these sites will be CSS and XHTML Coded to allow your site to look the same on nearly every computer and will also be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) for greater natural search engine ranking success. But not all firms code the same and have SEO as a top priority. Also, web analytics are provided with every site we build to track and ensure your web success.
Custom Website - $3000-$7000
$3000-$7000 Custom designed websites, with all the aesthetic beauty that you can possibly envision, costs a market average of $5000. These sites are not very functional but are extraordinarily pretty and all design elements are created and designed specifically for your site and tailored to your market needs. These sites will still not enable audience interactivity, ecommerce, or content management. The sites cost is all due to the number of hours it takes to create beauty within the pages of your site.
The site will serve the same necessary purposes that a basic designed website will but will be far more aesthetically pleasing and custom to your businesses desires.
Again, with our firm, these sites will be CSS and XHTML Coded to allow your site to look the same on nearly every computer and will also be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) for greater natural search engine ranking success. But not all firms code the same and have SEO as a top priority. Also, web analytics are provided with every site we build to track and ensure your web success.
Content Management System (update it yourself) - $7000- $12,000
$7000- $12,000 Depending on the level of aesthetic design that is requested Content Management System (CMS) websites will run at a market average of $10,000. These websites are created with both functionality and design in mind, as you will receive both custom art design and mid level functionality including the ability to manage and update all content, images, and text contained within the pages of your site (infinite number of pages possible). With a CMS capable website, your site will have endless possibilities as a pluggable, flexible web application capable of adding additional features as you desire.
These websites are built with the idea that you will have a significant number of changes, additions or updates to be made to your site in the near future. Instead of being charged hourly rates to make such changes, a CMS system enables you to do a majority of the basic additions without prior coding or web designing knowledge.
Social interactivity with your site visitors is possible with a site of this caliber, as a BLOG will be present within your site enabling you to place posts of content that you believe is relevant and desired by your audience. Your audience can choose to respond to your blog posts and each others comments allowing for 2 dimensional interaction between you, your audience, and within your audience.
Some ecommerce and real state listing sites can be created within this price range depending upon level of functionality and design.
Also, sites of this caliber have varying prices with regard to design elements. These sites do have custom design work, but more expensive elements like Flash Art creation will affect pricing.
Again, with our firm, these sites will be CSS and XHTML Coded to allow your site to look the same on nearly every computer and will also be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) for greater natural search engine ranking success. But not all firms code the same and have SEO as a top priority. Also, web analytics are provided with every site we build to track and ensure your web success.
Anything Additional/Custom - $12,000- $100,000
$12,000- $100,000+< If you are looking for advance functionality including social networking, blogging, ecommerce, or any other web application topped off with the markets leading design elements, you should expect to pay a market average of $25,000! Like I said before, some ecommerce and web applicable sites can be created for less, while most successful ventures are created for much more.
Sites that have fallen in this price range include Facebook.com, Orkut.com, BestBuy.com, and WGCU.org to name only a few.
A site within this price range will be built and hand coded from scratch. That means your site is unlike any other and requires the attention and expertise of an experienced web application developer(s) and web site designer(s). A site that falls into this category requires months of market analysis, software research, consulting, database design and implementation, software development and integration, site quality assurance and testing. This is the mother load and it is priced accordingly.
I know what you are thinking, ‘who knew it was so expensive?’ And the only answer I can give is that web design and creation is like any other craft or trade and requires a high level of knowledge and expertise. Furthermore, with the rapid rate that technology and the internet is constantly changing, the gap is beginning to seriously widen between web amateurs and professionals. Can you still get a website for $500? Sure you can, but it will not display and operate like a professionally designed website will and it will be as ineffective and unsuccessful as the individual who designed it.
Need more? Read this.
Comments»
yea your right. I am actually guilty of charging only $2k for wordpress modifications. I guess I should be charging a lot more.
Thanks for the comment Victor. I appreciate you stopping by.
You should be charging what you feel is appropriate for the time you will spend on a given project. Consider the complexity of the work being rendered times the number of hours of the service. This should be a fair and honest way to estimate a project. Other factors may include: your level of expertise, your availability and projected completion date.
