Making sense out of website pricing
Photo via Little Visuals
Let's realign on the bottom line when it comes to the cost of a website.
Sure, price is important, and you want to spend as little as possible. But when you sift through all the estimates you’ve gathered, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.
Pricing a website is highly subjective and dependent on many variables.
Let’s look at those variables and shed some light on why it may not be the best thing to pick a web development company solely on price.
Availability
Like any business there is a natural ebb and flow to the amount work that comes in at any given time. Sometimes it depends on the season. Sometimes it depends on the industry.
It’s not uncommon for a company to raise their rates when they’re booked, while some will even reduce their rates when business is slow.
This is one area where pricing can vary greatly from one web development agency to another.
Aside from price, you probably also want to know when your website will be done so it’s important to know how soon work can begin on your project.
If you have a firm, absolutely-must-be-done-by-this-date deadline, availability may take precedence over cost. For others working within a more flexible timeline, waiting a bit longer than expected could help shave some dollars off the price tag.
Services offered
Value is often an underrated factor when someone is looking to buy a new website. Just like shopping for a car or house, there are a variety of additional features that can impact price.
These tend to vary among companies, so it’s important for you, the client, to understand what is fluff and what is standard – and how those additional services help your cause.
Take Visionary, for example. ADA compliance is a major part of our early design process. We work with our clients to make sure that the final user interface is not only intuitive but also accessible to users with disabilities.
That is also carried through to our front-end development process. And when the site is ready for launch, we’ll make sure you know what you can do to ensure your site is compliant.
To some, this may sound like fluff, but ADA compliance is something we take very seriously and have made it an integral part of our workflow.
Same with testing. Before a client even sees their test site, it’s been put through the ringer internally for quality control.
That takes work, which is built into our pricing based on its value. We take pride in what we do, and we’re not comfortable skimping on something as simple as testing just to reduce the price of our product.
Requirements
It should go without saying, but an ecommerce website is priced differently than a blog, and a brochure site is priced differently than a web app. Every website project has different requirements, making it impossible to sell a site at a fixed cost.
Functionality plays a major role in determining those requirements. The more dynamic a site is, the more it’s likely going to cost – dynamic meaning how reliant a site is on user feedback, either through data collection or on-page interactions.
Polling widgets, reservation forms, shopping carts, and product feeds are just a few of the many things you may want to have on your site but will dictate the final price.
Fortunately with Visionary, the world is your oyster. We have the talent and experience to build anything your heart desires – and build it well.
Client budget
Yes, you heavily influence how much a site will cost.
We love thinking up innovative interfaces and developing dynamic web systems, but knowing your price cap will help us understand how far we can push the envelope when it comes to your new website.
Some are reluctant to share what they’re willing to spend, which is completely understandable. But that doesn’t bode well for a constructive, working rapport.
If you’re truly in the market for a family-friendly, fuel-efficient four-door sedan, it doesn’t do anyone any good to start by showing you the year’s newest muscle car.
By knowing what you’re willing to spend from the onset, we can cut to the chase and talk about what the best solutions are for your price range. That makes the relationship between you and the vendor less combative and more collaborative.
And really, that’s what the best sites are built on.
Are you in the market for a new website? Give us a call or send us a message today. If you enjoyed this article, check out our Buy Local, Web Local and I Want a Cheap Website posts.
