How Much Does Web Design Cost In 2023?

So, you’ve been seeing our podcasts, hearing our ads on ESPN radio, and have finally considered getting professional web design for your business. There’s likely one huge question looming over your head though—“how much does all this cost?” Well, that is an answer that has a lot of factors at play, but it essentially comes down to how much labor is involved.

What determines the amount of labor can be several things, but mainly it’s the size and complexity involved. For example, a simple three-page site with no real functionality other than a contact form may run you only $950.00 However, a ten-page site with database integration, e-commerce, and complex features could cost into the thousands.

We honestly can’t tell you exact prices for our websites or our competitors. Without knowing all the needs and requirements—it’s hard to quote. However, what we can do is give you a little perspective as to how pricing works in this industry. Granted, we are not the least expensive nor the most expensive, you will find agencies that charge more or less.

What we can guarantee you is that cheap is never good and good is never cheap. We are very fair and reasonable in our pricing and give you 100% of our efforts. We work as hard for our $1,500 clients, as we do for our $15,000 clients because we don’t exist without either.

Now, we understand that the price range is wide open and that can be hard to navigate without any institutional knowledge. So let’s break down website design and development costs so you can get a realistic ballpark estimate of what to budget for. Now, this guide is geared towards small and mid-sized businesses—not large corporate entities with a slush fund for design.

There’s A Reason You’re Seeking Professional Web Design

You’re an expert in the field you work in for a reason. So, if your business is something like industrial supply—you’re probably not an expert in web design and development. Even if you happened to know web design and development quite well—do you have the time?

Probably not, because the time you spend is poured into projects and efforts that will grow the business you’re in. We are in the web design/development and digital marketing business. There’s no need to waste our time trying to figure out how to build our office interior or paint the murals in our lobby. Instead, we contract interior designers and artists to do that so we can focus on what we know.

Business owners hire professionals. Is it less expensive to build a website on your own? Sure, but only in terms of hard costs. When you factor in the time it takes to do it yourself—the adage, “Time is Money,” really comes into play. You’d end up with a cost higher than that of the price for a professional , not to mention the burden of maintaining your website.

The Frustration Of Finding The Right Agency

So, in searching through the many web design professionals and digital marketing agencies you’ve probably come across:

  • Agencies that don’t list prices at all (this is understandable given the many variables)
  • Prices that are too good to be true—that end up costing three times the initial teaser price
  • Insanely expensive prices by conglomerate agencies that won’t look at you unless you have a budget of $15k a month or more.

At SiteJab, we don’t list our prices on our website or our marketing material—but for good reason. We pride ourselves in bucking the trend among marketing agencies that work behind the curtains in mystery. We are very transparent in what we do, how we do it, and the fact that—honestly, it’s not complicated.

It is, however, extremely time-consuming and detail-oriented, so much so that we have dedicated teams for each of the components. To do this on your own would negatively impact your effectiveness in accomplishing the primary objectives of your business.

If an agency tells you that what they do requires special tools and skills not available to you—run. Never trust any agency that presents what they do in that manner. It simply isn’t true, what we do is very accessible to you, and we aren’t afraid to share it. The reality is, you aren’t paying for the basic knowledge we have. You are paying for the convenience, the experience, the creative talent, and the time to get it done while you focus on your operations.

In all honesty, the cost for that at SiteJab begins at $3,500 for a website and increases commensurate with added services and features. Now, regarding cost, there is a difference between web design and web development.

Web Design Vs. Web Development

These two terms are often used interchangeably despite them being two different, yet related things. Web design is laying the groundwork and aesthetics for your website—sort of like a blueprint in architecture. It’s comprised of:

  • Wire Frames: This is literally like a blueprint. It’s a rough visual guide that shows the skeletal layout of your website. It does not usually involve graphic elements and is very rudimentary.
  • Asset Gathering: This is where you collect assets such as logos, product photos, etc., that will be used for your website.
  • Storyboard: A storyboard takes the wireframes and adds details like basic graphic layouts but does not include a lot of detail.
  • Mockup: This is a static mockup of your web design layout. It still doesn’t show the final product rather a single page image showing how it would look. This includes some of your assets such as logos, photos, branding, etc.

