How Much Does a Website Cost in 2023?

Having a website that you’re proud of, and that accurately represents your brand, is a truly important thing for any business. Research has even suggested that having a website can increase turnover by around 45%. However, the prospect of setting one up can be daunting.

One of the reasons behind this is expense. There’s still plenty of confusion to be found over how much building and maintaining a website does, and should, cost.

Do you need to spend thousands on a professional web designer, or could you keep costs low by building it yourself using one of the best website builders around? And if you do pay to have a website designed for you, what are the ongoing costs? We get it. It’s hard to know where to start, and your research can give conflicting results.

So, to give you a better idea, we’ve explored all the costs involved in setting up and maintaining websites of all different sizes.

Web design costs at a glance

Professional website designer prices

You can expect your website to cost anywhere between $500 and $32,000 if you get it created for you by a designer, or possibly even more. Costs will depend on the purpose and size of website(s) you want to create. There are several different types of website, but in this piece we’re going to focus on small business websites and online shops (known as ecommerce sites).

Here’s a broad summary of website prices based on type:

DIY website builder prices

Of course, the cheapest option for building and maintaining a website is the DIY route. There are plenty of website builders on the market that allow you to create a website from scratch, for free, and with no technical experience.

Website builders are great for creating a simple site that can fit into a pre-designed template (for example, a site for a restaurant, or an online shop). However, for a more sophisticated and unique website, we would always recommend using an experienced web developer.

The table below gives you an idea of what our top recommended web builders cost, as well as some special offers which could help save you a bit more money with the DIY building option.

The five stages of making a website

You can split the costs of setting up a website into five parts:

• Part 1: Getting a domain name
• Part 2: Hosting your website
• Part 3: Designing your website
• Part 4: Creating your content
• Part 5: Running your website

You don’t necessarily have to tackle these parts in this order. There’s nothing to stop you, for instance, from choosing a web designer before you’ve bought a domain name, or writing blog content before you’ve bought hosting.

If you want to find the very best deals, you need to understand exactly what you’re paying for at each stage. To help you figure out what you need, we recommend you go through a checklist.

Web design checklist

Whether you’re briefing a professional or taking web design into your own hands, you should have a clear picture of the kind of website you need. This is essential to working out your core costs. Here’s a handy checklist to go through – make sure you have the answers to each one:

☑ Number (and types) of webpages

☑ Features needed (for example: a calendar and booking function, an image gallery, or the ability to host video calls)

☑ Who will be able to change existing content or add new content

☑ Ecommerce functionality (taking payments, selling products or services)

☑ Content creation (where you will source your text, images, and video content)

☑ Applications (which outside programmes do you need to plug into your website, such as accounting software)

Part 1: Getting a domain name

A domain name is the unique ‘address’ of a website. For example, our domain name here at Expert Market is ‘expertmarketus.ecs.stg9.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net’. You have to pay for this every single year, otherwise someone else can host another website at your web address.

There are two charges: a registration fee from ICANN ($0.27) and a renewal fee. Check out the table below for example prices we’ve collected in February 2023:

As you’ll see, the cost of domain renewal varies depending on the type of domain name and the company you choose to register through (known as the ‘registrar’). However, some offer a website builder product or web hosting with a free year of domain registration included. So it makes sense to shop around for the deal that’s right for your web project.

By the way, if you want a ‘.com.au’ or ‘net.au’ domain, you’ll need an Australian Business Number (ABN), ACN or ARBN.

SSL security certificate

You’ll need an SSL security certificate to add security to your website, and reassure customers.

Having a SSL certificate gives your site an ‘https’ prefix and a padlock in the address bar. The ‘s’ stands for secure, and signals to web users, customers, clients, and search engines that your website connection is encrypted.

In short, an SSL certificate will encourage customers to take your website seriously – and so will Google. So you should check that your web designer will include one as part of your package.

Here are some SSL security certificate prices as of February 2023:

Now you’ve got a secure domain, we’ll move on to the second critical step of making your website: getting it online.

Part 2: Hosting your website

Every website needs to be hosted on a web server. Hosting basically means renting or buying some ‘space’ on the internet, to make your website accessible to web users. Fully understanding what hosting means is not necessary, but you should know that your website will need it in some form and you have a few options for this. The below pricing is for self-managed hosting, but we’ll explain that in more detail underneath.

