How much does a website cost?
That's the question I get asked most, and is nearly impossible to answer after a 10 minute conversation. This question usually refers to getting the site live, of course. After spending an hour or two with you and getting to know your business needs and website expectations, I can make a better ball-park guess. Most of my clients ask for additional programming in the middle of a design and that will increase any proposed quote.
Perhaps the better way to look at this is NOT the initial setup of the site, but the ongoing costs divided by your number of visitors, or your ROI.
I should mention that before becoming a web goddess and web marketing guru, I was an accountant for 15 years and now own and operate a small business myself, so I KNOW costs and ROI.
CASE STUDY: a local organization came to me almost 3 years ago and asked for a redesign of their current site. Initial cost: $1,500.00. (That would cost closer to $2,800 today.)
On December 31 I billed them a monthly maintenance fee of $45.45 which is pretty average for them as they have a couple small things updated each month, along with stats reports. The stats showed they had a little over 5200 visitors in December. Since this is a tourism-related website, the number of visitors swells to as high as 10,000 for 4 or 5 months of the year.
But let's just stick with the 5000 they had in December and crunch some numbers to find out how much their website costs them:
$1,500 amortized over 3 years = $41.67 per month
$20 a year for a domain name = $1.67 per month
$99 a year for hosting = $8.25 per month
$20 per month for minimal SEO
$50 a month (average) for updates and maintenance to the site
I get $121.59 per month total costs incurred for this website.
Divide that number by 5,000 visitors and THE COST PER VISITOR IN DECEMBER WAS $.02 EACH.
In case you didn't hear me...THE COST PER VISITOR WAS 2 CENTS EACH!!!!
Those months when the visitor total swells, it can be half that.
Best web practices would tell you that a redesign is required every 3 or so years, but if you keep your content fresh on a regular basis (at the very least monthly) then you can put off that new design another couple years. Keep in mind that the technologies change very quickly and your competitors are on top of it.
This case study is for a group that only PROMOTES tourism. If you're going to sell goods and/or services, the website development and design will be higher, but your ROI will be higher as well.
So...how much are YOU willing to pay for a website? Two cents per visitor? 5 cents? 10 cents?
Still think CD WebMaker is too expensive?
A happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you all and a big huge THANKS for your business this past year from CD WebMaker!
Perhaps the better way to look at this is NOT the initial setup of the site, but the ongoing costs divided by your number of visitors, or your ROI.
I should mention that before becoming a web goddess and web marketing guru, I was an accountant for 15 years and now own and operate a small business myself, so I KNOW costs and ROI.
CASE STUDY: a local organization came to me almost 3 years ago and asked for a redesign of their current site. Initial cost: $1,500.00. (That would cost closer to $2,800 today.)
On December 31 I billed them a monthly maintenance fee of $45.45 which is pretty average for them as they have a couple small things updated each month, along with stats reports. The stats showed they had a little over 5200 visitors in December. Since this is a tourism-related website, the number of visitors swells to as high as 10,000 for 4 or 5 months of the year.
But let's just stick with the 5000 they had in December and crunch some numbers to find out how much their website costs them:
$1,500 amortized over 3 years = $41.67 per month
$20 a year for a domain name = $1.67 per month
$99 a year for hosting = $8.25 per month
$20 per month for minimal SEO
$50 a month (average) for updates and maintenance to the site
I get $121.59 per month total costs incurred for this website.
Divide that number by 5,000 visitors and THE COST PER VISITOR IN DECEMBER WAS $.02 EACH.
In case you didn't hear me...THE COST PER VISITOR WAS 2 CENTS EACH!!!!
Those months when the visitor total swells, it can be half that.
Best web practices would tell you that a redesign is required every 3 or so years, but if you keep your content fresh on a regular basis (at the very least monthly) then you can put off that new design another couple years. Keep in mind that the technologies change very quickly and your competitors are on top of it.
This case study is for a group that only PROMOTES tourism. If you're going to sell goods and/or services, the website development and design will be higher, but your ROI will be higher as well.
So...how much are YOU willing to pay for a website? Two cents per visitor? 5 cents? 10 cents?
Still think CD WebMaker is too expensive?
A happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you all and a big huge THANKS for your business this past year from CD WebMaker!
posted by CD WebMaker - Saturday, December 31, 2005
1 Comments:
This is a great article on the cost of a website. I really enjoyed reading it, and I learned a lot. Thanks for the information!!
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