It’s almost impossible to remember a time where we didn't check a company out on the internet before we gave them our business. Every business needs a website. You see, if you haven’t got a website, you lose essential visibility – people can’t find you online – and unfortunately in the end you lose credibility. The potential customers and clients go else where - to your competition...
So we've discovered that you need to have a website. But what is the average website design cost? Which additional features will put your website costs up and increase the web design prices you pay? What really should you pay for a professional design? Should you go for a cheap or abroad designer?
Let's look into all of these questions below:
Should I just go for the cheapest option?
A reputable website design agency charges roughly £400 - £700 for a standard website to be designed, but there are cheaper alternatives online for just £200! To save money, as a start-up, you decided to opt for the much cheaper option and the website is eventually completed and put live. It’s acceptable, but by no means perfect – there are a few areas on the mobile version which are off, the images are blurry, there are a few spelling mistakes and it loads pretty slowly. But it’s done now right, you can just leave it?! Wrong. Have they even done any SEO so it can even be seen in Google? Probably not..
The next day a potential new client visits your 'cheap' website, looked around, wasn't impressed and jumped straight off of it and onto your competitors instead. You’ve just lost potentially thousands in business and a client who would have looked great on your portfolio. Why? Because your website is often the first impression of your business as a whole. It must be high quality. If your website has mistakes on it then what does that say about the quality of your business products and services?
In the end, you will get what you pay for. It's important to remember that a good website designer is much more than just someone that can build a website! Depending on what you want, they bring a whole lot of different business-critical skills that will give you the extra edge over your competition. The average website visitor will leave after 8 seconds if they don’t find what they’re looking for. A good website designer knows this and will arrange the headline, the content, the colours, and call to actions perfectly to keep visitors engaged, as well as appealing to your exact target audience. What's more , the way your website designer makes your site look, your text reads, and your site loads makes a big difference on how Google and other search engines view them too. A designer knows where your key words must go, how to name the page titles and how to submit your sitemap to Google to make your site more visible in search engines and get you that all important visibility.
So think about how much a good website designer would need to be paid. Don't expect to get a good web designer by paying any less that £35+VAT per hour, and many great web designers and agencies will charge £60+VAT for more complex projects. It’s important to bear this in mind when looking for web design quotes and prices online as time is money and the less you pay, the less time the company will be able to allocate to the project! See all of my prices and packages HERE.
So, what is the typical price?
1. Single page scrolling website – £200 minimum
If you’re looking for a one-page website, don’t spend anything less than £200. At an hourly rate of £35, your designer is likely to spend around 6 hours max. That’s including the time spent discussing your project, obtaining your requirements, creating a concept and then the time spend back and fourth with any revisions you may have. That’s not to mention the hour setting up your email accounts, putting it live and answering any questions you may have! At £200, don’t expect anything exciting though! At Moon Digital, for a 1 page website, I charge £249 for a custom one-pager in Wix, plus the hosting fee. See all prices here.
2. 5 page brochure/standard website – £400 minimum
Often at this price, there’s a little more flexibility to include a logo design with the website. At this price, it’s likely your chosen agency will have roughly 12 hours to allocate to your project. It’s a common misconception that the number of pages directly affects the price. At Moon Digital, we have a 5-page website package starting at £549. See prices here.
3. 8 page brochure website – £550 minimum
An 8 page brochure website should cost at least in this region if you’re working with a UK or European company. This allows enough time for a high quality design and several rounds of revisions to ensure that the website looks professional. Moon Digital has a 10-page website package for £649. See prices here.
There are some things that will bump up the cost of you website design too. For example, bespoke features such as login areas, custom forms, booking appointments, custom chat bots, customer management and emails, branding and logos, and of course e-commerce functionality. Don't expect to pay much less that £1000 for a simple e-commerce website...
Should I pay less and go abroad?
You may have considered looking for a freelancer or agency which are based abroad, perhaps through 'UpWork' or 'Fiver' style companies. The prices of foreign designers on these sites can appear significantly cheaper than a good freelancer or agency from the UK. But, before you potentially make a costly mistake, consider some of the factors below before handing over any money:
Language barriers – Given the amount of jargon in the industry, it’s extremely easy to misinterpret requests and you may find that even after your second or third attempt, the company does not fully understand your request. Similarly, if your website designer doesn’t understand your target market, they have little hope of creating a website which is going to convert visitors well.
Lack of support – a website isn’t the same as a word document. Unfortunately you can’t just leave it, just like a piece of software on your laptop, it needs updating with the latest security patches and fixes. It’s often forgotten that your website is at much higher risk of fault than your laptop simply because it’s being publicly displayed on the internet and everyone at some stage has had a problem with their laptop. Choosing an agency in the UK who wants to build a relationship with you is crucial and you’re much likely to get better on-going support options.
Low quality – the less you pay for a website, the less time the designer can afford to spend. It’s true a web design team in a country with a lower working wage can potentially spend more time on the website, but there’s a limit to that and more often than not the designs look very dated and amateurish.
Good Luck With Your WebSite Project! If you’re interested in having a website built and simply need some advice, feel free to give me a call on 07778506659 or email me at mikala@moon-digital.co.uk. We create websites in a variety of software, including Wix, WordPress and Editor X along with a range of branding and SEO solutions.
Get in touch!
Mikala at Moon Digital