If you need a small business website, you probably already know that in today’s digitally creative economy, every business should have a website to ensure marketing success.
Approximately half of all consumers research local businesses online.
The cost of a small business website typically ranges anywhere from $2500 to $10,000. While brochure sites begin at $1,000, businesses from specific industries need more website functionality and will pay up to $10,000 for a site with special features. If you’re a typical startup or a small business looking for a long-term website investment, expect to pay about $5000.
Small Business Web Design Pricing
You may ask why is there such a big discrepancy in the price range? As an owner of Studio Los Angeles, a web agency for small businesses, web designer for non-profit organizations, I will explain how much and why a website cost.
Website design is a highly customized and professional service. The main reason why most web design companies can’t easily explain their pricing is that there is a huge variety of web design options, features, and packages and most prospects want something entirely different.
Like with any service, it’s important to know what you’re getting — or not getting — for your money’s worth. Let’s take a deeper look at small business web design pricing.
What Factors Influence the Cost of a Small Business Website?
$1900 will be a great value for a law firm from Sherman Oaks, CA in need of a very basic 10-page informational website to help them stand out online in their local community. However, $10000 might not be sufficient for a busy non-profit organization based in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. Their site requires multiple service pages with a booking for events, payment integration and SEO setup.
Small business website design may span anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars to build inspirational sites that function as needed.
Every business is unique—business owners have different needs. However, most websites have several common features that contribute to the cost of development, including:
Content Management System
What kind of a CMS (Content management system) will your website use? Every website is built on a platform and the vast majority of SMB websites are running on a CMS platform. The most popular and powerful CMS platform for small businesses is WordPress. The technology behind WordPress offers a superior way of creating, customizing and maintaining websites.
The CMS you pick determines the ease of maintenance, security, and optimization.
Using WordPress for small business websites is a great way to leverage quality and convenience when creating your online presence. Consider the advantages and how to do it.
WordPress website development costs a bit more, but they offer more possibilities on your website as opposed to other CMS platforms or website builders.
WordPress happens to be our preferred and only web design platform of choice. We don’t design and develop websites with lesser-known CMS and website builder platforms such as Shopify, Joomla, Wix or Squarespace.
Functionality
When it comes to functionality and different type of options that websites offer, the possibilities are virtually unlimited. At one point every business owner hoping to create a website will be asked very specific questions by a web developer.
When building a website for a small business, many people do not take the time to stop and take a step back to check its functionality. However, website functionality can be a make-or-break feature when it comes to users interacting with your site.
Will this be a simple, informational website, or are we looking to add functional add-ons? What exactly do you want to accomplish with your site? What kind of custom site options or plugins should the site feature? The questions serve a purpose.
When considering how your website for a non-profit organization or for a small business, you should look at it from the user’s perspective. Think about how your users interact with the site, in other words, how they navigate it, how they fill out forms, view pictures, and more.
The type and level of customization and interactivity features will influence the website costs. It’s important to explain to your developer all your needs in detail.
There are relatively simple add-ons that enhance the usability of any site. Many businesses like to showcase a modern gallery featuring their most recent work or a custom video playing in the page background.
Interested in content marketing and setting up a blog on your site? Make sure your web agency can help set up a blog and newsletter.
Quality of Web design for Small business
Marketing professionals claim that your website is your most powerful marketing asset. Customers are quick to make an impression of your company based on the quality and look of your website design.
Design trends change with every year and so does the perception of what kind of website looks is modern or professional.
Many beginning web developers use predesigned web templates or WordPress themes. These cheap web solutions help them to create a simple online presence.
However, most professional web design companies create custom sites from scratch where they have full control over every visual, technical, and optimization aspect of the site. Using their web development skill they build a custom site with wonderful visual possibilities such as asymmetric layouts, parallax, and interactive animations to name a few.
Custom website design featuring a unique design will cost more.
How “big” is the website?
The number of pages on a website largely depends on the type of information the target audience is looking for. Before you invest in website development, remember that a website can never be perfect. Aim for rough outlines you’ll polish later rather than perfection from square one.
Since the needs of your target audience keep evolving, you will have to include fresh information anyway, which only makes it natural that your web pages change. As a result, your website should keep growing.
Optimization: Is the Website Optimized for Search
In 2022, the question isn’t whether a website is fully responsive and works great on mobile. That is a given. The question is whether the website is optimized for search and actually performing and receiving traffic — which is a different issue altogether. Every business owner can easily access website visitor information by logging into Google Search Console or Google Analytics.
At studio Los Angeles We specifically specialize in designing websites highly optimized for search engine optimization. We take extra measures to ensure that every finish we create is optimized for search intent. We do keyword research and help pick the best keywords. We make sure the website loads not fast and caches. In other words, we have to make sure the site is ready to cope with the latest Google algorithms.
Other factors influencing your small business’s web design costs
Finally, let’s consider the aspect of the human work it takes to build a website. An experienced web developer will offer guidance every step of the way and offer professional customer service once the project is finished. Hire someone who will provide ongoing website maintenance support and will help with many website-related issues such as:
Every business is unique—business owners have different needs. However, most websites have several common features that contribute to the cost of development, including:
- Domain registration
- Website hosting
- Security certificates (SSL)
- Site design
- Number of web pages
- Added functions
- Content management
Companies in professional services (medical, law) might seem to offer expensive services, so it only makes sense for them to invest more and build a website that attracts their target audience.
When it comes to small business web design costs, design is a cost factor that varies widely. Your company may prefer a no-fuss look while another may want a high-end layout that requires more designer time.
Small business website design may span anywhere from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars to build inspirational sites that function as needed.
Ready to get a professional website for your business?
Would you like to find out more about our affordable white-label web design company? Contact us by sending an email or scheduling a phone call conversation and let’s talk about your new website.