Top Factors That Affect the Website Development Cost

Does your business need a website? The answer is an unequivocal yes! A website is like an online storefront for your business. If you do not like a store from the outside, you’re not likely to enter it to shop. Similarly, if the website is not attractive or engaging enough, you will not browse further. If you’re a business owner, you need to hire professional website design services to design and deliver attractive websites that catch the attention of your target audience.

Creating a website is a very integral part of setting up your business. Especially, if you have an online business, your eCommerce website design can make a big difference to the conversions you get. With professionals by your side, you can design and develop a website that’s suitable for your specific business needs. But how much is the cost of this?

What is the Estimated Cost of Website Design?

Website design and development is a long and complex process. The cost for it depends on various factors including the web design company you hire. Someone with lesser experience may charge less fees, but a more reputable company will have higher charges. Some other influencing factors are discussed below.

The Development Platform

The web developer has to choose a CMS platform before he/she starts making the website structure. A CMS, or a Content Management System, usually has pre-made themes and layouts. The developer can choose from the drop-down menu and add different elements of the website as per the selected theme. Most CMS platforms, such as WordPress, are open-source and therefore, free. But some like Wix charge money. So, depending on the development platform that you choose, the cost of the website will vary.

In some cases, a pre-made CMS theme might not be suitable for your business need. Then, you will need to create a customized website. The developer will have to start from scratch and come up with a complete code. This will increase both the cost and the development timeline. The cost for the developer will depend on the complexity of the website being made.

Layout and Appearance

As mentioned above, most CMS platforms come with several ready-to-use templates to create the website layout. Going ahead with any of these existing themes will reduce the web design cost, which in turn, can reduce the development cost. However, there are a few drawbacks to this. Firstly, by going forward with a pre-made template, you risk the chance of making a distinctive impression. Your website’s layout may look similar to some other websites and you may end up with a generic-looking design. Secondly, choosing a template makes it difficult for developers to make too many customizations. And so, your website may not match your brand’s specific visual tone.

Such problems can be avoided by hiring professional website design services to make a customized layout. When you go with a custom design, your website gets a user interface that is unique and distinctive. The website stands out in the crowd and delivers a positive user experience to the visitor. But, going for a customized website will drive up the development cost.

Number of Pages

A small website can be between 4 to 6 pages. A large website can have over 100 pages. When it comes to eCommerce website design, each product will have a separate page of its own. So naturally, the cost of web development goes up if the number of pages to design is more.

When a website has multiple pages, adding the content and other elements to each of them takes time. Designing and manipulating the content on each page requires great time and effort to be successfully implemented. In the case of images, they have to be compressed and optimized manually to produce the best and high-quality results. All this is specialized work, and the cost will increase if the quantity is more.

Number of Languages

An online website, unlike a retail shopfront, is not limited by its location. It can be accessed from all parts of the world. So, if you have a company that has a global presence, then you might consider creating a website with multiple language versions. This will make your brand more approachable to people from other regions. For example, the official website of Henkel, the German-based adhesive technologies company, offers multiple versions based on the chosen language and region.

But, developing a multilingual website is not easy. Firstly, the text part of your entire website has to be translated into a different language. Auto translating tools cannot be relied upon as they are not always correct. Further, the developer needs to implement the language option so that the site’s content changes when a different language is chosen. This can significantly increase the development costs.

Integration and Responsiveness

If your business runs on both online and offline models, then the website needs to be integrated with your offline business system. For example, if a customer visits the store and buys a product, that purchase should be reflected online too in the customer’s shopping history.

Similarly, if a business has a website as well as a mobile app, these two platforms need to be linked together. For example, if a customer adds some products to the checkout cart using the mobile app. Then, later when he/she opens the website, the selected products must appear on the cart on the website too.

This type of website integration is needed to maintain a smooth workflow and a positive user experience. Additionally, as the client, you must also demand a responsive web design. Most web users nowadays access websites using their mobile devices, deeming responsive websites a necessity. These factors increase the development cost as the job needs highly skilled experts.

Functionalities

If you want to add more features to your website like photo galleries, contact forms, chatbots, message boards, etc., then the development cost will go higher. A lot of the CMS platforms offer these various functionalities as a plugin option.

Most of these plugins require payment to be activated. While free plugins are available, the full potential of the feature cannot be accessed in the free version. You need to pay a charge to unlock the full range of capabilities of a plugin. So, a website with too many functionalities will have a higher cost.

Closing Thoughts

As a business owner, it is important to follow and stick to certain budgets for specific tasks. However, you must not try to cut down the expenses while making the company website. A poorly designed website can do more harm than good. So, make sure you hire a reliable and reputable web design company like Logo Design India, which can deliver professional-looking attractive websites at reasonable rates. A website is an integral part of all your marketing and advertising efforts including SEO and PPC ads.