So – you want to build a website?
Of course, if you’re not a professional web designer, it’s completely natural to be unsure of where to start. Factor in website cost, hosting, design, development and more and you may well be on your way to confusion!
Luckily, we can help. With decades of expertise in the art of exciting, engaging, and built-to-last web design, we love helping our clients feel prepared for and familiar with the entire design process – from ideation, to handover.
Let’s look at the key things you need to know before embarking on your web design journey.
- How much will a website cost?
Ah, the most asked question in the web design universe! If only there was a single answer.
There is, of course, no client-shaming from our incredible team when it comes to this question being engaged with. As a savvy business-owner and the custodian of your brand’s assets, of course you want to know exactly what your expenses are going to be.
At Vibes Design, we encourage our clients – new and old – to consider a slightly different question: what is it that I want from my website?
Often, your answer to this question – which is likely to include particular characteristics, capabilities, functionalities, and more – will help you determine the cost.
Of course, another way of looking at website cost is as an investment.
So – what will the cost of your website be? Think carefully about your website design project objectives, working closely with a transparent, experienced and dedicated design partner and the answer will become clear.
- How much money do I need to design a website?
Once you’ve chosen a website partner to work with, you’ll want them to help you map out the entire web design process.
By nature, this will include website design costs: this is the investment involved in creating the look, feel, colour scheme, imagery and readability of your website, from the ground up.
End-to-end website design costs can range from anything as low as $1,500 to $50,000, and beyond. What separates the low-end from the high-end options? The answers are endless, but can include things like:
- Functionality (e.g. eCommerce capability)
- Interactivity of design
- Page count and sitemap
- SEO considerations and strategy
- Animated elements
- Language design
- Complexity of the back-end CMS
…and more.
When it comes to website design, it’s important to sit down with your chosen website design agency and have a discussion about your budget, needs, and ideal outcomes when it comes to a website that will best serve your needs.
At Vibes Design, we pride ourselves on working with you to create a purpose-built business asset that is tailored to your exact needs. Our prices are accessible, workable and jam-packed with value-add that you’re unlikely to get working with less-experienced freelance designers.
- Does a website need to be optimised for mobile?
In the first quarter of the year 2021, Statista reports that mobile devices generated over 54% of website traffic globally.
What’s more, in a mind-boggling study commissioned by Google and executed by 55 and Deloitte, it was found that decreasing the load times of mobile sites by just one tenth of a second resulted in huge increases in conversion rates.
Need we say more?
To put it bluntly, a mobile-optimised website is now more important than ever before.
Your friendly Vibes Design team is well-versed in the subtle art of optimising for mobile. Our approaches include:
- Ensuring a 100% responsive website design choice
- Structuring data and content in particular ways
- Compressing images
- Sticky call to action (CTA) buttons – easy to find for mobile users
- Adding videos
- Performance optimisation for hand-held devices
- Focusing on user experience (UX)
- Optimising title tags and meta descriptions
…and more.
Nervous about what this might mean for the design and website development costs of your project? Chat with our friendly team today to get some clarity – we can help!
- Are there any hidden costs when developing a website?
It’s a great question, and one that we like to address with our clients early on in the process.
Luckily, as a much-valued client of the Vibes Design family, you’ll receive a detailed proposal and scope of work early on that includes an exact quotation and expectations of outgoings for the entire project – ideation, to completion.
This helps you eliminate any surprise costs and fees, instead allowing you to relax into the excitement and revolutionary capacity of embarking on the journey towards your new website.
Of course, there’s no denying that unexpected website development costs can be killer – particularly in this day and age of economic and business-related pressures. We help you mitigate the risks by speaking openly and honestly about your concerns, pain points and the ways you need your website to work, then outlining to you the many services, options and resulting solutions you have at your disposal.
- What is website hosting and how much will it cost?
Often the most overlooked yet most important key element of the website design process, website hosting is the act of housing, servicing and maintaining the files related to your website. Good website hosting maintains storage space for your website that is both secure and stable, meaning less downtime, better performance/load time, and optimal security for your business.
When it comes to website hosting costs, there are a bevvy of options – just like when it comes to web design more generally. From the basics of self-operated hosting through to optimised, managed web hosting services, hosting generally includes server management, backup, maintenance of software, security, technical support, and more.
When building a website, you have two options: host the website yourself, or engage someone to do it (managed web hosting services).
Luckily, we offer you the latter. This means you’ll never again have to worry about mitigating and managing the effects of potential hacks, glitches, costly downtime, and more. Just leave it to the experts!
The cost of web hosting can vary – from just a few dollars each month for self-managed hosting through to several hundred or thousands of dollars each year for the most premium of managed services.
Ready to chat through your options? We can guarantee there’s an accessibly priced package tailored just to your needs, and waiting for you. Reach out to our friendly Vibes Design team today to learn more.
