How Much Should A Website Cost?

At the bottom of the list, there are web page builders who will build you a simple static site for about $100 per page. If you put up a site which is purely to inform people and develop your company profile, you could get a functional, reasonably attractive site for about $700 (plus gst). These sites generally aren't ugly, but don't expect really beautiful graphics or clever effects.

If you want to make a web site more interactive, with feedback forms, connection to database driven information and the like, expect the costs to go up. Functions like taking money from people over the internet get right up there, with programming required to access big databases to search for card authorisation, and security features like encryption all taking significant time.

Once the site is built you know that someone has to maintain it and even just check that if people are interacting with you, you're doing what it takes to turn them from surfers to clients.

At the far end of the scale I spoke recently with a computer guy from one of the well known mining companies. He just couldn't accept that any web site was worth building if it wasn't worth more than $100 000. To put that in context he told me about a web site that his company and 3 others all contributed to building that cost quite a bit, but allows those concerned to save millions of dollars in processing costs every year.

Remember that one of the significant inputs to a web site is graphic design. One look at our site and you can tell that none of us spent years at art college, meanwhile it isn't so ugly that you want to leave it before you read what we have to say (I know that cause you're still here). If your site relies for it's impact on emotional responses or keeping the people entertained, you'll need to think seriously about attractive design.

So you have decided that your site will cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to about the cost of a boat for Greg Norman. For most of us it can be at the lower end of the scale. Certainly it's worth thinking about putting up a fairly basic site for several months to see if you can get visitors and whether you can convert them to sales. Sometimes you'll do this by really low tech ways once the introduction comes through the site.

If the purpose of the site is to save money, you might want to know whether the thing you want the site to do cheaper than the old method, is really still happening. A web site might be cheaper and more informative than sending a monthly newsletter to 500 clients, but how do you know how many of them visit it, and how many read it? Indeed, how many used to actually read the old hard copy one?

Disclaimer: This page is designed to provide information only and is not a substitute for advice that is specific to your business. Before acting on any of the information above it is important you seek further advice from a professional who has taken into consideration the nature and circumstances of your business.

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