In this article you will learn about what a website  should cost and why.

          Determining how much a web site should cost is one of the most frequently asked but rarely answered questions in the web design world. Even now, with millions of websites online, there exists no magic formula for calculating either the cost of a new web site or the cost of a redesign because every project is different.

          If you were a car salesman, and I came to the dealership and asked you, “How much does a car cost?”, you wouldn’t be able to give me an accurate price without first determining in more detail exactly what it is that I’m looking for. Do you need a car or truck? Would you like leather, satellite radio, navigation, four wheel drive or two, four cylinder, six cylinder, eight cylinder, gas or diesel, Kia, Mercedes, or Lamborghini? The list goes on, but you get the point.

          The same philosophy applies for web design. How many pages will you need, how intricate would you like the graphic design to be, who will supply the content such as text and photos, will you require a database, who will be hosting the website, what kind of server would you like, will you be selling products, if so how many, how will you take payments, who will be maintaining the website on a monthly basis, does the site need to be optimized for search engines, do you need the website to be mobile phone and tablet responsive? There are about 250 questions that we could ask, but I’ll spare you the time.

          Our guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re confused with what you’ve heard about website pricing. One company may have quoted you more than $10,000 while GoDaddy and other online web builders say that you can have a beautiful website for just $5 per month. So what gives?

          Let me say this, if you take just one thing away from this article, please, please, please remember that you get what you pay for when it comes to web design. We’ve been doing this for 15 years and there has never been a single scenario or instance where this hasn’t been 100% true. If you are buying, or your biggest consideration for buying a website is based upon price, you’re no where near ready purchase. Now, let’s break down the types of websites available and the price range that each type of website should cost.