Web development is the process of actually building the website based on the “blueprint” and mockup in the design stage. It entails:

  • Development: This involves setting up the content management system (CMS), most websites use WordPress. Also, this is where the theme, plugins, and custom modules are installed. The backend is customized and is made ready for content.
  • Populate: Here we create or migrate content for your website to the appropriate sections such as about, products, services, etc. Links are added, functionality to different elements is activated and everything is proofed for accuracy. This is like the interior design stage of finishing a house.
  • Testing: This is where we prove the site, make sure it works properly and optimize it as needed. Any adjustments are made here and double-checked before launching.

Web Design/Development Cost Variables

Now that you know the difference between design and development, you need to know what variables affect the cost of each. As mentioned, our websites begin at roughly $3500.00 and that price can vary based on numerous factors.

Number Of Pages
The price will fluctuate simply based on the number of pages required—exclusive of any functionality. For example, let’s say an agency has a package for a 15-page site for $4,800. However, you need a 20-page site. On average it’s safe to say you should add about $150 per every extra page over. Every agency will price differently, circumstances and required page functionality may alter that as well. This does, however, give you a basic idea of what to expect going into 2022.

Site Layout
Very few websites are built from scratch anymore, they start as templates or themes. It’s just too time-consuming and costly to design them from scratch. There is still a huge amount of customization that can be done with these themes or templates. The themes only get you about halfway through—there’s still a lot of work left to be done. The more customization and special coding you need, the more that will cost. Themes and templates are the #1 reason you can build a small business website for $3k-$6k versus $15k-$20k from scratch.

Custom Graphics/Photography
If you want stock images and graphical elements on your page like every other template user you won’t incur extra costs. However, if you want custom images, photos, and other elements it will cost extra based on the project. This includes costs for photoshoots, videography, custom graphic design, or logo creation.

Custom Coding
Often there’s a WordPress plugin for every functionality most users will need. It may cost a premium but still will do what you need. (i.e. slider, custom calculator, login portal, etc.) However, sometimes you need something highly specialized and a plugin may need to be coded from scratch. That is a service that is outside of the inclusive package. Depending on what you need it could add hundreds or thousands to your overall cost.

Excess Revisions
Most projects begin with a lot of pre-planning and initial concept designs to get it as right as possible the first try. However, that rarely happens and most packages include a certain number of design revisions for tweaking. Anything above the included amount of revisions can add to the cost, per revision. This is why the design process and storyboarding is so crucial. In our experience, it rarely takes more than two revisions to get the website just as a client wants it.

Content Development
Having solid and persuasive content is the key to any successful website. However, that content must not just be persuasive and solid. It must be written and formatted in such a way that it is picked up on search engines. There are very specific criteria and formatting rules for these search engine algorithms, and they change often. It can be quite tedious to develop initial content and then to maintain it with constant updating. Your content needs to be refreshed often and should offer a reason for visitors to come back. In all our years of developing exceptional websites for clients, the #1 hurdle is content development. If you do not have content ready for your developer you will need to write it yourself or hire a copywriter. Copy service usually is an added cost and can vary based on the number of words written, and the complexity.

Fortunately, at SiteJab, we have talented copywriters on staff that will study your industry extensively and write insightful, engaging content. The cost for basic content is inclusive in many of our packages and extended copy services can be added as well.

Engaging Web Design & Development That Works

If you want your website designed and developed in a way that initiates growth within your business for 2022 and beyond, you need SiteJab. We pour the passion we have for people and business into every website we build. If you are successful, we are successful.

Contact us today to get the website that allows your business to achieve its full potential.

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