Website design is similar to most things in that you get what you pay for. A cheap website is usually worth nothing much, but an expensive one could be worth nothing much too. That is what makes this question so hard to answer. Before shopping for a website designer, take a few minutes and write down goals for your website. What do you want it to do for you? That list will tell you how much you should pay for the design.
For instance. If your goal is to simply be able to tell your friends you have a website, then go find the cheapest designer you can find. Expect to pay a couple hundred bucks or design the site yourself online for free.
However, if you want a website that accurately portrays your company, is search engine optimized to rank well in the search engines and also makes you money, then neither of the options mentioned above should be considered. In this case you should take the time to find a skilled web designer that has experience in both designing websites AND making his clients money from those websites. See, that is what sets designers and truly skilled designers apart. Do the websites the designer builds make the clients money? In this case, if you are destined to make money, then it is worth paying a skilled designer to build the website. Of course, the expense will be higher than a free site, but the return will be exponential. And that is what you are in business for, right?
The third factor to consider is what do you want the website to do as your customers browse it? Dynamic websites that mold to the individual customers are much more difficult to build, therefore more time is involved. Hourly pay runs from minimum wage to over $150 per hour. Of course, the more experienced and knowledgeable programmers cost more. A website program that is difficult to hack (something to be considered these days) and is virtually bug free requires a more experienced programmer.
So now that we have laid out the groundwork, we’ll try to answer the question of, “How much should I pay for my website?” Again, if you don’t care about your website or company’s image then I recommend you go as cheap as possible. (Wiregrass Advertising, Inc. does not do this type of website, so please don’t ask.) If you care about your image and about making money, then you should expect to spend anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 depending on functionality. If your website requires special programming and development then the total cost may run upwards to $150,000.
With that said, don’t let something like a price tag keep you from inquiring about a website from Wiregrass Advertising. Give us a call today at 334-393-9099 to discuss your web project.
