What is the cost of a website?

One of the most frequent questions asked in the Web design and development industry is:

What is the cost of a website or how much is the average cost of a website?

The IEDR recently published an eBook on the estimated cost of a website in Ireland. The eBook made for some interesting reading, looking at different sized businesses and sectors. The IEDR asked questions like “what are you trying to sell?” and “is it a product or service?”

Of course not all websites are sales tools, some sites are for brand awareness or education but if it is a revenue stream that you are interested in, then the cost of hiring a website designer / developer is an important factor.

Increase revenue

Interestingly enough though, the IEDR who are Ireland’s Domain Registry say that Irish SME’s gain an additional €24,000 per year in revenue by selling services and products online, and that a website can account for an additional 22 jobs or sales per year.

A figure of 5% for marketing in terms of annual turnover has been suggested from certain quarters. The example from the IEDR for a hairdresser, would be €4,750 for marketing, with a budget for a website of €1,500 – €3,000. This leads to the question, what is that the average cost of a good website? That would depend on the designer, what the website does and whether the customer is happy with the outcome.

The fact remains that the best way in determining website costs and developing a digital marketing strategy (to drive customers to your business) is sitting down with an expert, discussing what you need and what your agency can do for you. OSD Digital Agency welcome consultations, where you will benefit from our years of experience to help determine what you need and how we can provide it.

The eBook highlighted some great steps that OSD Digital Agency always recommend, as it is important to be fully prepared.

Carry out your needs analysis

• Define your idea customer target audiences.
• Declare the objective of the site, whether to drive sales or increase brand awareness.
• Content & design requirements, are you providing content or paying someone else for it?
• Functionality requirements, an example being – do you need to take payments or allow for bookings?

Have an idea of what you want by checking out competitor websites, sometimes it can be an inspiration and other times it can flag what to avoid.

You should have a budget in mind, its important to know what you can spend and it is equally important for an agency to know what they can do for you and articulate this to you.

Consider maintenance and security of the website, all content management systems like WordPress and any third-party plugins will need to be updated regularly. Who will manage this, you or your web developer?

We would love to hear from you, if you are considering a new website or upgrading your existing site.

Please check out our portfolio of work and give us a call in Sligo on 071 9170024 or Dublin on 01 539 4488 to arrange a consultation.