How Much Does a Website Cost? (A UK Guide)
March 8th 2021 | By Steve Grant
You know you need a website, but the question is, how much is it going to cost? The trouble is, when you ask, ‘how much does a website cost?’, it’s like asking how much does a car or a house cost. In other words, it’s going to vary, and quite wildly too. Let’s take a look at what the options are when it comes to setting up a website, how much they might cost, and what you need to factor in when setting your web design budget.
What influences the cost of website design?
Websites vary enormously in cost. You could pay anything from £200 up to tens of thousands of pounds. Whilst that’s a vast range, it really all depends what you need, which is going to be driven by what you’re looking to achieve.
At the bottom end of the spectrum, you’re looking at a DIY website builder. That means setting everything up yourself. A basic site with a few pages and straightforward features is what you’ll get within this budget.
At the higher end, £30K+, you are going to be looking at bells and whistles. Bespoke design, integrated booking functionality, secure customer portal or private client area, ecommerce, data capture and email marketing integration, built-in SEO features, and other advanced elements.
So hopefully now it’s easier to see that the question ‘how much does a website cost’ is not so straightforward after all, and that you’ll need to consider a great deal before you can get a final costing for the site you need.
How much does a basic DIY website cost?
How much does a DIY website cost? You’re probably looking at around £200 setup, then in the region of £10 to £15 per month to keep it online and for basic support.
If you have a fair degree of technical knowledge and enough time, and you don’t need any complicated functionality, then a self-build website may suit you. It’s a low cost way to get started, but it’s important to be aware that many businesses quickly outgrow the limited features that are typical of website builders. It’s also common to run out of time to keep the site up to date.
Also bear in mind that basic DIY websites won’t be built on a strong SEO foundation, so you may need to factor in additional investment to help you achieve the online visibility you need to reach your targets.
DIY and template websites are fairly low cost, but they have their limitations.
How much does a bespoke website cost?
A bespoke website is one that’s built from scratch, with each and every element tailored to suit the specific objectives of your business and your sales and marketing needs, including online visibility and SEO. It will give you precisely what you need in terms of customised functionality, user experience and design.
How much will you pay for bespoke web design? That will depend on the individual features, but as a guide, you are going to be looking at £5K upwards, more for an ecommerce site.
Of course, there is ground in between these two extremes. You may be able to have a lower spec website designed for you for around £2-£3K. This level of site will usually be based on a template, so there may not be too much flexibility to fit with your branding or specific needs. But it can prove a fair compromise if your budget needs to be kept in check.
What about ongoing costs?
Once your website is launched, there will be various ongoing costs involved for website care and hosting. So, when you ask how much does a website cost, be sure to factor these in.
Domain renewal
Firstly, you’ll need to pay to renew your domain every year. This will usually cost less than £10 per annum.
Website care and hosting
Secondly, you will a hosting and care plan. Not all hosting is created equal, and costs will vary depending on what’s included in the plan and the grade of hosting you are buying into.
Factors to consider include the speed and scalability of your hosting, security protection, uptime monitoring, backup frequency and data protection. Remember that a fast website is an SEO friendly website, and hosting will play an important role in determining the speed of your site.
Hosting costs will vary depending on the size of your website and the space it will accommodate on the hosting server. This will usually include the hosting itself, and some form of support. Again, the level of support will vary depending on what you pay.
At the lower end of the scale you will find cheap, shared hosting for anything from £2 to £10 per month. Do bear in mind though that your site will be sharing server space with other websites, so if one of those is compromised or blacklisted, your site is likely to be affected too.
If you are looking for a website care and maintenance plan that gives you additional support for the likes of Google Analytics, WordPress and WooCommerce, or you feel that priority support is vital because your business relies on round the clock online uptime, then you can expect to pay upwards of £150 per month up to around £300 per month. This will usually get you dedicate hosting that is suitable for larger sites with high traffic, such as ecommerce websites.
Not all web hosting and maintenance is created equal, and costs will vary depending on what’s included in the plan.
Search engine optimisation
There is little point in a website that can’t be found online. Without search engine visibility, you may as well switch the site off.
The ideal scenario is that your website is built for search engine success from the ground up, incorporating all the elements a site needs to be indexed and considered trustworthy and quality by the likes of Google.
Once your site is launched, you will need an ongoing search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy to ensure your business goals are met consistently.
If you have your sights set on those Google top spots, climbing above your competitors, then you’re going to need to invest in the help of a highly rated SEO agency whose experts will put onsite and offsite SEO strategies in place to get you that sales-boosting visibility you need. They will monitor progress on a monthly basis, ensuring you are on target to meet your objectives.
The cost for monthly organic SEO is around £500 to £2,500 per month depending on the number of keywords you wish to target and how quickly you are looking to reach your goals.
Email marketing
Email marketing can be one of the most cost effective ways to build a contact list, engage with an audience, nurture leads and reach new customers. There are many good reasons to invest in email marketing so, if you’d like to tap into its advantages then it’s worthwhile allowing some budget for it.
There are plenty of platforms you can use for email marketing, including MailPoet which is a WordPress plugin, as well as MailChimp, Campaign Monitor and Zoho Campaigns. All carry a monthly subscription cost based on your number of subscribers, but there are various free plans to get you started.
Email marketing can be one of the most cost effective ways to boost the success of your online campaigns.
Looking for a 5 star rated website design agency in London?
Here at Figment, we have been designing sales-driving, SEO-friendly websites for over 20 years. If you are looking to work with a web design agency London businesses trust and rate highly, please do get in touch and let’s talk about how we can help you get the best possible value out of your website design budget.