Here are typical website hosting prices as of March 2023:

Expert Advice: How to choose web hosting

Your website doesn’t work if your hosting fails. That means you’ve got to put a lot of trust in your web host, so it’s important to make the right choice. You can switch web hosting providers if your current one lets you down. Top of your list of cost considerations should be:

1. Server stability: How much of the time is your website live? This is called ‘uptime’, and you want it to be as close to 100% as possible. Downtime is a real profit-killer, since any time your website isn’t online is time when customers can’t convert. Ouch.
2. Renewal fees: Like domain name registrars, web hosts sell their services on subscription. They like to pull you in with big discounts, but you should check if there’s autorenewal and you’ll be locked into a higher price.
3. Package: Look out for features such as web security, domain name registration, a website builder or email inbox deal.

We researched the lowest possible costs of suppliers’ shared web hosting solutions for one year. We’ve ignored the first year because it’s almost always discounted. So here’s the cost of the second year, minus introductory offers, which is closer to your ongoing annual cost:

Remember that these plans include different benefits, so it’s not simply a case of choosing the best price. For instance, Hostinger gives you 50GB of disk space, while Namecheap gives you 20GB, and HostGator, IONOS or Bluehost just 10GB on their cheapest plans. But Bluehost also includes a free security certificate and daily website backup. And Namecheap covers hosting for three websites. So you’ll need to find the right option based on the size and number of websites you’re setting up.

Right, those are the two main technical elements of setting up your website. Now let’s move onto the fun bit.

Part 3: Designing your website

Part 4: Creating your content

Content is like the furniture that turns a house into a home. Perhaps more so than anything we’ve discussed, quality content is what draws in web visitors, and converts them into customers.

Page copy, product descriptions, social media, blogs… each has its place, and each needs a skilled writer to bring it to life. Freelance copywriters bill on an hourly, per piece, or per word basis.

Typically, copywriting agencies charge according to the type of content being produced.

Contacting agencies for quotes directly is the best way to scope out content costs for your website. You can ask around for freelancer recommendations, too. We’d suggest avoiding marketplaces like Fiverr because the quality is often poor.

Here are your main content cost considerations:

Copywriting

Your website needs fresh content to stay relevant for visitors and to appear on search engine results pages. For instance, Google advises: “Update your content to account for seasons, trends, or new offerings”. To keep costs down, you can produce the written content for your site yourself. But if writing isn’t exactly a strong suit of yours, it’s worth hiring a freelancer or agency to help out.

• Copywriting rates vary widely according to experience and project size, ranging between $40 and $90 per hour for a less experienced writer, or $110-$240 per hour for a more experienced wordsmith.
• A new piece of high-quality content, such as a 1,000 word blog post is likely to cost $250
• If you publish two new posts a week, that comes to $2,000 a month

Imagery

Hiring a photographer to collect a bank of images for your brand or product is always advisable if you’d like to create a strong brand image. You can also buy stock images and graphics from sites like depositphotos, or download free images for commercial use on unsplash.

Part 5: Running your website

Once you’ve built your website, you’ll need to get it serviced regularly, just like a company car or office space. You should agree with your chosen web developer if ongoing maintenance is included in your price quote, or if that’s charged as a separate service. It’s also possible to hire an entirely separate web maintenance team after your website has already been built.

Here are some ongoing website maintenance costs you need to bear in mind:

Technical Maintenance

Installing platform updates, resolving security issues, and patching coding bugs… they’re all critical tasks that keep your website ticking over. Unless you agree to an ongoing maintenance with your developer, you’re going to have to hire a third party to take care of your web maintenance.

Monthly web maintenance packaging can cost $110-$880 if you hire an external agency.

SEO and marketing

Googling “Brisbane dog walker” produces around 12 million results – so how do you get your business to appear near the top of the list? Well, a lot of it has to do with how relevant your website content is to the search, how fast your website loads, and if you’re listed correctly on map apps and directories. However, there are also some additional steps you can take to make sure you’re securing the best rank possible.

That’s where SEO comes in. SEO stands for search engine optimisation, and concerns the process of making a site the best that it can be in the eyes of search engines like Google. All businesses need good SEO, so you should hire a freelancer or agency that specialises in SEO to take a look through your site once every month to make sure it remains well-optimised.

• SEO from Upweb.com costs $200-$900 per month.
• Local SEO (listing your business on map apps) costs less than website SEO.
• Average costs at top agencies range between $2,500-$10,000 per month.

Who should build my website?

Build your own basic website

As explored above, website builders have become more prevalent and sophisticated in recent years. They are now a legitimate option for businesses and individuals alike.

