Ok ok, this is a common question but before you look at this one side only, what is NOT having a website cost?
Let's start from the beginning with a website so you can help determine what a website MIGHT cost you (keep in mind there are many factors). This may help give you a better idea of the complexity and what you can anticipate before starting your site.
Who is creating the site?
Are you choosing to do it yourself? -- Labour and time are essentially 'free'. Free is great, just keep in mind how much longer it may take you and what you may miss that could cost you later (ie site structure and SEO setup).
Freelancer or small business owner -- this is likely the second least expensive way to go. Whether they use a standard website platform (Squarespace, Wix, or Shopify) or build using Wordpress, these designers generally spend less time on coding so you can get sites at a fair market price. In Alberta, you might anticipate a starting cost of around $1000 and up to about $5000 depending on the site.
Agency -- This is when you get a highly skilled and experienced team building your site. Because you will have access to multiple individuals and a variety of skill sets, generally there is a higher starting cost. This is generally where you will see starting costs much higher, think $5000 to over $20k.
Size of the site:
It's simple logic that the bigger the site, the higher the costs. A single-page website (landing page or tablet page) may cost much less, whereas a multi-page site takes more time, more SEO, and more writing, so there will be additional costs associated with this.
Site Features:
This can be unlimited, from setting up the site as e-commerce, adding schedules, booking appointments, and classes, selling tickets, and hosting online courses, many of these features take additional time to set up, so there will be a scale of pricing, based on complexity, to set up each of these items.
Setting these features may be a standard cost, or have an hourly cost component. For an e-commerce store, there may be an hourly rate to add products as each product takes time, whereas a booking schedule may be more straightforward.
--> keep in mind adding things like auto reminders will take extra time to set up but they can save you a lot of time in your day-to-day!
Soe integrations may take extra time along with additional costs for third-party apps or plug ins.
Other considerations:
Images:
Stock photos, or sourced photos: A website is stronger based on visuals. so you have a few options: 1. A free stock photo website (the con is that others may also have these photos), 2. Image sites that you can buy the rights to certain images, or 3. hiring a photographer to take your photos, including brand photos and people photos - costs can range depending on the photographer.
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Copywriting:
If you are not a great writer, then you may want to consider hiring a writer to work with you. Some freelancers and small businesses can suggest copywriting professionals while agencies generally have one on-site.
SEO:
SEO is not one thing, it's not a switch it's many things! Agencies will generally have a team that works on this aspect of your site and may change monthly fees to maintain it. Small business owners or freelancers may be generalists in this area with varying levels of expertise.
Ask questions to get to know what level will be automatically included in the proper site structure and what will be done after the site is completed.
Compliance:
CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) (--> GBPR and other names outside of Canada) added to any newsletter subscription
SSL: Secure sites
Responsive: Ensuring the site is built to be responsive across various devices
Legal: Including a privacy policy or legal disclaimers
Revisions:
Keep in mind the time it may take to build. If you have multiple revisions, it may end up costing you more with each revision or revision outside of the included scope.
Maintenance costs:
Some designers may charge a monthly fee for upkeep and allow you to make changes to your site within that cost, while others may change the cost with each update going forward.
Standard fees:
Hosting:
This is where the website is held, think of it like the cloud, but someone has to pay for the space your site takes up, aka the 'HOST'. (Kind of like a BNB). On sites like Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix, they are the host so they will charge you fees based on their own hosting. With Wordpress, generally, your designer or a platform is used to host the site.
Domain:
This is your website name or URL, ie the 'www.name.com' and will cost anywhere from $5/year to $30/year roughly (some domains may cost more).
Emails:
If you would like a custom email, consider that this may cost between $6-10/ month per email.
I hope this has been helpful, if you have any comments or questions I would be happy to help.
Julie Boake
Awedity Creative Inc.
Okotoks | Calgary
