areafiftyone design

Week in, week out we are asked by potential clients “How much is a website?” and in many cases they are surprised by the answer. The reason for the surprise is a challenge that good quality web design companies face – the expectation that a complete bespoke website can be completed for around £400!

This problem arises for two reasons, firstly because the internet is awash with adverts for cheap websites and secondly because everyone has a friend or a friend of a friend who is a web designer who will build a site for some pocket money.

While there is nothing against people offering these low cost services, a company looking to make an impression with their website needs to understand exactly what can be expected for that kind of price tag and whether it will give the right image for their business.

The questions that businesses need to ask themselves is what they expect from a £400 website? and what they are being promised? As an indication, this is what you would get from us – a single page website that is well designed & well optimised but without any fancy features.

The amazing thing is.. Most people would have expected the above statement to say a custom designed 10 page website! So why is this not achievable?

Well to put this into perspective let’s take a look at what goes into our web design process using a bespoke 10 page website as an example. Consultation – We start the process by finding out your goals and requirements and we use our knowledge and experience to advise you on the best ways to achieve your targets Research & planning – We then undertake an extensive research process into your audience & competition, from this we determine the elements that we think will help you stand out from the crowd and plan any functionality and page relationships.

On larger projects we will also create a site flow diagram to indicate the folder structure & menu hierarchy. Wireframing – Before the design stage begins we create a basic mockup of the pages without any design elements to show how the pages will function and flow. This is essential for usability and to make sure the site functions in the correct way.

Design – This is the most important stage of a bespoke website and we produce a professional and 100% bespoke web design tailored for your needs.

Development – Once the designs have been approved we then convert these into a rock solid website complete with the relevant on page search engine optimisation.

Testing & Launch – The final stage is testing the site and making sure it is ready to be launched online. As a ballpark let’s say the above takes a conservative 50 hrs of work, that would mean to achieve the £400 price tag mentioned earlier a creative agency or web designer would have to work at a rate below £10 hr and that’s without even taking into account the costs involved in running their own business.

As design professionals we can assure you if you are looking for experienced designers who understand how to make a business work £10 per hour will not cut it and you will most definitely get what you pay for! It has to be taken into consideration that creative professionals spend years developing their craft, learning and developing their skills to help their clients get the most from their websites, and this experience comes with a price. Yet it is surprising how the average business is willing to spend more on the photocopy repair man than the professional that is helping them deliver probably the most important part of their business communication.

So how much should you be paying for a bespoke website? Pricing a website is never a straight forward task due to the large amount of factors that need to be considered, such as the style of website (Brochure, E-commerce, Blog) the choice of content management system (Wordpress, Magento, Joomla) and the client specific features that are required.

Professional web design companies usually sit in the £50 to £150 per hour mark (some of the big agencies almost double that) so if we take into the consideration the earlier example we would be looking at a price range of between £2,500 – £7,500 for a fairly straight forward but bespoke 10 page web design. This is before you start adding a content management system, professional copywriting, custom photography & other unique twists that are involved with developing an effective online presence.

While these prices may sound scary for individuals, for a business this type of investment is essential and a website should be treated with the same, if not more, respect than other forms of marketing. We know of businesses that spend £1,000’s on local newspaper adverts that direct to an amateur website and they wonder why the response is limited! When you are considering the budget for your next web project it is worth remembering that in most cases your website will be your first contact with potential customers and no matter whether you are selling a service or a product, if you do not have a professional first impression your customers may go looking for someone that does!