Here at Atilus, we charge $120/hour for Wordpress modifications, but the total estimate depends on the intensity of the modification.
I hope my article has helped you. Please feel free to email me at Scott@atilus.com should you have any other questions.
I agree with Scott on this one. Another note to take with you is that the hourly charge also reflects how many professionals are on the project. At a company like Atilus, you get a graphics professional for the design, dynamic language pro that can make just about any fancy things you request come to life, a marketing guy that can tell you how you’re site is going to make money, and not to mention a client rep that to channel all of this to the client.
Excellent point Devin!
The costs of developing a website and its subsequent marketing are not arbitrary and are affected by many factors that Devin was so kind to list for us.
A team of experts will most certainly cost more than a one man show. You have a collective effort of many talented individuals versus the limited talents and abilities of one, who cannot be expected to be an expert in all arenas of web development and internet marketing.
Not to mention, what if your web ‘guy’ dies?
I can’t believe that it would take a company apparently as professional as yours upwards of 12,000 to make a blog. Either you’re ripping customers off or you’re incompetant. One framework could be re-used thousands of times, saving you time and your customers money. Yes, each site needs its own modifications, but if you build a solid framework you can run pretty much anything off it.
Thank you for the comment Rick, but I don’t believe you thoroughly read my post, or you discontinued reading upon finding something that dissatisfied you. I will offer additional insight…
You’re right in saying that a blog should not cost $12,000. However, in our experience, we have noticed that most clients who desire blogging functionality also desire the ability to manage and manipulate their site, its contents and inventory if applicable (CMS- Content management System and shopping cart management- product import/export, shipping management, etc)). Furthermore, I never said that a blog alone would cost in excess of $12k, as I stated many features collectively would total that amount. A blog is an excellent feature and should be present in a site of such high caliber.
Additionally, we custom design our sites to suit the unique business needs of our clients, and all too often clients that understand the important benefits of and desire blogging functionality also desire far more intensive design elements than your template, sell by the dozen, approach could satisfy. Therefore they are provided with beautiful design that surpasses the designs you are suggesting.
You have to remember that the purpose of this post was merely to inform our audience of the approximate pricing structures of web sites and web applications. These numbers are not exact and are contingent upon and affected by many factors. These factors include but are not limited to needs, goals, time line, design, and functionality. Certainly you can find a blog online that is free, but that is all you will get- a skinned, lower level functioning blog without any additional features. These blogs are pluggable and flexible and that is where we as designers step in and make them so much more regarding both aesthetics and functionality to help companies service their clients in a unique way- as I don’t know of many ‘template’ companies so why use a template site to showcase your products, services and related opinions via blog.
Interesting read to say the least. I guess I should be charging more! Have passed this on to a few friends of mine.
Thank you very much James. I always appreciate the opinions of fellow web professionals.
This blog post has certainly created some controversial buzz, so if you or your fellow colleagues have any questions please feel free to ask, as I am always willing to provide additional information.
Haha, are you guys hiring? Because apparently I’m ripping myself off with what I charge clients….
Also, your last comment was really snarky, “Sure you can, but it will not display and operate like a professionally designed website will and it will be as ineffective and unsuccessful as the individual who designed it.”
Many professional designers don’t charge what you are charging and are able to create beautiful, rich and interactive websites and are anything but unsuccessful.
with so many designers saying that they are under charging, i’m fourced to wonder, how do you set your prices?
I am noticing that a majority of those commenting on this blog post are fellow web professionals, so I will address you all collectively.
Our prices, as previously mentioned, are dictated by many elements ranging from time line constrictions to level of desired functionality and design.
But perhaps what is affecting our prices compared to your own is that we are a design firm that has a very diversified and extensive portfolio showcasing expertness in design, web based application development, database development, SEO, PPC and so much more. We have professionals that only build databases, professionals who only create flash design, professionals who only manage Pay per Click marketing campaigns, and so on and so forth.
Unfortunately, as creative and talented as you may be, you can not deliver the products that we deliver as a one or two man shop. One or two individuals cannot have and maintain the level of expertise that is provided through a team of professionals.
Furthermore, I am noticing that many of you whom have commented are doing so from the UK.
Does anyone take into account the varying value of the dollar, especially versus the Euro?
