Your website is your business’s most powerful sales and marketing tool. It is an inbound marketing hub for your brand and the primary place your prospects explore before purchasing from you.
With the rising importance of inbound marketing strategies, business websites are getting faster, sleeker, and, overall, more practical. While this is great for consumers, business owners and marketers must emphasize website design and development.
The prices for web design vary widely from as low as a few hundred dollars to millions, depending on the type of website you want to develop.
Since businesses often have no idea how much it can cost them to design a website, we will discuss this topic in detail.
We will break down website design expenses into three categories: the cost of a DIY website design, the cost of hiring a freelancer, and the cost of hiring a professional website design agency.
Regardless of your budget or from the point you are starting, this article aims to give you a comprehensive idea of what to expect.
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Factors Influencing the Prices for Web Design
The pricing for website design comes down to demand and supply. Businesses realized the value of a website after the internet revolution and were willing to pay a higher price.
Today, a business website is a must. However, web design costs do not depend on the demand factor alone.
What type of website do you plan to build? Do you have content from an old website that needs to be migrated? How much animation or graphics do you want on your site?
Depending on your specific business requirements, the price for web design may go higher.
The pricing may also be influenced by the professionals required for the work. Web designers and developers have improved their skills and techniques and have varying levels of expertise.
Additionally, it has become increasingly important to follow the best website design trends and focus on accessibility, page speed, and user experience.
All these factors affect your website design's cost, whether you are building it with a tool, working with a freelancer, or hiring an agency.
The Costs of Designing Your Website on Your Own
Designing or building a website by yourself is the cheapest option. It can range from $100 to $3,000 or more, but you should also take into account the time and effort required.
Generally, the less money you spend, the more the hassle. Startups with limited budgets and no web designer often start small.
For them, web design marketplaces like Wix and ThemeForest offer an affordable range of website themes and templates, costing around $30 to $100.
These themes' ease of use, functionality, and performance vary widely. When you choose the theme for your website, keep the following factors in mind:
- The customization level you want to achieve
- The ease of updating the website
- The number of out-of-the-box templates you include
Once you find a suitable theme, check its reviews, track record, and whether it allows you to edit without many technical skills.
An example of a famous website builder is Elementor. It has an updated back-end editor for your website that you need to install on WordPress.
The platform allows creating content and editing the visual features of themes quickly by providing a variety of modules and widgets, each with its unique formatting and styling options.
After installing the framework, you can select a theme that matches the aesthetic you are trying to achieve.
The frameworks available with Elementor are better than the average ones, lower-priced, and support a mobile-first design. You can use Elementor for free or go with the pro level by paying $49 per year. The paid plan gives you more robust templates, widgets, and support.
If you want to design your website but want more marketing capabilities and integration, you can use HubSpot's CMS Hub, costing around $300 per month.
The platform has several customizable themes and a drag-and-drop builder. It also has in-built SEO, content management, and more, making it a slightly costly but great option.
Web Designing Prices When Working with Freelancers
Hiring a freelance website designer is the next level up from building your website yourself. Freelancers have various levels of talent and skills.
Based on your goals, you can find freelancers charging between $2,000 to $5,000 for a simple website and $10,000 to $20,000 or more for an advanced and feature-heavy website. The aesthetics will be more professional in look and feel.
Your experience, in this case, will depend upon the knowledge of the freelancer and the project details. For instance, if you work with a highly skilled freelancer, you can get a custom self-selection tool like a product configurator.
The freelancer you choose must understand the difference between responsive vs. adaptive design to get a design that looks appealing and functions without flaws. Freelancers take your ideas and requirements and then develop a few mock-ups, after which they build the one you like the best.
A freelance designer often focuses on delivering the aesthetic appeal you convey to them as part of suggesting features that enhance user experience.
The risk of working with freelancers is that the project might take longer to complete as they are working on multiple projects simultaneously. Also, they will likely not offer insights outside of their design and development knowledge.
However, it is easy to find suitable freelancers to fit your budget. The price will go up if the project is extensive and complex.
Website Design Pricing When Hiring an Agency
The last option for website design is hiring website design companies to handle the entire design and development project. It gives you access to a team of experts who have experience working on similar websites.
Hiring an agency, however, is the costliest option.
The prices for a simple website design can be between $15,000 and $30,000 depending on the size of the site. Websites with a higher page count, custom functionality, and more unique features will cost between $40,000 and $75,000.
Compared to the other options, this might sound a lot, but working with an agency takes your website way ahead of a simple design. Agency experts spend equal time on user experience, conversion rate optimization, content, and so on, which makes your website a valuable asset in achieving your business goals.
The strategy that goes into building an effective lead-generating website is what sets apart a typical agency from freelance web designers.
Their goal is to remove any obstacle in the user's journey. The agency will also work with you to map the sitemap architecture for a better understanding of the site structure and users’ navigation pattern.
While working with an agency, you collaborate with a range of experts and their combined years of experience in design, development, content, strategy, and more — not just a single skill or resource.
If you have an adequate budget, it is worth speaking to an agency and discussing your cost options.
Prices for Web Design – Takeaway
Now that you have a clear idea of the costs of making a website in different ways, you will likely know which option suits you the best.
Remember that determining the costs of designing a website is not just about money. It is also about other resources such as technical skills, design skills, and time. If time is not a constraint, you can learn new skills, but if you have less time and a considerable budget, you can work with a professional.
Also, every site will come with its unique set of costs, so considering what you want from the website and how much money you can realistically put into it helps you strike the best deal. Hiring professional web design companies is usually the most cost-effective way.
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