You’ve decided it’s time to upgrade your website, but there’s one important concern: your budget or lack thereof.
So, how much will it cost you to design a professional website in Atlanta?
The right answer to this often-asked question is, “it depends.”
It’s kind of like asking about the cost of building a house without narrowing it down to the specifics.
It’s easy to come up with a range, but we don’t find that very helpful. So how about we try to break everything down for you?
The general rule of thumb is: the more complex the website is, the higher the cost.
What Goes into the Web Designing Process?
Professional web design is often a complex process that involves bringing together project managers, designers and developers, content writers, and SEO nerds to work on your project. Then again, some web design agencies like Make It Loud do it all for you.
That being said, you can use this step-by-step guide to come up with a ballpark figure of how much it will cost you to hire a web design agency in Atlanta:
The Type of Website
The cost of designing a website in Atlanta will, of course, vary depending on the type of website you’re designing.
Simply stated, there are four broad categories of business websites:
Simple or Small Business Website
If your business is small and only has a few products or services that you have no intention of selling online, then you could do with a simple website. What you’ll need is a simple, static website to act as your online business card where people can come to contact you or find out more about your business.
Most web design companies will charge you a basic design fee and a per-page charge. At Make It Loud, we start with 5-page websites and charge $150/page beyond that, so the total design fee for your website depends upon the number of pages.
Conversion-focused Business Website
Are you planning on using your new website to attract new business? (Why wouldn’t you want that?)
What you’ll need is a well-polished website designed to convert your visitors and display your business in a way that’s more engaging to your prospective customers.
This type of website is ideal for a small, service-focused business.
A conversion-focused business website is likely to cost you between $3000 and $10,000 in Atlanta. At Make It Loud, we start our WordPress websites at $3000.
Basic Ecommerce Website
If you’re planning to sell online and accept payments on your site, then you need an e-commerce website.
An e-commerce website has a set of unique features that places it in a category of its own – product database, payment gateway, shopping cart functionality, and a nicely-configured shipping matrix.
An e-commerce website in Atlanta costs between $5,000 and $25,000 depending upon the number of products you intend to sell.
Custom Feature-rich Site
If you have a large project, you might want to set up a unique, custom-made website with loads of unique features. That may mean incorporating tailor-made plugins, designing an innovative web app, or conducting an enterprise-level database integration.
Feature-rich, custom-made websites or apps cost above $15,000 in Atlanta and can go as high as $250,000 depending on the scope of the project and the work involved.
Other Considerations When Building A Website
It’s important to know that getting a website for your business has a few other associated costs. These aren’t usually big-dollar issues, but they can add up. Other costs include:
Registering Your Domain Name
The first thing you’ll need when designing a website is a domain name (if you haven’t registered one already).
A domain name is like the address to your website. It’s the URL that people will be using to find your website.
How much you spend on a domain name depends on the type of domain you choose. But usually, their price ranges between $10 and $50 per year.
On top of that, you’ll also be required to purchase an SSL certificate.
In this case, you have three domain options to choose from: Domain SSL, Organizational SSL, and Extended SSL.
Again, the amount you spend on an SSL certificate will vary depending on the SSL option you choose. The cheapest SSL goes for about $5 per year, while the most expensive SSL goes for an exaggerated amount of up to $3899 per year. Paying around $150/year is about the average though.
The Cost of Hosting the Site
The cost of hosting a standard website is about $55 per month and more if you’re dealing with a complex web project.
The amount you spend on web hosting will vary depending on how many visitors the site is targeting, the type of website you want to create, your storage requirements, and so on.
You also have to consider performance, security, support, and maintenance services while choosing a web hosting company.
You can trust your agency to help you choose the right web hosting services or package for you.
Copywriting
When it comes to web design, your content is just as important as the layout, design and functionality of the site. Based on that, you want to make sure that you have strong content.
Some business owners choose to write the content themselves, but more often than not, this is a mistake. Why? Simple. Most business owners write for themselves rather than their customers.
Professional copywriters write always write for their readers and more importantly, that’s what Google wants. So, using an agency that has copywriters on staff is the best way to go because it gives your business the best chance at greater visibility with the search engines.
If you’re doing your own website, the first challenge is finding a good copywriter. Finding someone to write your content is easy, but finding good copywriters can be a challenge. Fees for this service can be all over the map from $25 to $2500/page.
Design and Database Integration
The most important part of creating your website is developing a positive user experience and appealing aesthetic.
There are two things involved in this: your site’s visual language and its usability.
You have to plan for your visual content and all the information on your site.
The web designing cost you’ll be charged depends on how you want the site to look. The agency might help you develop effective web architecture, but usually, the price ranges from $300 to $10,000 depending on the nature of your project and the agency in question. At Make It Loud, we include all this in our bottom line prices.
Ongoing Maintenance
Even after the agency finishes designing your website and hands over everything to you, you’ll still have to pay someone to help you maintain the site for you.
Any modern website will require regular maintenance to stay relevant and technologically updated.
Unless you’re designing a really simple, static website or have the required level of technical know-how to maintain the site, you may be required to allocate a monthly maintenance budget for the site.
The typical cost of maintaining a website may range from $50 and $200 a month, depending on the changes being made.
At Make It Loud, we include an hour training session for all our customers to help them understand how to update and make changes to their own website, but we also have an ongoing maintenance plan at $150/month.
Do-It-Yourself Web Design
No blog post would be complete if we didn’t talk about the less expensive options. Now, we’re not here to bash Squarespace, Wix, and the others out there. Many small business owners turn to these tools to quickly establish their online presence.
These sites can be a good starting point. Some of the templates even look nice, but there are other hidden costs.
What’s the site of having a bad website?
Here’s the thing. Your website is your digital front door. It’s often the first impression people have of your business. Are you really sure you want to design that yourself?
Many business owners who use DIY websites don’t know the first thing about design or conversion, so their site actually does more to chase potential customers to their competitor sites.
Websites these days are about establishing trust and credibility in nearly every industry. If that’s not there, a DIY website can do more harm than good. That’s why we recommend using professional web developers.
So, What’s the Final Cost of Web Designing in Atlanta
Now that you know what goes into the designing process, let’s run you through a rough estimate of how much it might actually cost you to set up a fully functional website in Atlanta:
· For a simple, small business website, you can expect to pay around $3000-$5000.
· For a conversion-focused business website, you might be required to shell out between $3000 and $10,000 for the project
· For an e-commerce website, the cost may range anywhere from $6000 to $25,000
· Lastly, a customized website with a long list of unique features is more likely to cost you upwards of $15,000
Again, these figures are nothing more than estimates. Meaning, the actual cost can vary significantly depending on the agency you choose and the work involved. So, take it with a grain of salt and make a point of reaching out to a few selected agencies for a quote.
If you’re interested in getting a specific and personalized estimate of your website design cost, contact us today for a quote for your specific needs.
