Here is the real cost of building a website for your business:
We put together a detailed outline of what your website will cost using a DIY platform, a freelancer, or a digital agency.
DIY website builder
If you ever used a DIY website builder, you are definitely familiar with the aggressive advertising they use to get you to sign up, the phrase “FREE TO SIGN UP” gets thrown around way too much, and quality is never free.
Although they all have different costs associated with their service they all average around $300 or less to build a website.
This makes them one of the most affordable solutions for those in need of a simple quick website. These DIY website providers such as WIX, Squarespace, and Shopify have monthly costs associated with them once you decide to launch your website. These extras such as hosting, SSL certificates, and other extra feature can be added right away or later.
The upfront cost is considered to be the cheapest, which is why a lot of start-up business owners have a DIY website. Long-term costs, on the other hand, make this solution not so wallet-friendly considering the limitation set by the companies regarding functionality.
Who should use a DIY service?
Regardless of the simplicity of these DIY sites, they are an excellent option for many users. In fact, it’s their simplicity that makes them the preferred choice for personal users and businesses that are less tech-savvy. Their all-in-one system makes the process of creating a website easy and always accessible for quick changes and updates.
However, anyone who needs anything more than just a basic brochure of a website is going to find a DIY website service lacking many key features. DIY websites are primarily good for visual representations and basic components. In other words, it’s the same thing as creating a PDF presentation that’s presented as a website.
You can do more with these kinds of services but they come with an additional cost. And these costs should really be allocated towards a much better solution that will bring a much higher return on investment.
Still, if you only have a minimum requirement for a website then the DIY solution may be a good fit for you.
Hire a Freelancer
Hiring a freelancer would be the next step above the DIY website builder. The costs go up and range between $500 and $5,000. These website designers and developers are either a single person or a collective group that have the skills to build a website and work independently of a company.
The costs of hiring a freelancer vary based on their experience, reputation, and time required to work on your project. It is essential to verify each specific freelancer’s previous work based on the quote they provide you and to balance the freelancer’s experience with the cost.
Hiring the most expensive freelancer, expecting to get the best product is not necessarily true or needed. Unless you’re trying to build a very complex site, prices will go up. You want to avoid hiring a freelancer that will provide you with a half-built poorly coded site. Reach out to a previous client of that freelancer and ask about their experience working with the freelancer. You will definitely get honest feedback.
Who should use a freelancer?
Hiring a freelancer comes with the understanding that you are getting a fully working well-built website. When the work is complete, the website is close to exactly how you wanted it to look and function. At this point, the freelancer hands off the website to you and moves on to the next client. Leaving you to maintain and manage the website.
Freelancers work with you side by side, taking your opinions and suggestions into consideration as well as providing feedback as the site is being designed and built.
Working with a freelancer allows you to have a unique, personalized website. If you know what you want your website to look like, how it should function, what process the user should experience, and design, consider hiring a freelancer.
Work with a design agency
Design Agencies are considered to be the most expensive on the market for website design and development. The average cost of working with a design agency ranges from $5,000 to $80,000+ based on the complexity of your website and project. Is the cost worth the end results? Yes and No.
Because design agencies are built with teams of website developers and UI/UX designers they have a set minimum price and rarely entertain taking on new clients who are at the lowest profit spectrum. This means you know for a fact that the product you will receive is coded correctly, polished, and is nearly exactly what you wanted with all the advanced features your business needs to grow.
Higher prices don’t always justify a better end result. Generally speaking, with design agencies the price tends to increase based on staff size and project size. This benefits the design agency instead of you. Try to find a digital agency that fits your budget and requirements.
Who should use a design agency?
Design agencies provide a reliable solution for small, medium, and large businesses as well as certain startups. If you are just starting out and have a limited budget or uncertainty of success, consider using a DIY service or freelancer to get started.
Despite what was said just before, design agencies provide a vast amount of experience, reliability, and can build an amazing website much faster than a freelancer or using a DIY service. If your needs are more towards the advanced side, such as online shopping, a web-based app, a large informational site, or a social media platform, a design agency is a way to go.
What you really need to build a website
The simplest way to put it, it’s not just about hiring someone to do it. Understanding the purpose of the website, such as provide information to customers, sell products, book online appointments, be an online training system such as an online school, or social network for staff to connect on a secure level, is key before you even start looking for someone building it.
Once that is established, the content needs to be put together. Content is dependant on the purpose of the site. The thing to focus on first is an outline of the “Menu” or “Navigational Pages”. This helps better structure the site from day one.
On average the less info you have in the beginning, the more expensive your website will cost.
Choosing a Domain Name
This is by far the easiest and most challenging part of the website building process. You probably already did a search on GoDaddy or another domain provider to see if your website name is taken. Coming up with a good name is not an easy task. Domain names need to be memorable and short. Long domain names with special characters
Prices vary from $7 to $15,000+ based on the value of the domain. Once you settle on a domain, you’re going to quickly realize that it comes with renewal costs, so an additional expense. It’s not a lot but it’s there, so be mindful of it.
Hosting your website
What is hosting? It’s a place (computer/server) where people can access your website from anywhere in the world.
You can host your own website from your own server as long as you have a strong internet connection, dedicated RAM, etc., but your server will have to be on 27/7/365 without crashing, going to sleep, and be able to handle a large number of users from all over the world accessing the website all the time. Not to mention it should have failsafe protocols with backups.
Hiring a hosting company that manages and maintains high-end servers to host your website is the most recommended way to go about putting your website online.
Costs associated with hosting range from $5 to $10,000+ a month depending on how many users access your website.
SSL Certificates
With online privacy in the main spotlight, having an SSL Certificate for your website is 100% mandatory.
So what does this SSL do for the website? The SSL encrypts your customer’s private information such as Name, Email, Phone Number, Credit Card Information, Address, and so on.
Just ask yourself this, would you shop on Amazon knowing that your personal information and data are being shared with anyone out there including hackers, and digital bandits? …Exactly.
Browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer block sites from opening, present a large “WATCH OUT” kind of page letting the person know that their information may not be safe on your website.
SSL Certificates range anywhere from $5 to $20 per year for you to manage and set up yourself (not recommended) and around $100 to $750 for a safe and recommended “we’ll do it for you” service.
Website Maintenance
A well-built website is like owning a Ferrari that you and everyone else use every day. It needs to be taken care of so it’s always performing at its best.
Some of the standard tasks that get preferred are updates to the CMS system, bug fixes, API integration connection management with other programs, back-ups, content updates, SEO optimization, and so on.
Website maintenance is usually charged by the hour and as needed to get things done based on your website size and other factors. This means your bill can be anywhere from $150 to $5,000+ just for a single update.
There’s a much easier, faster, and cost-effective solution.
Costs of building a website with TIBINT
TIBINT combined the best of all three (DIY, Freelancer, and Design Agency). We build and design you a website using the most advanced systems, and highly trained in-house professionals. Our plans include all the necessary maintenance, updates, and a fully dedicated team to help you make any changes.
You have full access to the backend with a support team to assist.
Having parter program access to major software providers allows us and you to have primer extras without having to worry about the additional costs. We also update, test, and back up all your data. No more “oops” that didn’t work, how do I fix this.
On average, it takes our team 2-4 weeks to get your website up and running and for your customers to start using it. That is 3 to 4 months faster than any freelancer, or a DIY solution.
Having a website plan that fits your budget opens the ability to go as you grow.
