Website development is, at the moment, a booming industry, now more than ever. With 2020 being what it was, lots of businesses (and business clients of all kinds) have been forced to relocate to the online medium. Which has meant that their websites need to be well-polished and professional to survive in this highly competitive atmosphere. Of course, this has prompted many business owners to wonder how much does it cost to build a website?
In this article, rather than trying to identify a definitive figure, we’ll be looking at the advantages (and subsequent disadvantages) of building your own website, and hiring someone else to do it.
A Matter of Skill
While coding and programming languages are becoming more widely available, few people have the necessary skill to design a workable and impressive website for their business. This basically gives people two options, each with their own set of pros and cons.
You could either hire a professional team of developers, which will have the major advantage of speediness and of course, professionalism, but will also carry a few drawbacks. For example, it takes time and effort to find a skilled team of people you can trust to carry your vision to its full potential. Second, of course, we have the financial aspect, which is what we’re focusing on in this article. Hiring someone else to build your website is efficient but it will also end up costing a bit more, which can be a limitation if you’re working on a tight budget.
Pro Tip: If you do decide to have someone else design your website, don’t skimp. In this industry, you really get what you pay for, and when you skimp on website development, chances are you’re going to get a non-professional, mediocre website. And your clients will see it.
The second choice, of course, is designing your own site, which at first seems much cheaper. But that’s because you’re not taking into consideration the supplies (e.g. courses, programs, software licenses, etc.) and things you’ll need to learn to design a good-looking website.
Costs of Hiring a Team
This cost depends widely on the team’s level of expertise, as well as on their location on the globe. With outsourcing growing in popularity in recent years, you’re now easily able to hire a team of professional website developers from overseas. And, they will only charge you a fifth of the cost a US team would.
Different dev teams have different hourly rates, with the average rate in Eastern Europe being $35, while the average rate in the US is roughly $170.
Additional Costs to Consider
Of course, what you need to remember is that you’re not going to pay solely for the development itself. So when figuring out your budget, remember that, regardless who designs your website, you’ll also have to take into account:
- Maintenance
- Domain name
- Hosting services
- Business analytics
And, there’s so much more! So to sum it all up, building a website (with or without professional help) is a job and a half in and of itself. But in the end, it’s worth it, when you consider that e-commerce is the way of the future!
