A website is “the face” of your business, and you want to ensure that you consider every factor to get the best result possible. One of those important factors is budget. Most owners, before starting their business online, will ask this question, how much does it cost to build a website?

If you have that question in your mind, you are in the right place. This article will help you understand the methods and costs of building a great website for your business.

Feel free to jump to any section to learn more about how much it costs to build a website.

Key Factors That You Need to Consider:

Before building a website, you need to know the key factors that directly influence the price of a website. It is important to remember that there are various factors that affect the price of building a website. It can be difficult to pinpoint each factor, but the following key factors help you understand the overall framework of building a website.

The Nature of the Business:

All businesses differ in one way or another. For example, if your business is more related to data analytics or is data-driven, the variables and dependents are entirely different from that of an eCommerce business. It is better to establish the fixed nature of your business. If you want to get an estimate of each variable and dependent cost for your website, there are a lot of free estimate costs available online. 

*You can check Websitecostcalculator to get an estimate for your website.

NOTE: The application can give you the estimated amount, not the exact amount. This is helpful in getting an idea of what variables can cost on average.

Domain Name:

The second important factor you need to consider is the “domain name.” A domain name is a unique name that comes after “www.” and before “.com.” According to Forbes, the general price of a domain name can cost you from $5 to $50/year. Same as the whole website, domain name prices can vary based on a few of the following factors:

• TLD (Top-Level Domain) – TLD is an extension of your domain name. For example, xyz.org is the website, and the TLD is “.org.” But .org is a well-established TLD, similar to “.com.” These well-established TLDs tend to cost more than other TLDs. Some cheap TLDs are .xyz, .info, and .me.

• Domain Registrar – A domain registrar is a business that provides license domain registration to users. Go-daddy and NameCheap are one of the best domain registrars in the market. Different registrars offer various packages. It is better to research the best domain registrar and ensure they offer the service you need for your website.

• Privacy – Anonymity is one of the most important aspects of a website. For domain registration, the consumer is required to provide personal information. You need to make that beyond the reach of your end-user. With a fixed price (mostly included in the package), the domain registrar provides a feature that helps you maintain your presence’s anonymity and mask your personal information.

The Functionality of Your Website:

The most important part of your website is how it functions. Your online business solely depends on the functionality of your website. This functionality is one of the huge price-deciding factors in creating a website. If you want more functions for your website, then the cost of the building becomes considerably high. All the functions are related to user experience, so deciding which functionality is more integral to your business and which are optional add-ons before building your website is recommended. 

For example, if your business is data-driven or data analytics, a subscription service is an integral part of your business. You can add this functionality to your website. Integrations like Zoho Subscription (starts at $99/mo) and PayRequest (need to contact the service for pricing offers) offers subscription service to a domain.  

More complex websites need custom programming to maintain a large pool of data in the database. In those cases, hiring a professional programmer (web developer) to create custom code to handle any complicated architecture in the back end is necessary. 

The Size of Your Website:

Next to your website’s functionality, your website’s size matters. As you know, many variables and dependencies are involved in website design and development. For one page, including 10+ functionality can be quite challenging and time-consuming. Then think about implementing all those functionalities for 100s of pages. The sheer size of your website can be a substantial deciding factor for the price of your website. 

The best example of this factor is an eCommerce website. An eCommerce website generally has 10 pages or more, depending on the selling products. The average design cost for an eCommerce website can vary from *$5000-$7000.

NOTE: *The cost to build a website is determined using the websitecostcalculator.

Website Hosting and Maintenance:

Website hosting is purely based on the type of business that you are planning. For example, choosing a dedicated hosting service is best if your business is purely online. This means server hosting is dedicated only to your business and not shared with another hosting. This can be a great advantage to your business since it can hold onto its own during sudden high traffic and website security. Because it is a dedicated server, hosting costs are considerably higher.  

If you are a small business and want to save money, shared hosting is the best option for you. It has low maintenance costs and is best suited for hosting a website with fewer pages and smaller sizes.

Without proper maintenance, your website will not stand in the group. Regular maintenance is crucial for your website to maintain its integrity and ensure all the functions are engaged properly. It is of utmost importance to include maintenance in the budget of your website creation. Many tasks are involved, such as monitoring the active links and replacing any broken links, releasing update patches for more security and software issues, and performing backup actively.

