You need a new website.
You know your current website is outdated, and a fresh new website might be what you need to help you grow your business online and increase revenue, but:
How much will a new website cost?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions in the web design industry, but the answer isn’t as simple as it seems.
The cost to set up a website will depend on how much work is required to create it. This in turn depends on how large and complex the website should be. In practice, this means that a professional website with five pages and standard design will have a lower price than a website with 50 pages and a lot of customization, naturally enough.
A website can cost anything from a few hundred rand if you do everything yourself, to several hundred thousand if you are going to have a large website with a lot of functionality. So, the question “what does a website cost” must often be answered with: It depends.
There are three reasons why it is difficult to answer this question in a straightforward way:
- Websites vary a lot in terms of their design and functionality. The type of site you’re after makes a big difference.
- The rate varies from agency to agency. A South African-based company will charge you very differently than an overseas provider. But even in South Africa, pricing can vary greatly.
- The price of the website will also depend on whether you are going to do the work of developing it yourself or hire a professional web developer.
In this article, we take as our starting point medium-sized websites for small businesses , because large companies often want their own IT department that constantly maintains and works to improve their own website.
What you can expect to pay for a website:
- Small website: R 5,000 – R 10,000
Suitable for start-ups that want a nice and user-friendly website in WordPress to represent your company professionally on the web.
- Medium-sized page with CMS: R 10,000 – R 45,000
Suitable for companies who want a tailor-made website with strong visual communication and elaborate design.
- Large site with CMS: R50,000 +
Suitable for ambitious companies with (re) branding and advanced scalable websites focused on user experience, visual communication, and high conversion rates.
Table of contents
- What do you want to achieve?
- Page structure – Make a map of the website.
- Design – What should the website look like?
- What about the content?
- Functionality
- Technology – Which platform?
- How much does website maintenance cost?
- Marketing: How much does it cost to get visitors to your website?
- Who should you use? – Choose the right website agency for you
- Budget – What price are you willing to pay?
- Costing – a rough guideline
- What time deadlines do you have?
- Why not just build yourself?
- What can you do to keep the cost down?
- Summary
1. What do you want to achieve?
The first thing we ask everyone who contacts us is: “What do you want to achieve with the website?” Without a good answer to this, what the website costs, does and looks like is completely irrelevant.
Many people have specific goals in mind for what they want to achieve with the new website, while others need to be guided to by a website agency to clarify what they want to achieve with the website.
What you should think about
It is important to think about how you want to position yourself in the market and who you want to reach. Consider the following points:
- Who are you? What makes you unique? This is not just a sentence that should tell us what you do, but the way you communicate. In short, the personality of the company.
- Definition and information about their brand.
- The target group you want to reach.
- Specifically which problem (s) you solve for this target group.
- Some concrete numbers and measurable variables you want to improve. For example, number of visits, leads, sales, etc.
2. Page structure – Make a map of the website pages.
The number of pages and the structure of each page has a lot of impact on the price, but not necessarily as much as one might think. For example, a website with 50 pages requires more work than a website with 5 pages and should therefore cost more.
What you should think about
Draw a sitemap for the website. This will not only help you organise your thoughts, but also allow you to see how much work will be required to write the content and what images to look for.
We recommend using a whiteboard where it is easy to move things around and edit along the way. Post-its can also be a good solution. If you want a digital solution, you can use e.g., gloomaps.com which is free with some restrictions.
Example of a map of a website. (Sitemap / Sitemap)
3. Design – What should the website look like?
Design is perhaps the most difficult part when it comes to answering the question of what a website cost.
Design can be solved in several ways:
- You use a ready-made template that makes the work minimal.
- You can start with a template and customise it to make it your own.
- You can use a web agency.
- You can get a graphic designer to work from an existing design manual or brochure.
None of these ways are wrong or right. It depends on how much you want to spend on buying a website or how much time you want to spend doing it yourself.
What you should think about
- Remember that it’s not about how much you or the agency like the design of the site. It’s about how well the target group, those who will use the site, like it.
- A simple and user-friendly design should always be in focus. It is rare that “ground-breaking” design is what helps a company achieve its goal. Remember the quote: “Simple is often best.”
4. What about the content?
Your website’s visitors can sniff out bad content.
Why is it then that content, text in particular, of a web page is often ignored till the last moment? The vast majority of us can write, and thus we assume that this is something we should do ourselves.
WRONG!
Websites are all about building confidence in your business or your products, and competently written content instils trust and authority. Today’s audiences also scan information and won’t waste time on content that seems irrelevant or too difficult to decipher.
You should consider having a copywriter write the text.