We’re paying like $15 for a loaf of bread.
Ha ha ha …Im using the Dollar!
[...] my ever controversial blog post What does a website cost? has the web design community stirring… for various [...]
[...] What does a website cost? This is probably one of the best articles I have read on the subject. The article covers pricing for everything from basic website design to complicated CMS. It also addresses the differences in each type of design, as well as a rough outline of what the price includes and doesn’t include. This article is a must read for any web designer. [...]
Outlaw, thank you for including my blog post in your comprised list. I am honored that you enjoyed it so much.
I hope to serve our community well in educating proper pricing formats to ensure that fellow designers/programmers are paid appropriately when great service is rendered and quality products produced, as well as keep the consumer informed to avoid any misunderstandings due to insufficient knowledge in an all too mysterious market sector.
Thanx for this article. I knew before reading it, that I was charging too less, but after reading it I knew I was charging MUCH too less.
Thank you for the comment, Andris. But remember…
“…You should be charging what you feel is appropriate for the time you will spend on a given project. Consider the complexity of the work being rendered times the number of hours of the service. This should be a fair and honest way to estimate a project. Other factors may include: your level of expertise, your availability and projected able completion date.”
Other factors will also play a major role.
Thank you for writing this article it has really helped me come up with the prices for my new design business http://www.mfinch.ca
Thank you for stopping by Marshal, and I am happy to see that I have helped you to create proper pricing formats for your services.
If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to post them to this blog, and I will answer them timely.
I think it depends on who you are selling to. If you are trying to get a mom and pops business then you will have to charge a low fee but if you aim for bigger companies with deeper pockets then you can get away with robbing them blind.
The best way to charge someone is based on a hourly fee which you figure through a yearly salary break down and then figure out how long a project will take.
Find the salary for your position at Dice.com and Salary.com.
Divide the salary by the total number of billable hours you work annually. This means you need to subtract vacations, holidays, weekends, and the time you spend on sales. Essentially, if you aren’t doing direct work for a client, it you shouldn’t count it as “billable” time. Usually the number of billable hours will fall somewhere between 1200 and 1600 hours per year.
Add overhead to this hourly rate. If you’re a freelancer, multiply it by 1.5. If you’re a Web design shop that rents or leases office space, multiply by 2. This covers overhead such as computer equipment, insurance, office space, health insurance, and other unavoidable expenses.
Include a profit margin. The percentage that business owners typically add as profit, is usually 15% to 25% of the total rate.
I also really enjoyed reading this article, as it was very informative for someone like myself who is thinking about actually starting a business developing web sites. I also really appreciate how it was written in a very subjective matter, and think you did an excellent job of explaining exactly why it was that you were charging the rates you are charging.
Modemlooper- I certainly contemplated removing your comment, but I have decided to leave it up to make an example of you. I think your idea of price structuring is completely unprofessional and inappropriate. I would never recommend or condone price fabrication based on the income or budgetary allowances of your client. If your client is a ‘Mom and Pop’ shop, I would recommend scaling back the project to fit within their budget, or admittedly taking a profit loss to acquire the project.
As for a large scale corporate project, the price should be reflective of the projects caliber and expected time line. Your pricing should remain continuous despite the client.
As for your ‘yearly salary breakdown’, this may be a starting point for freelance designers or developers, but again pricing should not be contingent upon what you expect to earn in a year because frankly that doesn’t make a difference. What does make a difference is charging your clients appropriate fees for the appropriate services rendered.
Daryl Sites- Thank you for stopping by our blog, and I am very pleased to read that my blog has been educational in helping you formulate a pricing structure in your new business endeavor. I wish you the best of luck and if I can offer any additional assistance or advice, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks for a great post. I charge a bit less than this, but I’m also self-employed and work out of my home office. The majority of my clients are small businesses that dream big but don’t have the budgets to match. I help them find a solid compromise.
Thanks for writing an article on a topic that many design firms wouldn’t dare to touch on in a public forum.
I took a look at your site and recommend it to my visitors. I agree with you on the importance of becoming valuable in many different areas. I believe that it sustains any entrepreneur during challenges that inevitably occur.
