Websites rarely come in neat boxes with a yellow label showing the price and feature list. Website costs can be deceptive. If you are trying to decide how much to budget, or looking over a set of proposals, you’ll want to know what the bottom line really means. One estimate may seem low, but you might end up paying much more in the long run. Another estimate may include elements that you can more easily accomplish in-house.

If you are looking at completed websites, you may be able to judge the cost of the website from the quality and the functional elements, but some things might also be misleading. Good graphic layout and design isn’t necessarily measured in bulk. A lot of images and fancy animation can be found on cheap sites, while a very simple clean graphic look is often the result substantial planning and work by disciplined graphic designers. Often, the more natural a site feels, the greater the care and hard work that went into its construction.

In many cases an existing website will have something you really like, but the owner may have spent a lot on features that are less relevant to your needs. If you understand why you want a website, and have done a good job of prioritizing your needs, you should be able to confine the costs to those areas that are most important to you. The key is to spend the most in the areas that will bring you the best return.

We have broken out some typical website cost categories and thrown in a range of costs for each. In some areas, you will be able to get more value for each additional dollar spent. In other areas, there are certain value levels and spending much more will not bring any return.

Strategic Planning and Development

Good planning done prior to the commencement of actual design will greatly reduce the overall cost of the website. Redesign is costly, scope creep and loss of focus can derail a project entirely. Taking the time to get all the potential decision makers, in advance, to agree on the goals and process that will be used in development will give you the best chance of getting you what you want for the budget you have laid out. This preplanning is not free, of course. You should account for the time spent internally, including that by the top-level decision makers. And, you will want your design firm involved in the preplanning process to a great extent.

Creating a website involves strategic thinking, analysis of needs and audiences, awareness of where you want it to develop over time. Having the right information architecture and good design notes on how it should look before starting will save a lot of time and money later. How much you should be paying for planning varies widely depending on the size of the project, the type of firm you're dealing with, the management style of your own organization, and whether you intend to be more of a leader or an imitator in the market.

This element will normally use at least five to ten hours. For every design and programming hour allot anywhere from a quarter hour up to an hour for management. Rates run from $30 an hour up to $200 an hour.

Project Management

A complex website involves many elements which must fit together properly. Timing is also important, certain steps need to be completed before others can begin. Some elements may have to be redone if not coordinated properly. Even if you have a single designer doing a basic site, the communication between designer and client are a form of Project Management. One party has to ensure that all communications are tracked and nothing falls through the cracks. Not all designers are inclined to spend time managing their own projects, transferring that burden entirely to the client.

Assume that for every hour spent on design or program, at least a quarter hour to an hour will be necessary to manage the project. Project management hours will probably be billed at about the same rate as the design hours. Factors such as institutional complexity and functionality will increase costs of project management in ways similar to their affect on strategy costs.

Web Design and Graphic Design

This should be one of the most important elements in the creation of your Website, yet is often taken for granted. A poorly designed site will drive people away. A site that is difficult to navigate will only frustrate visitors. It is true that unless you're trying to compete in a very tight market, you don't need to spend as much as the major corporations. However, first impressions are sometimes the most important, and this is no less true of how a first time visitor to your Website. Of course, you want to convey a look that is a reflection of your organization's personality, mission, and goals. Remember that many times "less is more". To achieve the crisp, professional look, it might be wise to request a proposal from 2-3 vendors. More than likely, you will receive a range of prices, since each vendor may offer distinct features that will help you build your online identity.

Custom design web development firms typically start at around $1,000 and can cost more than $500,000. The advantage of custom design is that you communicate a look and feel that is particular to your firm or company. As prices escalate for design, hopefully, you gain the additional benefits of advertising, creating a marked impression in the viewer that will result in some great benefit to the company.

Database Development

More and more Websites are incorporating database functionality to provide added value to the visitor's experience on the site, and to increase the efficiency of in-house operations.

If your firm uses a database(s) that can easily be updated, maintained, or accessed over the web, your operational costs will almost certainly decrease as a result of adding database functionality to your site. Examples of database development that can help improve your site include: clearinghouse of all electronic media (newsletters, press releases, job listings, etc.);contact information for clients and vendors; product listings; photo galleries; etc.

The use of a database in combination with necessary programming that will allow your site to become "data-driven" will only further enhance the functionality of your Website by providing a means to maintain your site without prior knowledge of HTML programming or HTML editors.

Rates for this element are pretty widespread depending on your needs. Depending on your needs, this element could cost as little as $1500, to as much as $50,000 for enterprise level systems.

Domain Registration

A small, but sometimes overlooked expense in Website development is domain name registration; cheap self-registration sites may be as low as $15 dollars a year, per name. Depending on the type of site, you may also need to register domain names for .com, .net, .org, and possibly domain names that are variant spellings.

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