We often see that customers care about which images are used; they often care about the visual. While the text they deliver is “thrown together” in 15 minutes.
Of course, it costs a few Rands extra, but it’s worth it.
The fear is often that someone from the outside will not understand the company, and that the message will not be personal. It is not true. Copywriters bring a fresh perspective.
Websites are a marketing tool, but they shouldn’t read like a sales pitch. It’s not a brochure, it’s a digital showcase for who you are, what you value, and what you do. Copywriters know this, and they scrutinize text with both their eyes and their ears.
Copywriters instinctively strive to make real, emotional connections. Your company story should be felt through every word on every page, and it needs to appeal directly to the kind of person who needs your exact services.
A website visitor should immediately know that you understand their unique problem and are capable of solving it. Sometimes it takes an individual outside an organization to get to the root of what needs to be communicated, and when.
Photos and video then?
As much as we all loathe to admit it, let’s face it: appearance is everything.
First impressions are formed within seconds and since most of the information we consume and interpret is visual, quality design can make your site and your brand stick in the viewer’s mind as professional and credible.
High-quality images will help convert your online leads by:
- Increasing user engagement, which means users spend more time on your site.
- Decreasing bounce rate, which means more traffic and higher rankings.
- Forming a link between customer and company, which means users are more likely to choose your services.27
Ultimately, when it comes to photos and videos it’s about benefit versus cost. If you have the budget, it is almost never wrong to invest in a professional photographer, videographer, or copywriter.
5. Functionality
When we talk about the cost of a website it is impossible to get away from functionality.
Website functionality is essentially what your website can do and how it works. It encompasses everything from how easy a user can navigate your site, get the information they are seeking, and/or purchase the product they want to dynamic content and interactivity.
Simply put, a functional website is more likely to attract more visitors, keep them on your site longer, and allow (and even help) them to convert into leads and eventually customers.
Providing the right functionality is crucial to the success of a website, and it should be an essential part of the planning phase. You need to think about what features you want and be prepared that some features cost more than others.
Example of simple “standard” features that you can expect on most websites:
- Contact form (s).
- Integration with a map solution such as Google Maps.
- Mobile-adapted design and function.
- Link to simple third-party solutions such as MailChimp for newsletters.
- Opportunities for blogging / articles.
- Ability to edit content yourself. This is standard and easy to use with a publishing solution (CMS) that supports this, such as WordPress.
Examples of features that may cost a little extra, but not necessarily much are:
- Online store with several products and categories.
- Process automation.
- Advanced chatbot.
- Integrations with third-party systems that do not have a ready-made / simple solution. For example, connection to large APIs.
- Quiz, Calculator, or other interactive function with some form of logic.
- Membership and login for customers.
Remember that any website agency will need to know in detail, what custom functions you need and why before being able to quote on the cost.
Features such as a simple price calculator can help the users of the website get the answer they need, and at the same time make it easier to get in touch.
6. Technology – Which platform?
Which platform you choose to develop your website on varies greatly based on what you need and also affects what the website will cost.
Fortunately, there are not too many differences, but you have four “categories” that have many different types of platforms. Below we have listed some.
Do it yourself solutions
From free to a few thousand rands a year.
- Squarespace (Recommended)
- Wix
- WordPress.com (Do not confuse with WordPress.org)
Professional designed websites
These are websites that are designed by Web designers and developers. .
Here you usually start at a minimum of R10,000, – excl. VAT to collaborate with an agency that can create a good website, but this often extends up to tens of thousands in most cases.
There may also be licenses and third-party costs.
- WordPress.org (Recommended for most people)
- Craft CMS
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Hubspot (Part of their solution is a website “module”)
Online store solutions
Online stores are a separate branch of websites, especially when it comes to price. You can build simple “online stores” without too much work, but an online store requires a lot more work than a pure information site.
If you are not going to do it yourself, you should expect to start between 15,000 and 100,000, while the ceiling is closer to a million, as long as you do not have a greater need. Then just start adding zeros.
- WooCommerce, combined with WordPress.
- Magento (Recommended for larger)
- Shopify (Do it yourself but can also be used with an agency.)
- BigCommerce
Enterprise solutions
This is the market that is most difficult to predict, because it often involves many tailored functions, integrations, security measures and more.
- ContentStack
- WordPress VIP (Used by e.g., USA Today Sports, Capgemini, and New York Post.)
- TYPO3
- Neos
- Episerver
- Tailor-made solution
At Big Web Media we recommend and design most of the websites we deliver in WordPress. The reason is simple; 45% of websites in 2021 use WordPress.
7. How much does website maintenance cost?
Managing and maintaining a website is more important than it may sound. It can contribute to more visitors and in the worst case have costly consequences.
