Why you need to know your web design budget
With every enquiry from new customers comes the same question ‘how much do you charge for a website?’. In this article we’ll explain why there’s no simple answer and why it’s important to have an idea of your budget when considering a new website.
We accept that a lot of people have no idea what a website costs or what’s involved, but if you asked the same question to an architect, for example, ‘how much do you charge to build a house?’ I’m sure they’d have some questions for you before they could answer and the same applies to web design.
One of the first questions they’d ask would be ‘what is your budget?’ and for the same reasons it’s what we usually go back to new enquiries with.
Why we ask for your budget
It’s simple really, there are many ways to approach creating a new website, knowing your budget enables us to guide you towards a solution that is appropriate for you and avoid suggesting things that are outside your price range.
The same way an architect wouldn’t suggest marble floors and a hot tub in every room if you didn’t have the budget for it!
Ultimately it can save a huge amount of time. There’s no point us suggesting a bespoke website with a load of features, increasing your expectations to then find out you’ve got a budget of £500. That situation is no good for either party.
Problems we face when asking for a client’s budget
The majority of people would expect to have to give an architect an idea of the budget when building a house, however more often that not when we ask clients for their budget for a new website things are rarely so simple.
This usually comes down to one of two situations; either a client has no idea how much they should be spending or they imagine that we’ll try and charge them 100% of their budget no matter what the requirements.
We appreciate these problems and accept that it’s unlikely most clients will have an exact figure in mind when it comes to a new website but it’s important to do a little bit of research and have an approximate budget in mind when approaching a digital agency.
How do you work out your budget
This can be difficult and dependent of a number of factors but the main one being, how important is your website going to be to the success of your business?
If you’re the only hairdresser in a small town, most of your client base have been coming to you for years and are unlikely to be going anywhere but you just want a presence online to advertise contact details, opening hours, etc then it’s unlikely spending a huge amount on your website is going to make that much difference to your business.
However, if you operate in a highly competitive field or sell goods online then delivering a good experience on your website could be vital to increasing/maintaining leads and/or sales.
The main factors that affect the cost of a website are: the amount of the time/detail that goes into creating it and also who does it.
For the hairdresser, getting someone to set up a template or even doing it yourself would be a cost effective way of getting an online presence that is suitable for your business. Using a template vastly reduces the cost because groundwork has already been done, theme developers rely on selling a high volume at a low price to make this viable.
For businesses who place more importance on their website we’d always suggest avoiding templates and getting a bespoke website created. Bespoke websites obviously cost a lot more because they’re designed and built from scratch, completely tailored to the business’ needs and objectives (something you don’t get with a template).
Once you’ve decided to go down the bespoke route the cost comes down to who you get to do it. Large, high-end agencies have lots of staff and big overheads – they’ll charge a lot more but you’re usually paying for their diversity of skills and experience.
We’re a small agency, for a basic bespoke website a budget of £2,000 – £3,000 is a good place to start. If you require a lot of features or your website is an e-commerce store then the budget would need to adapt accordingly.
Once we have your approximate budget we would discuss your needs and suggest a specification to match, adding or removing features to ensure the final quote meets your financial expectations.
We pride ourselves on being completely transparent and will happily suggest the right route for you even if that means not working with us. Give us a call on 01903 234651 or email [email protected] if you need any advice on a new website.