The Complete Cost Breakdown of Website Design
In a previous article, we discussed the cost-and cost-benefit analysis-of redesigning your company’s website. Prices for web design and development can range anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a DIY site to tens of thousands for the most complex and comprehensive websites. This dramatic price range can feel overwhelming, leaving businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs with a multitude of questions: How do I know what I’m paying for? What will the end result be? How do these costs translate to ROI for the future of my business?
These are some of the most common questions that business owners ask every single day. In order to better answer your website queries, we’re diving deeper into a conversation about how web designers price their products and services. From hosting to UX design, hourly rates to project-based pricing here are everything you need to know about web design prices and services.
Web Design vs. Web Development
Understanding the cost breakdown of web design first entails understanding what exactly you are paying for. There are two main steps to building a website (In reality, there are many, many steps to building a site, but these two are key)-Web development and web design.
Both processes involve knowledge of various coding languages, and both work together to create a working, functional website. In some cases, web designers are also developers and can carry out both aspects of building a site. In other cases, developers and designers specialize in one skill over the other, and team up to create your website.
It is the front-end design, however, that we are focusing on today. Web designers bring the creative side of your site to life, perfectly placing buttons, content, color, images, videos, and menus to ensure your web users can easily and successfully navigate your site. Without professional web design, websites fail to clearly grab the user’s attention or guide customers through the sales process.
Web designers are responsible for the elements of your website that users and customers experience-also known as UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) design. They understand the intricacies of digital marketing and utilize their design techniques with marketing trends to create websites that provide quality experiences for your customers, as well as driving sales.
As you consider how to move forward with your business website, these are all of the key products and services that you should expect to receive in your web design package.
If you don’t already have a brand or logo, then before you get started on your site, your web designer will work with you on branding customization and logo design. Without a brand, it is impossible to choose a color scheme, look, and feel for the website itself. Quality logo design packages for SMBs will range anywhere from $300 to $1500, or several thousand dollars to brand or rebrand a large agency. A typical logo design will come with a branding style guide, which includes the colors, typography, and logo variations of your new brand. If you choose a web designer that does not also offer branding customization, you will want to complete that step first, and then provide your web designer with the branding style guide.
Web designers will utilize a branding style guide to help inform the color scheme and typography for your website. They will use color theory to create a palette for your site that promotes your brand and also serves to encourage users to more easily navigate your site. The color scheme plays an important role in the appearance of CTAs, the overall feel of the site, and a user’s ability to identify key areas of the website. Typography plays an equally important role in how your users interact with your site. Finding the right font requires time, research, and a keen eye for design.
Another key service that your professional web designer will include is customized site layout and navigation. While it may feel like a simple piece of your website puzzle, the layout and navigation determine the usability of your site. Web designers must research how customers in your industry think: what they expect from a site, how they navigate other sites, what hinders them in the sales process, what information they most need. They use that research to develop a layout and navigation that gives users the key information first and then walks them carefully through the process of choosing your product or service.
Part of designing your website is working out the right words for each page. Web designers often create wireframes-the visual layout and design of your site and then work with copywriters to develop expert copy for each element of your site. Copywriters focus on the right lingo for your CTAs, menu, banners, and more. An experienced web designer will have a working knowledge of quality web copy and be able to guide the creation of content to optimize your website for searchability and SEO value.
Many web designers will offer to host your website. The cost of hosting ranges from $3 to $300+ per month, depending on your needs. Most businesses will opt for shared hosting, which is the most affordable hosting service. Others will wish to pay more, around $30+ per month, for a virtual private server (VPS). Still, others will wish to invest in dedicated hosting, which is the most expensive monthly option. If you are looking for a hosting web server provider, your web designer will be able to walk you through each option and help you determine the best hosting service for your website.
The final service that you can expect when working with a web designer is monthly web maintenance. Many designers, especially those who offer to host, will also include a certain level of maintenance. The average cost of monthly web maintenance is anywhere from $35 to several thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of your site.
Pricing: Hourly vs. Web Design Packages
Web designers will offer their services in two different ways: hourly or package rates. While some designers offer both options depending on the needs of the project, it helps to understand the comparison between hourly vs. package pricing.
An hourly web designer will charge an average of $75 per hour. Some will charge far less, while others will charge much, much more. When working with designers that use an hourly rate, it is helpful to determine upfront an estimate of how long the project will take. Experienced web designers will know their abilities and limitations, and have a solid idea of time to complete the web design you are wanting. The hourly rate of a web designer will vary based on experience, services rendered, and the complexity of your project.
Working with hourly rates, however, is often better when a project only requires certain elements of the above-listed services and options. If you are paying hourly for web design, remember that you also need to pay for web development. Hourly web developers will charge, on average, anywhere from $100 to $180 an hour. On top of that, add in hourly copywriting services, and your website project can add up quickly.
Web designers will offer package pricing to better serve your overall website needs. Web design packages will often include web development, copywriting, as well as all of the services we discussed earlier. By combining the pricing of branding customization, color schemes, typography, content, SEO, hosting, maintenance, and development, you not only get a better deal on your website, but you get a more streamlined process that includes every possible design and development element of yours site.
Web design packages vary widely in cost, anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. Large agencies will even charge upwards of $100,000 to complete the design and development of more complex sites.
With the right package, you should get expert web design, customized development, and a website that you love.
Local Web Design Company in Tacoma
Hanna Landis creates stunning websites for local and national businesses. Offering both hourly web design services as well as complete web design packages which include professional back-end development, front-end design, SEO, copywriting, and monthly hosting and maintenance. Our design studio also specializes in branding customization, offering your business a cohesive and streamlined branding, web design, and content creation experience. I don’t just build websites, I build your company’s digital presence. Contact me today for your web design consultation.
