How Much Does a Website Cost in Waterloo, Kitchener, Cambridge and Surrounding Areas?

How much does a website actually cost in 2015? That’s a great question, because there’s no real answer to this. A tech-savvy friend could whip one up for you for $100 or a favour down the road, and a professional web designer could quote you $5,000 for your website. Another professional could quote you $1,000, and another $10,000. So…what do you do with all these numbers and quotes? How can you tell which one will give you the most bang for your buck? And why are the prices so different from each other? Well, it all boils down to how many features you want on your website, the quality of work provided by each company, and your budget (plus some other factors, of course).

First of all, it’s generally understood that the more features you want, the more it’ll cost. So a one-page corporate website with basic information (like the company address, history, list of services, contact info, etc.) would be much cheaper than a multi-page e-Commerce website that acts as an online storefront for your business. But for the sake of this article’s purpose, let’s make the assumption that you want a multi-page corporate website and aren’t sure of your budget yet. You flip through YellowPages or Google “website design” and find tons of website designers. There are so many! Unfortunately, your best bet is to contact as many web designers as you can so that you can get quotes from each, and compare what each business can offer you, and what they charge for their services.

Let’s say that you hear back from five different companies, each quoting you $500, $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, and $10,000 respectively. The first question that should be going through your mind is: “How can so many different people charge such different amounts for the same thing I’m looking for?” Well, you’re absolutely right to question these huge gaps in pricing between competitors. So, what can you do? As a consumer, you’ve got to do some research and be able to compare what each of these companies are offering you.

One of the first things to look out for is the quote itself. Did the company provide you with a detailed breakdown of what each component will cost? Or did they just provide you with a number value? Compare this: a company quotes you $5,000 for “new website” and another company quotes you $5,000 for “$2,000 programming/coding, $1,000 design, $1,000 content writing, $1,000 search engine optimization and other features”. Which one would you prefer? Obviously the second company with the breakdown. You as the consumer want to know what you’re paying for, so having a breakdown is key to any website development proposal. Watch out for those companies that just quote you a specific number and have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude; you want a website designer who wants to work with you and make sure you get the most bang for your buck. Giving a client all the steps and breakdowns to a website development project shows commitment from the website designer, and that’s a good quality to look for.

Next, you’ve got to understand that there are different types of websites. There are website designers who whip out quickly-designed websites for low fees. But buyer beware…the proverbial “you get what you pay for” comes into play here. If you’re only willing to fork out $500 for a website, then you’re not really looking for a decent website that scalable for future growth. You’re pretty much just getting a website that has your company information on it, and it will rarely have that “wow” factor that every business wants for its services to stand out above the competition. Customer service and support is usually quite rare when it comes to these cheap websites.

Then we look at other companies that charge around $2-3,000 as a starting range for their websites. These could be WordPress or Drupal content management systems which are more scalable and suitable for frequent edits and posts from the company. Others could be well-designed websites that have all the features you need. These companies usually do work with their clients and have a better support system, allowing for multiple revisions and flexibility in design. In this range or above, you should be getting fully customized website designs.

Looking at the other end of the spectrum, some companies charge tens of thousands of dollars for websites. These are usually large websites, or websites that have fully customized content management systems that were built by the companies themselves. These websites require extensive web design and development, which require a lot of time, therefore upping the website cost by thousands.

So to answer our main question: How much does a website cost? In Waterloo Region and surrounding areas, you could be looking at a few hundred for an extremely basic website with minimal features. For a few thousand, you’re looking at a content management system where you can log in and edit your website’s content whenever you want. The extent of features and customization you want will affect the price, but focus on the maintenance and support provided by these website designers, because you are paying quality at this point, and with the amount of money you’ve invested, the website designer should be able to help you after the design is completed and the website is launched. Finally, if you’re looking for a completely customized website in terms of both design and development, then you’ll be forking out thousands and thousands of dollars for the time and effort required to build that website.

In the end, CryoDragon’s advice to you is to do your research! Get a few quotes from website designers (the more local, the better because you can actually visit and speak to the web designers in person), see if they have a breakdown, and whittle down your list until you have your top few candidates. Then it’s just a matter of asking questions, checking out their portfolio, and seeing how well each website designer is willing to adjust and modify the quote and website features to help you stick to your budget.

CryoDragon would like to be part of your journey into making a new website, so don’t forget to contact us for a free quote as well!