Web design pricing shortcuts to key points

Marketing to women: custom web design pricing

A bargain... or not?

Have you seen the commercial about the local barber shop competing with a large salon chain? If you have, we imagine you can relate!

In it, a local barber watches with trepidation as a large salon chain opens with much ado just down the street, trumpeting its $6 haircuts to anyone who will listen. The barber knows he can't compete with that price, and his heart sinks. A visit to his local office supply store, though, solves his quandary, and we next see him hanging a large banner across his shop. It reads, "We fix $6 haircuts."

We fix $6 websites.

We redesign do-it-yourself websites, websites created with free templates, websites made with web hosting company templates, even custom websites that cost hundreds or thousands of (unfortunately) ill-invested dollars. Of course, we also design websites from scratch—the right way, the first time.

How much should you budget for custom web design?

According to the latest Graphic Artists Guild survey of US graphic design professionals, businesses typically pay $7,750 to $15,000 for a custom website design of 5 to 30 pages, with an additional charge of 50% to 200% for rush work. This doesn't include writing or search engine optimization, and sometimes doesn't include the programming that makes the website operate.

Our custom web design starts at $4,000 to $5,000 for startups and small businesses of one to two people, for whom we provide a micro business discount, and go up from there to accommodate the needs of a range of business industries and sizes. Our prices do include programming, and we also offer writing and SEO services for those who desire it.

Why does custom web design cost so much?

We saw an excellent post the other day titled, "If you think professionals are expensive, just wait until you see how much amateurs cost."

In terms of lost customers and lost sales, a "bargain" or D.I.Y. web design package can be very expensive indeed. Web design something to consider If you wouldn't trust your livelihood during a major lawsuit to a paralegal earning $17 per hour, why would you trust your company's profit potential and image—among customers belonging to the most visual species on the planet—to someone inexperienced in effective design?

Custom web design is a service provided by professional services firms, just as law firms offer services in their areas of expertise. If you wouldn't trust your livelihood during a major lawsuit to a paralegal earning $17 per hour, why would you trust your company's profit potential and image to someone inexperienced in effective marketing and design?

The best website design can look so simple and intuitive, it can make you wonder how much could have gone into it... but it looks that way precisely because it was designed by a web design expert. Think of it this way: Serena Williams and Andy Roddick (experts in what they do) make dominating a tennis court look easy, but try it for yourself and you'll quickly discover the challenges.

Much more goes into custom website design by the best web design agencies than one might think: marketing strategy, design psychology, target market preferences, website usability for various market segments, organizational considerations, the strategic use of white space, and many other factors, all customized specifically to your company's target market, geographic areas, and goals.

And consider this: the average web design rates listed at the top of the page, which reach into the tens of thousands of dollars, include the rates of technology buffs with a lot of experience coding but little to no marketing training or experience. Paying our fee gets you access not only to expert web design and a pleasurable customer experience, but the advice of a marketing consultant. If you had to pay for each of these separately, your total tab would be considerably higher.

How does the value of a custom website design stack up against other expenses?

Great web design pays off, creating an image of your company encountered by far more customers online than will likely ever visit your headquarters or brick-and-mortar stores. Even for local customers, it pays off. "Effective branding actually creates fee buoyancy," says super-successful consultant Alan Weiss, author of Value-Based Fees: How to Charge—and Get—What You're Worth. "There is actually one thing better than a buyer impressed by you and respecting you on sight, and that is the buyer impressed by you and respecting you before ever laying eyes on you."

Remember, a full 63% of consumers turn to the internet first for information about local companies, according to a survey conducted in November 2008 and February 2009 by Webvisible and Nielsen.

Think of it in another way. The cost of a custom website design can easily equal that of purchasing the space for several ads in a local newspaper. (Note: that's just the space for the ads; it doesn't usually include designing or writing the ad.)

When you consider that those ads will be in the recycling bin the next day, while a website works for you 24 hours a day all year and every year, the value of a well designed website quickly becomes apparent!

And that's just the value of web design put up against other marketing. A website that will introduce your company to paying customers and convince them to buy will bring far more money into the company coffers than the entry level accounting staff you just hired. Not that there's anything wrong with hiring accounting staff—accounting is a necessary cost of doing business—but stacked side by side, where do you get more bang for your buck? There's a reason some of the more successful sales and marketing professionals are paid more than many CEOs.

A special note for small businesses

If even $4,000 is too much for your small business at this point, read our website tips for small businesses, particularly the section titled "Should you invest in a custom web design?"

Our custom web design services

We design completely custom websites to appeal to your target market according to your firm's unique branding, strengths, opportunities, and industry.

We do all of this well and quickly, with a level of personal service seldom found in the web design industry. If you want to feel you're safely in the hands of caring, expert marketing and design professionals, we're your web design company. We take your vision and create what other people see when they look at your company. And we make it appealing to affluent women customers, among the most influential and powerful consumers in the US today.