Other than a clear cost benefit, website builders also allow you to get a website up and running in just a few hours, with no prior design experience required.

Use a web design agency

Design agencies are typically very reliable and experienced. Creating websites is their bread and butter, and they have it down to a fine art. They are the perfect option if you want a basic website but lack the time or skills to make one yourself. Plus, agencies provide a quote for the project as a whole, making it really easy to compare offers.

To request free quotes from top web design companies, fill a few details in our quick form and you’ll receive bespoke quotes from the agencies that can help you.

Hire a freelance developer

Using a freelance developer is another option for creating your basic website. Finding a freelancer may take a little more research, but you can typically enjoy a more personalised service.

You will find, however, that a freelancer won’t have the broad range of experience that an agency does. They will also typically charge per hour (at a rate of anywhere from $20 to $100). This can make it hard to predict the total cost.

Find an offshore web company

Using an offshore web company is definitely one of the cheapest options (From $5 per hour). However, they’re often a lot less reliable than the other options presented here. Always be wary of offers that sound too good (or cheap!) to be true.

When creating your website, bear in mind how your needs will change over the next few years. If you’re planning to expand your company, or you predict future surges in the number of visitors to your site, remember to mention this when requesting quotes and you should get a website that’s future-proof.

The cost of a basic website

A basic website is made up of one to five pages, and requires only very simple functionality. It’ll be a ‘brochure’ style website, with a contact page and a landing page as well as its core pages. Like any website, it should still be mobile responsive – but it’s always worth checking that this is included in the design price.

Basic websites are great if you’re after a very simple, stripped back online presence. It is a place to showcase your business, and receive enquiries. Think of it kind of like a modern day business card.

The cost of a basic website made by a web developer is: $650-$15,700 upfront with annual running costs of $14,000 to $59,000.

Here’s a breakdown of those costs:

Of course, these prices depend very much on both the size and the complexity of your site. When you request a web design quote, try to be as specific as possible and ensure that you get the total cost.

Transparency in the early stages of the web design process, between both you and your designer, ensures everyone is on the same page – and will help prevent pricey amendments further down the line.

The cost of an ecommerce website

The cost of an ecommerce (shopping) website can vary massively, but your upfront cost is likely to fall in the range of $1,200 to $32,500, according to our research.

The main features that make an ecommerce site different from a regular website is the products or services catalogue, and the ability to process payments. And the build price is, of course, impacted by the size and complexity of the website.

Factors that affect the cost of an ecommerce website include:

• If you want a basic design or a fancy artistic creation
• How many products you sell
• The number of markets (different countries) you’re selling to
• Whether you want just a few photos or need videos too
• The level of security encryption you’re prepared to pay for

The cost will also, of course, depend on the number of additional features you want to incorporate. You may want to add in functions such as:

• Member log-in area
• Email reminders for abandoned checkout baskets
• Discount offers through email sign-up
• Order tracking

In most cases, you’ll need to use some kind of third party software – you can read more in our review of the best ecommerce platforms. Either you can design your own website around this software, connect your existing business website to a new software subscription, or your web developer can build you a custom product which runs in tandem with it.

If you want to start with ecommerce software products, you can checkout our comparison guide of two market leaders Woocommerce vs Shopify.

Otherwise, you can commission a web developer to build you an ecommerce website from scratch. Here’s the projected cost breakdown:

Again, being as specific as you can about your requirements will help you to arrive at an accurate quote early on. It can be hard to guess at the price of an ecommerce website due to the many variables involved, so it makes sense to speak with a professional for a specific quote. You can fill a short form to get personalised web design quotes from Expert Market-approved agencies.

Or if these costs are looking a bit scary and you’re willing to contribute your own time, you can condense most costs into an ecommerce subscription plan. This involves using a DIY approach, which lowers costs considerably. Shopify pricing starts from $7 per month, for instance.

If you’re interested in exploring other ecommerce software options, check out our piece on Wix vs Squarespace: Battle of the Web Shops.

10 questions to ask your web designer

Communication is the key to making the web design process as streamlined as possible. You’ll need to know exactly what you’re getting from your web designer, and they in turn should know exactly what you expect of them.

With this in mind, we’ve put together a few questions that you should ask your designer before getting started:

Next steps

Even with a guide to help, trying to work out the exact cost of a website without a background in design is really tricky. As an excellent starting point, try filling in this short form to receive custom quotes for your business from Expert Market-approved web design suppliers.