Look at it as service and insurance on the car.
There are some pitfalls if you do not take good care of the website:
- The website can be slow and thus less used.
- The website may be hacked and infected by spam or other “viruses.”
- You can lose data because you do not have a good backup solution.
- Google can penalize the page because, for example, it does not keep track of broken links or pages that no longer exist or because it has vulnerabilities on the page.
- Orders or inquiries do not go through because you do not test and make sure it works.
- It varies greatly what each company’s website needs in terms of maintenance. Some may have an automated plan, while others need a completely dedicated team that fits in 24/7.
The cost of website support and maintenance is something you also have to take into account when figuring out what a website costs.
Examples of website support “levels”:
- Simple manual – Between R1,000 and R3,000 a year
You pay for the server and domain with a third party but handle the technical aspects of the website itself. It requires some work and is something that needs to be done regularly. - Suitable for most websites: Semi Automated with agency – Between R5,000 and R30,000 a year
Here you rely on a professional website agency to update and manage your website security and backend. Service level agreements will vary on a client-by-client basis. - Manually with an agency – R60,000, – or more per year
This is usually for websites that provide significant income to the company, and it is important that everything works as it should. Marketing sites and online stores stand out quickly. Here, everything must be tested and updated regularly, either by an advanced system and / or a person. At this level there is almost no limit and again it is important to know exactly what needs to be done for the individual site.
There is a lot to think about to keep a website fast, secure, and well-functioning. Website operation should have a good system combined with experience.
8. Marketing: How much does it cost to get visitors to your website?
A website that no one visits is practically worthless.
The bottom line is that you need to have a marketing plan in place for how you intend to get visitors to your website, and budget for this as well as an ongoing expense.
Some possibilities:
- Advertising on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other channels.
- Search Engine Optimization (Get found when someone searches for what you offer.)
- Content marketing
- Video marketing
- Social Media
- Influencers
- PR / Press
- Newsletter
- Various non-digital possibilities such as DM, fliers etc.
9. Who should you use? – Choose the right website agency for you
Here we should probably open with that everyone must use Big Web Media, but we know very well that it is not true. There is no single agency that suits everyone.
Which agency you should use depends on what you should have, what budget you have, what industry you are in, what target group you should reach or more fluid areas such as: does the way you work suit the agency or freelancer you choose? Do you agree on personality?
There is no correct decision here, but we recommend doing good research before choosing who to collaborate with, open dialogue with others, look at previous work, see what they write, see what others write about them, maybe even take a small project to see if you get along and the way they work fits your needs.
10. Budget – What price are you willing to pay?
Before you decide on something, you need to look at your budget in a realistic way. What can you afford? And how much do you plan to spend on your website each month or every year?
How much you should spend is simply about what you want to achieve and the belief that it will be a positive investment.
It is good to remember that even if you get a website for R5,000, it can still be your most expensive purchase ever if it does not ensure that you achieve what you want, while a website for R100,000. can be a cheap purchase if it secures you several millions in sales for several years.
11. What time deadlines do you have?
Time is money, and websites can take time to build. When must the site be online? When do you want it to be online? How long it takes to create a website depends on what you are going to create, capacity, staff, etc. But if you ask for a faster delivery than usual, you must also expect to pay a little more.
Most agencies have the opportunity to move a little on projects, hire extra help or the like to reach your deadline, but it costs the agency money and thus it becomes more expensive. Talk openly and realistically about your time perspective and possibly tell then that you are open to paying more if you can get it delivered faster if this is something that is really crucial.
12. Why not just build yourself?
You have probably seen or heard of platforms where you can create your own website without being a web developer. I want to start by saying that this is rarely a good idea, but that there are some cases where it is just fine.
When is it ok to build yourself?
You have such a low budget that you cannot find someone who is good, but you have extra time.
13. What can you do to keep the cost of a website down?
The first thing you can do is make sure that you have read through this entire post and made up your mind about each point, then you are better off for a conversation with several suppliers.
Specifically, I would look at the following points:
- Have a clear specification of what you want.
- Set a specific budget for what you are willing to spend.
- Outsourcing to countries with lower wages can in some cases pay off.
- Can you contribute something yourself without compromising on quality? E.g., content.
- Can you use a template-based design?
- Give good and clear feedback on what you like and do not like,
trust the advice of the agency you work with, even if you do not like something, it does not mean that it is wrong. - Choose the agency that suits you and your company.
- Be sure to be on the ball and give quick feedback when asked.
14. Summary
There are many elements that affect the price of a good website.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to treat a website project as a “new build” and not a replacement of a door. Be careful with assessment and focus on who covers your need versus just price.
