You don't need to spend $10,000 to have a website

Have you ever wondered what your company or personal website should look like? How many pages need to have? You see thousands of pages full of content and products on big companies' websites. Does your website really need so much content? In most cases, business websites don’t need more than a few service pages, including a contact page and an active blog to show your visitors what are you offering.

So, there are not enough reasons to compare your local business with Apple-sized companies. With so many websites builders, well-done themes, and content management systems you should never spend more than $10,000 on a website. If your needs are quite simple and you don't require complex functionalities, then skip expensive agencies and invest that money in marketing and other things that would bring people to your website. They are all your potential customers.

How much does a website for a local business cost?

Asking that is a little like asking “how much does a house cost?”

In fact, the answer depends a lot on the person who’s asking it and their needs and preferences. What location? How many bedrooms? What style? You get it.

However, because of how much simpler it is to create a website in 2022 compared with the past, you might be surprised by how affordable creating a website can be. As a small business owner, you can break things down into two broad categories:

• Infrastructure – this is all the underlying stuff that powers your website. Software, hosting, domain name, etc.
• Design and functionality – this is all the stuff that your visitors will interact with, like the design of your site and its functionality.

After all, there’s also the question of whether you want to pay someone to set that stuff up for you, or if you’re happy to go the DIY route.

Infrastructure costs

Let’s take a look at the essential costs of a website first. There are three main backend infrastructure costs that you’ll need to consider when building a website:

• Domain name
• Website software/content management system
• Hosting

Domain name - $10 per year

Your domain name is your website’s permanent address on the Internet like your house has a street address. You’ll purchase your domain name from a domain registrar.

The exact cost of your domain depends on your TLD, which is the part that comes after your name – e.g. “.com”, “.net”, etc. However, a regular “.com” domain will usually cost you around $10. You’ll need to pay that price every year to maintain ownership.

Website software – Free

Nowadays, the vast majority of websites are not coded from scratch. Instead, they use premade website software, called a content management system. While there are websites builders like Wix and Squarespace who charge you a monthly fee in order to use them, which you’ll pay for as long as you want your website to work, some of the most known free CMS are Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla.

For example, Drupal is reliable open-source CMS that has more than a million installations worldwide. Publishing content has never been easier with a nice user interface and useful features. Drupal is constantly evolving thanks to several thousand developers who are constantly working on each side of the world, and thus improve and develop new systems features.

Because Drupal is free software, you can change technical support and maintenance associates at any time.

Hosting – $40 per year

When you pay for hosting, you’re basically renting space on a computer to power your website and make it available to visitors from all over the world.

When you’re just getting started, cheap hosting is totally fine and will cost you less than $40 per year. As you grow, you might need to pay more to handle the increase in traffic – but that’s a good “problem” to have.

Infrastructure cost summary – as little as $50

Paying for the backend infrastructure for your website for an entire year will cost you $10 for a domain name, $40 for hosting, and nothing for software if you are using Drupal. That will be around $50. And remember, these are ongoing prices. So, you’ll pay this amount every year to continue running your website.

Design and functionality costs

The success of your business online is highly dependent upon the design of your website. If it’s attractive enough, users will keep engaging and you’ll continue to grow.

With professional web design prices ranging from $1,000 to more than $100,000, there are a variety of factors that influence the cost of web design. Whether you are designing a new website or redesigning the previous one, you need to be careful with the features you add and how much they affect the cost.

Apart from that, there are additional factors too that affect the overall cost of the website design. Here are some of them:

• The type of cooperation (whether you are getting it designed from a freelancer, in-house team, or an overseas agency)
• The type of website (corporate, e-commerce, personal)
• The skillset of the designer
• Size and scope of the project (new website or redesign, responsive design)
• Long term value of the work

Basic web design – $500 to $8,000

A basic web design costs between $500 to $8,000. It provides your business with a simple, yet effective website. Like advanced web design, basic web design creates a website specific to your brand and goals.

If you’re a small business or startup, basic web design offers a cost-effective option. It provides your company with a credible, user-friendly website that can start driving purchases, quote requests, phone calls, and more.

The most influential factors on web design costs include:

• Size
• Mobile-friendly
• Style
• Copywriting

The size of your website plays a significant role in web design pricing. If you’re looking to create a larger site, you can expect to pay more for web design services. But at the start, you probably don't need more than 10 pages.

In most cases, the cost scales off the number of pages. For example:

• 1 to 10 pages cost from $500 to $1,500
• 10 to 50 pages cost from $1,500 to $3,000
• 50 to 200 pages cost from $3,000 to $8,000

With more than 50 percent of the world’s Internet traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s essential that your website features a mobile-friendly or responsive design. If not, your company risks losing valuable customers and credibility. If you think about your clients, you may also find that many of them turn to their mobile devices when searching for your business.

With the responsive or dynamic design, you’re developing one website. It adapts to every device, which makes viewing your site on phones, tablets, and desktops seamless. As a result, responsive design costs $3,000 on average.

CMS integration – $500 to $5,000

Integrating a CMS, such as Drupal, into your website can cost between $500 to $5,000. The rate depends on your website size and specific needs when it comes to publishing content. For e-commerce stores, it’s essential to launch a site that can accept and process orders securely. Prices for e-commerce functionality start from $2,000 and up.

If you’re unsure which additional services your business may need, ask for the opinion of each agency you’re considering.

Support & Maintenance – $100 to $1,500

When it comes to website maintenance, it encompasses a variety of tasks. A few examples include completing updates on your CMS, managing customer support tickets, and resolving any website-related issues. With website maintenance, you keep your website functional and your visitors happy. And the most important - raising the security level from external impacts.

On average, you should expect to pay $100 to $1,500 per year for website maintenance. In some cases, your costs may exceed this amount. For example, if your website requires emergency support during after-work hours, you may see higher fees.

Final summary

If you do the final summary your website could cost:

• Infrastructure $50 per year
• Design up to 10 pages $1,500
• CMS integration $500
• Maintenance $100 per year

In total, around $2,000 one-time cost, and starting from $50 annual.

Conclusion

Because it’s now possible for regular people to make a website, the cost of building a website is less than you might think. On the other hand, if you want to hire a professional, you’re looking at around $2,000 for a basic website.

But don’t let the promise of a $10,000 website make you think your business won’t succeed with anything less than that. If you blow your budget on a way-too-powerful website, you’ll have nothing left to give to your business's marketing except your own time which is too valuable and isn't for throwing away.

If you already decided to get a new website or upgrade the existing one, you're halfway closer to bringing your business to a higher level. All you need is Drupalation, and I will take care of the rest, from the design to the final product. Start a new journey and fill out a project request form.