We can all agree that the content is more important than the website design itself. But the website design can also be an important factor as to why a first-time page visitor would stick on reading the content of your website. As in the case of serving food, the presentation is as equally important as the taste of the food.
We may see a lot of pricing online pertaining to building an entire website. In case you already have an existing website, can you separate the pricing specifically intended for the website design alone?
In this article, we will be discussing the cost of website designing and the factors affecting its price.
Average Cost of Website Design
When it comes to pricing of website design, there is no definite answer as this can be a case to case basis. But the average cost of website designing can range anywhere between $2,000 and $10,000 which depends on a lot of factors like the technical and creative complexities, the choice of the web designer, the size of the company, among others. But you can see some web design pricing ranging from as low as $500 up to as high as a whopping $250,000.
There are basically four methods of how your website design is going to be priced by professionals. These are the following:
- By the hour – pricing through this scheme has a wide margin ranging from $8 for an amateur designer looking to gain more experience and clientele or an overseas web designer who works remotely, up to $500 for the expert professionals. The average cost would range around $125 to $150 per hour.
- By the number of pages – typical pricing for this method is around $100 to $300 per page but the cost per page tends to decrease as the number of page increases because of discount.
- By fixed price – this is the one we mentioned above to be ranging between $2,000 and $10,000 by average. The web design job would be quoted for a flat rate or fee to cover all the conditions and considerations you want for your website regardless of how many hours the designer would work to complete the design.
- By bidding – you could see some websites where you could ask designers to bid for your web design project. Just a precaution for accepting offers from those bidding too low as the quality may sometimes be compromised.
What are Included
Most cost of website designing involves the cost of the visual design, the user experience (UX) design, imagery collection, as well as the page and site map structure generation.
There are basically six types of website design which include the following:
- Static Page Layout
This type of layout serves content exactly as it is stored and does not change its width on the browser. It displays exactly the same information for all users and from all contexts. This is suitable for contents that do not need or rarely needs updating. It has lighter code compared to other websites which make it faster to load.
- Dynamic Website Layout
This type is the contrast of static layout mainly because it is written using different server side languages. When the website is designed like this, the content would be called in by the scripting language from a database or from other files depending on the actions of the user.
- Fixed design Layout
As the name suggests, fixed web pages have a fixed design layout that does not change or resize regardless of the device you use to view the website. If you are typically annoyed by a website that cannot be viewed on your browser as a whole page and you need to scroll horizontally if you are viewing a picture, then you know it is a fixed design layout.
- Responsive design Layout
This type of design is created to make the viewing of the website easier regardless of the device you are using as the content would automatically respond to the width of the browser without the need to resize, scroll, or pan through the web page.
- Liquid or Fluid design Layout
Just like a liquid which follows the shape of its container, this layout acts the same. So when you try to resize the browser, the content would spread out to fill the entire width so it may look either stretched or shrunk.
- Single page design Layout
This one-page website is popular because of their convenience as all you need can be seen under a single page that all it takes is a few scrolls and you are done. If you have seen one of those web pages which seem to have bottomless articles or contents, you would know it is a single page layout.
Additional Costs
Other costs associated with the web design pricing and setting up a website include the following which is based on the website pricing of WebPageFX.com and their corresponding costs:
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Before Ordering Website Design
Before even considering hiring a professional website designer, it is important to know what exactly do you need and how do you intend to go about it. Some of the considerations worth looking at before contacting any web designer include:
- Would you need a new design or just a redesign?
- Would you need blog management functionality?
- Would you need help in creating custom graphics or images on your site or do you have your own?
- Would you be servicing all platforms including mobile users?
- Would you need to post videos and other multimedia on your website?
- Would you need special features and functionalities such as social media interface, search engine optimization, online selling, etc.?
- Who do you intend to maintain the site?
When all of these have been thought upon and you have all the answers to these, then it is time to accept estimates and quotations from various web designers.
If you are a small business and would not want to invest on a website this early, there are some free website builders available online such as the Wix.com but with limited features. To be able to use the more advanced features, you need to subscribe to their paid version or the premium plans which start at $6.25 a month.
Factors Affecting Web Design Pricing
Location – the prevailing rate of web designers in the area also play a huge role in the pricing. In addition, those designers who are from abroad and work remotely tend to charge significantly lower than those sourced within the country.
How demanding you are as a client – if you are the type of client who demands more from the designer and made no secret about it, chances are, you would be charged more than those who just want a straightforward website.
The web design company – when you have contracted with a web design company and not just a professional individual, the cost would be affected by the popularity and stature of the said company. Also, the bigger the company, the higher the cost.
Nature of business – when you thought that the field of business you are involved in does not affect the website design rate, it actually does. Especially so if your company relies heavily on online marketing.
Site maintenance – most web designers would not like accepting jobs that include maintenance of the website. So if you intend to include this in the agreement which is for sure would be a big deal for most designers, chances are, they would make you realize it through the cost.