How much a website costs and what the price depends on

"How much does a website cost?" is probably the question I get most often. And the honest answer is: it depends. Not because I want to avoid a number, but because a website can be a single page with contact details or a shop with hundreds of products. Here is what the price really depends on.

Scope and content

The biggest factor is the number of pages and who prepares the texts and photos. If your content is ready, work moves faster. If texts need writing or photos need shooting or choosing, that is extra time that has to be reflected in the price.

Template or custom design

A template is cheaper and faster, but your site will look like hundreds of others. Custom design costs more, but it grows out of your brand and out of what your customers need to do on the site. For small businesses a compromise often works: a proven base that I adapt to your look.

Features that add up

• a booking system or calendar
• several language versions
• an online shop, payments and shipping
• a blog you can update yourself
• connections to other systems, such as accounting

Each of these means extra work, both in setup and in testing.

A cheap website isn't the one with the lowest price, it's the one that earns you money.

What to watch out for

Ask what is included and what isn't. The domain and hosting are paid yearly. Updates, backups and small changes after launch are usually a separate service. And make sure the website will be yours: that you get the logins and won't depend on one person.

Where you can save

Prepare texts and photos in advance, start with a smaller site you can grow later, and ask for a blog so you don't have to pay for every bit of news.

Tell me what your website should do and I'll send you a rough quote before we start anything.