The cost will vary depending on your website’s functionality and size. 

Now that you have a good idea of the key factors influencing your website’s design and development. Let’s discuss the methods you can approach to develop your website. 

3 Ways to Build Your Website:

There are only three ways to build your website:

• Build your website with agencies (Recommended).
• Build your website by yourself (DIY).
• Build your website by hiring independent contractors.

To keep the explanation easy and simple, we will take a scenario where our objective is to build a simple eCommerce website with few pages and 5-10 functionality, and a payment gateway to purchase a product.

Build Your Website With an Agency: (RECOMMENDED)

The cons of DIY can be easily overcome with the help of an Agency. Designly is one of the best in the market that does all the heavy lifting and quickly gives the best possible result. For an eCommerce website, Designly provides all the tools needed for a website to be successful. Designly is there to help you, from using Google hosting, free domain name registration, SEO optimization, blog setup, form integration, website backup, and much more to the finished product. Pro eCommerce website development can cost around $10,000–$55,000 (+$99.95/mo). You just have to give the quote to the team, and they will take care of the rest of the work.

Build Your Website By Yourself:

This is the most cost-effective method if you are a small business, and have just started. Since you are designing your website by yourself, you are required to spend the money on hosting and the basic expenses needed to set up and run the website. The basic expenses included are Domain name registration, a theme for your website, and an SSL certificate (payment gateway).

For this project, it is best to use a website builder, such as Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Shopify, or GoDaddy. Next, you will need to add some premium themes for your website to have the best user experience possible. Within the website builder, there are premium themes available for purchase. When you look for themes, it is best to look for premium plug-ins that can support third-party software. Next, the hosting plan. Since we are starting small, it is best to use a shared hosting service. Last but not least, a domain name.

Cost for designing and developing your website on your own (DIY):

Even though the price is comparatively low, the design may not be up to the professional standard, and DIY means all functionality must be incorporated by yourself to the website. If you don’t have much web development experience, this process can be quite time-consuming, and the learning curve can be too steep. 

Build Your Website with an Independent Contractor:

If you are having trouble with the DIY method, it is better to go with an independent contractor. They can bring new ideas to the table about website design and even help you introduce your website to the online world. It is tedious to pinpoint the exact pricing for hiring an independent contractor. But, according to Upwork, the average cost of hiring a web developer is around $15-$30/hr. So creating a small eCommerce website can cost you around $2,000-$2500.

But similar to DIY, you cannot expect regular maintenance from this approach. This can be a deal breaker for your website since maintenance is integral to your business. You can avoid such scenarios using an agency to troubleshoot your website and make it clean and the best user experience for your customer. 

Suggested Reads:

• Buying a Website: 8 Things You Need to Know
• Why a Website Is Important for Your Business in 2022 – 11 Reasons

FAQs:

• How much does it cost to build a website?

Depending on the approach, the price can vary. If you want to make the website yourself, you may need to spend $40-50/per mo. For an agency, you may have to pay up to $99.95/per month, and with independent contractors, you might be expected to pay $15-$30/per hr.

• What are the ways to build a website?

There are three ways to build a website:

• Build a website by yourself (DIY).
• Build a website with an agency.
• Build a website using independent contractors.

• How much does an agency cost for a simple eCommerce website?

Designly provides all the features, such as free domain registration, SEO optimization, blog setup, website hosting, subscription, social media installation, and the ability to add unlimited products that cost you around $4,000-$10,000, depending on the complexity of your website and requirements.

Final Thoughts on How Much It Costs to Build a Website:

Designing and developing a website is challenging and involves many complex layers of functionality. As said, it is the face of your business, and it needs to be at its best. Building a website on your own can be cost-effective, but the amount of work needed can be brutally overwhelming. It is recommended that, if possible, you go with an agency to get the best possible result. Designly offers great functionality and perks at an affordable price. Apart from web development, we also offer various independent solutions, such as ADA compliance, website hosting, logo design, and branding. Check out our page to learn more!

This article hopes to give you a deeper insight into how much it costs to build a website.