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Kirth
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Despite some of the negative feedback, I find your prices exceptionally reasonable. I actually find pricing websites is largely dependent on the client and not necessarily a boilerplate price list. I also find that most independent designers severely undervalue their work in the interest of getting the work which ends up being counter-productive.
Our firm’s prices usually land at up to 25-50% more than your baseline, but our client base are typically agencies and medium size businesses. Unlike Modemlooper, it is not a matter of “robbing anyone blind” rather the valuation and price of the site is proportionate to the expectation and actual ROI. When we do a campaign for adidas, if it doesn’t perform, we may get the money the one time, but we’ll never again get the work and put our reputation and standing in jeopardy. It’s not really JUST about the website ever - when one puts together an effective website, the designer should be considering overall strategy and business objectives; and in our case, there are almost always measurements of success (response, metrics, ROI) which is as it should be.
Overall, I think the guideline is good and I certainly agree with your statement of charging the client appropriate fees for appropriate services rendered.
One thing I may add,web design is a SERVICE industry not a “retail” industry with set prices for items …
One mistake I see much of the industry making, especially independent designers, is that they tend not to charge for what amounts to specialised business consulting leading up to the website (assuming they are really doing their job as a designer and not simply being a production artist).
Thank you everyone for continuing to participate with your opinions on this blog, as we appreciate all candid comments and criticisms. I will address the last few comments:
- Janet, I am glad that you have enjoyed the post. We feel so strongly about proper pricing structures, even though pricing is contingent upon so many different elements, that this post seemed inevitably necessary and appropriate despite the faux pas. I am very happy to hear that you are finding realistic and afforable solutions for your clients. That is news I will tip my hat to.
- Kirth, thank you for the recommendations and agreeableness on diversifications. I would love to have a conversation with you about creative and strategic internet marketing methods; I am sure we could both learn a lot from one another.
- Vince, I would like to gather our entire team together, read your comment out loud and then cheer and clap loudly! Your agreeableness and added insight is very much appreciated.
I hope all of you come back often to engage in more conversation to aid in public education and overall awareness. I think we can all agree that getting designers all on the same page, as well as offering the consumer fair pricing and quality service accordingly will be beneficial for all.
Through time I came to the conclusion that most “standalone” designers tend to undervalue their work while the groups of designers tend to pump up the value of theirs. Reading this article and overall debate gave me a good sense of the middle ground in price/value ratio. Thanks to all
Thank you for stopping by and leaving your comment, Zeljko. We are all very happy to facilitate a better understanding of internet development pricing structures to ensure that designers are paid appropriately for their work and clients are receiving quality product reflective of cost.
Hi from Brazil. Very interesting and good article.
You did what others dont: Tell the PRICES!
Every article I read, most of them show you the INFAMOUS calculator of ‘How much you need of year?’, ‘divide for this’, ‘multiply for that’, ‘add 20% ans its your HOUR PRICE!
But many, forget to mention: A good PRO can do a site in less hours, and AMATEURS/WANNABE can take 1.000 hours for a UGLY/CRAP site. Its INJUSTICE!
I believe that an AGENCY has more professional envolved, more costs, so the PRICE is natural to be HIGH than most FREELANCERS!
For example, I am producing a website for a USA Travel Agency for US 1.600 Including an mini ADMIN for text.
But the medium Charge in Brazil is a 1.000/1.200 US for a Site.
Your article was very utile for my next Overseas Negociations.
And at last, Each client vary from one to one, although in the same niche, a good PRO must define what is the better soluction, and not start scratching without Consulting and Planning.
Keep it Up Scott!
Flavio, thank you very much for the compliment and for adding your personal insight. I am happy to see that our message is reaching international eyes. I wish you all the best in your endeavors, and I hope you experience all the prosperity you deserve.
I find the debate very interesting. I feel that I am under paid at my current job just like everyone… But I am making around $10K more than I was 3 years ago… why? Because I continued to strive to be a better employee. This is funny because I started freelance designing about two years ago and was horrible at it! I under charged my clients and since they were not investing REAL money into the project, they felt as if it never REALLY needed to be complete. Most of the projects I took on ended at the retainer. Legally, I had 25% of the total project cost, but I had no finished work to show for the hours haggling over small minute details of their site. It was a huge waste of time and a complete disaster.
