The cost to develop a website essentially comes down to the time taken to design, develop and maintain the website. Unless you are purchasing a fixed price solution, prices can vary widely depending on the calibre of designer you have chosen, and the type and size of solution you are after.

A typical small business website can range from between $4,000 for a basic site including hosting and domain name, to over $40,000 for an integrated e-commerce and business resource planning tool. Larger projects usually begin at around $20,000, and quite easily push to 6 or 7 figures, given these projects are quite often integrated to existing (legacy) IT systems or core marketing activities.

An example of some of the the features that you can include in a website can be found at a recent blog post that includes 20 fey features to consider when looking at and specifying what you want in a website. Remember that the more features and options you want, just like a car the price will go up.

If you are wanting to make your website a marketing portal to help your business get found online, another resource that you can check out is another post called “10 Key Strategies To Make Your Website an Inbound Online Marketing Machine“. This will give you the key strategies in the use of content, blogs and other strategies that will help your business get found by search engines.

If your project has the potential to increase revenues or reduce costs, then work on a return on investment (ROI) basis. A site that costs you $40,000 to produce, but produces more than $40,000 in value to the business over the course of a year is entirely viable for ANY business. Work with your developer early to discuss the ROI potential for your project.

Other activities, such as online advertising, email campaigns, competition websites etc can cost between $3,000 and $10,000 to implement.

When dealing with potential developers or a chosen partner consider for starters some of the following

• Provide a definitive brief
• Get clear on what the goal or goals of the website are
• Give examples of a website that you like the look and feel of
• Request an itemised breakdown of hours and rates
• Ask for individual pricing for the various features and functions of the website
• Ensure that you will have ownership of the code for the website after completion
• Make sure you are aware of any ongoing fees either monthly or annually

Industry standard rates are anywhere between $100 and $200 per hour depending on the designer/developer. Without fully understanding both your requirements and the process to be undertaken, mistakes can be made if the fit between developer and client is inadequate.

Remember, you do get what you pay for.

What have your experiences been with developing your website. Look forward to hearing your experiences and comments.