Cost to Make a Website in 2020 | Website Development Cost

Jan 13, 2020

If you want to create a web presence, the most essential requirement is to have a website of your own. The next thing that may come in your mind would be the cost to build a website.

It is complicated and tricky to determine website development costs. Different factors influence the development cost. It is similar to there being different paths to reach the same goal. These factors are domain and hosting, website design, content, CMS, and maintenance.

Website development cost depends upon each of the individual requirements of the customer. Without knowing the details, you cannot define the cost to make a website in 2020.

The cost to build a website from scratch has always been a source of concern for business owners. The cost varies from one service provider to another, and it includes both fixed and variable costs.

Some of the reasons why it is difficult to arrive at an estimate and the factors that affect the cost to create a website for business are given below.

Domain

When you are planning to build a website, you should first purchase a domain name. A domain name is to denote one or more IP addresses. You can get a domain name from domain providers like GoDaddy, BlueHost, Google, HostGator, and more. Some providers offer you a variety of services like hosting, managing the DNS. So, according to your preferences and requirements you want from a domain provider, you should choose respectively. Generally, a domain would cost you around USD $12 to $20 a year.

Hosting

You will need a webserver to host your website. For this, you will have to pay monthly or annually. This will depend upon the type of package you have chosen from your service provider. Moreover, the website development expenses would also depend upon whether it is a shared or dedicated hosting space. Thus the price for a shared hosting environment would be anywhere from USD $70 to $150. Hosting it on Virtual Private Server may cost between USD $565 to $1400 per annum depending on the server platform and configuration.

Design

Depending upon the type of design chosen for the website, the cost of this varies. There are a few ready-made designs available for free, but they have certain limitations. These designs are challenging to maintain, and they do not have any support from anywhere. Hence going in for a professional design is advisable. Again this would cost you for once, and later on, when you want to make any modifications, it will cost you additionally. Hence, the best way is to get an exclusive design. For this, you can outsource this task to a web designer, or you can Hire Web App Developers and get it tailor-made according to your needs and delivered it before the deadlines.

This neat, professional design might cost around USD $140 to $850.

Content

Content is an essential thing that is necessary for the success of a website. Therefore, getting the right information uploaded on the website and that too within the appropriate timeline is truly important. This content may include anything from documents, images, write-ups, videos, or any other resources.

Content can be available in different formats like blogs, presentations, videos, and others. Depending upon the type of business you are running, the cost is determined.

Marketing factors like digital marketing and SEO also play a role in determining the overall cost of the website development.

Content Management System (CMS)

To upload and update the content on the website, you need a quality CMS. There are several free CMS available in the market, like Drupal, Wordpress, Joomla, and Magento. However, this will not serve the desired purpose.

If you want to engage your customers in a better way, then you can have a customized CMS with the help of web developers. However, developing a customized CMS would cost you somewhere between USD $1400 to $4000.

Search Engine Optimization(SEO)

SEO is a vital factor in helping your website rank on SERP for a particular set of keywords. When you optimize your sites, they will appear higher in search results when a person searches for a business like yours. Search Engine Optimization may cost between USD $1000 to $5,000 annually for a business. It will take a period of six months for the SEO to show the results.

Social Media Setup

Social media setup is to set up the business page on different social media platforms and updating it regularly with recent business updates. Social media pages help in strengthening your online presence and ranking in search results.

If you do this as an in-house, it can be less expensive. Otherwise, if you desire to outsource, it may cost you anywhere from USD $70 to $300 year.

Setting up Email Newsletter

Newsletters have become increasingly popular among business houses to promote their businesses. To avail of this service, you need to have a newsletter application service integrated into your website. This depends on the type of newsletter you want to send.

Responsive Web Pages

A responsive website is very essential to improve user presence across different platforms and screen sizes. Google gives importance to this feature. It takes into consideration the mobile page speed as a ranking factor, it is necessary to keep your website responsive. Making such a website can result in the cost going high. For example, if a website has 5 to 10 pages, its additional cost can grow up by USD $50 to $200 per site.

Clear Navigation Structure

A clear navigation structure is necessary to help visitors to get their pieces of information quickly. Thus, having a better user experience, developing clear navigation requires a better understanding of human behavior. This also adds to the cost of building the website necessary. This navigation structure can cost you somewhere between USD $100 to $500, depending on the complexity and simplicity of the navigation menu.

Site searches

This is an added feature to navigation capability. A virtual assistant can help you locate things on the website. This works best for users when you have made some changes to the site. For adding such user-friendly features, the cost can increase by USD $140 to $500 per website depending upon the type of search option you add.

Cost of an eCommerce extension

Adding complex features like forums or scheduled discussions can result in the added cost for web development. An eCommerce extension is also an expensive feature. It will also add a higher workload on the website developer. For this, the website developer will have to design a product catalog for the business and add a shopping cart feature to the website. This will also require payment gateway integration. All this can result in an additional cost of USD $140 to $1000.

Conclusion

Although it is possible to set up a website at minimal cost there actually no use with it, a website without any functionality and features is a waste of money, time, and effort. Therefore, it is better to set up a site that has all the elements required to get the desired income and results.

Once you have created a website, make sure that you maintain it by updating it with relevant information from time to time. This will not only make your customers happy but will also help you stay ahead of your competitors in the market.