I think its better to set the bar high, and if your clients value your work they will have no problem meeting it.
Thanks for your comment Paul. The freelance world can be challenging with on again off again relationships and constantly having to market yourself, do sales, stop to actually do the work, and then start all over again. I hope your business values your assistance and expertise!
I think a lot of the comments here are from small scale designers like myself. If you’re a big company and want the best of the best (which I feel you guys are), this is a fair estimation.
Everyone else, there’s a difference between you and this firm. I do $1000 websites with CMS and a few custom functions once in a while. But there’s defenitely a difference between me and these guys.
This article was very interesting, I’ll keep it in mind (might even abuse it to promote my rates.. Yes I’m that shameless), thanks for the perspective guys!
Having worked as a freelance web developer, mainly as a coder, and then as a designer/developer for a design shop, and then into Sales and Business Development Management, I found this article, and it’s comments, very enjoyable to read.
In my experience I’ve found the entire industry, especially the freelance area, tends to undervalue itself. In the end this under-valuation means that no-one is happy with the outcome, it’s effectively a lose lose situation. The designer/developer is try to get the job done as quickly as possible so they make some money on the job, the client is thinking they’re spending good money and the price and timeline is correct; unfortunately an unrealistic expectation.
The larger agencies can place themselves a little higher price-wise due to the range of professionals, and just numbers of resources at their disposal in order to get the job done. The level of confidence that the client receives as a result of a larger agency is much higher - and as a result the larger agency rates should be expected to be a higher.
Reducing risk for the client is the challenge of the freelancer. That doesn’t mean you drop your rate and cower before them saying “please sir can I have some more” oliver twist style. You should back your ability, your portfolio, and your track record providing quality.
Most importantly “Shut up and listen to what the client wants”. Then allow the time to provide the focus and design/development that the client deserves. Set your timeline accordingly, regardless of what you charge as an hourly rate.
If you’re happy with your hourly rate - great! You should be looking to set that commensurate with your experience. Just don’t ROB yourself of the hours it will take to actually get the job done.
My experience is that the client is always willing to pay for what they want. Yes, there’s always a little management required, the challenge is giving them what they want in either the timeframe that they want, or the timeframe that YOU set for the project. Most clients are willing to trust you to take their problem away from them and solve it, and will trust your opinion on the timeframe.
I suppose what I’m saying is Be Honest! This applies to the Agency environment as well. Both with yourself and the client. If you think a job is going to take 4 weeks - don’t say you can get it done in 2 weeks because the client is eager to get it done (which is always the temptation), and you think you can do some all-nighters and then have a week off. It doesn’t ever work out like that.
The client will appreciate your honesty, and then perhaps they’ll realise that perhaps they’re asking for too much to begin with, perhaps they need to break this into stages, scale the site back to something more within their budget….etc. etc.
The best thing you can do as a freelancer or one or two man show is to “Partner Up”. Find other designers/developers, get out there in the community and either find people in your area, or online, or perhaps even an agency. Have people you can hand off work to and work together with. Partners can help you out with work, but the best spin-off is that they can provide opportunities that you’ll never be aware of. A 30 minute meeting with an Agency or just a couple of like minded freelancers could provide you with more opportunities for work than you’ll ever find yourself.
Let your client know that you have other resources at your disposal, that you have partners.
I know this has been a bit of ramble - so I’ll wrap it up.
The short story here is, Be Honest on the timeline for the project, charge a rate you’re happy with, and then deliver! The cost will be secondary to the client, because their problem is solved, they’ve exactly what they wanted and you’re a superstar in their eyes.
Easy isn’t it!?
Thanks Chris for the fantastic comment. We couldn’t agree with you more. In my follow up article I address your concerns regarding the freelance industry in more depth and feel you are spot on.
Hey I am an amateur web designer, and I plan on going back to school in spring. That being said, I don’t believe myself to be and “ineffective and unsuccessful individual.’
Wow, that all I can say at this point. I want to say thank you up front. Im going to think about it and post a bigger comment later. but i feel you are dead on on the pricing. now all i have to do is to get my customers to understand that too.