If you plan to work on a website, especially if you are running a business, you are making the right call. Website development and design are a fairly large project, accompanied by various important activities from purchasing hosting, registering a domain, installing a website theme, building necessary functionalities, and much else.
As a result, website development can be costly. It’s important to remember that costs will always vary depending on the complexity of the project. However, it’s still possible to approximate the costs of a generic web development project, which we’re going to do here:
Website for Small Businesses
Websites for small businesses generally have little to no customization. They usually have 20 pages or less, featuring stock photos, with zero unique functionalities. Small business websites are as simple as they come and can cost $2000-$8000.
Website for Medium-Sized Businesses
Medium-sized business websites are commercial websites that can have as many as 75 pages. These websites have custom design layouts, imagery, and CMS (Content Management System). They can also have some unique functionality and can cost $10,000-$25,000.
Website for Large Businesses
Large business websites have hundreds of pages. These large-scale websites have imagery, CMS (Content Management System), multimedia creation, blog integration, and other personalized development. Large business websites can cost up to $25,000-$40,000.
Ecommerce Website
Ecommerce websites focus on giving customers the ability to browse and purchase products. These websites require payment gateway integration, copy-writing, imagery, CMS, and extensive beta testing. The cost of an ecommerce website is determined by the intricacy of the products being featured. It can range from $5000 to $40,000.
Other Important Expenditures
There are several other costs associated with running a website. Here are some unavoidable expenditures that need to be dealt with when developing a new website:
· Domain Name
The domain name is the URL that people type in to access your website. Without one, there is no way to access a website unless you remember the IP address. A domain name can cost from $9-$20 annually depending on the registrar, the name itself, and domain extensions (.com, .co, .org, etc.)
· SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate is needed to secure sensitive data like personal information and credit card numbers in your web database. An SSL certificate is essential for ecommerce websites to protect users from losing their private and sensitive data. Certification authorities are responsible for issuing SSL certificates. They can cost as low as $10 per month and go up to $1000 per month.
· Website Hosting
Acquiring a domain name is like buying land where you have an address to work with, but you will need a place to store all your stuff. In this case, web hosting serves as land, while web content is your stuff. Many web hosting companies offer shared hosting plans for as low as $10 per month and can go up to $99 per month.
· CMS (Content Management System)
A content management system is required to display articles, videos, pictures, text, etc. While a CMS may not be mandatory, it can save a considerable amount of time, allowing you to make your website as efficient as possible. The cost for a CMS can depend on whether you are using a customized one or a free one, like WordPress. Moreover, you can also consider a new type of CMS knows as headless content management system which help provide faster and more personalized content delivery.
Wrapping Up
Building a website and taking it live is a multi-faceted process and quite time-consuming. Professional developers charge for their time and effort, but since your website is the most important component of your online presence, it’s well-advised to opt for the best design and development that you can find. PNC Logos offers three different web design packages:
- Beginner: $299
- Professional: $799
- Advanced: $1,099
For details, see this page.
