Website Pricing Guide Spain
2014/2015
How much should my website cost?
Today, and ironically thanks to the Internet itself, the price of building a website can be easily researched, either from articles or blogs (similar to this one!) or by reviewing the price lists that web design companies publish on their own websites. However, if anyone has recently compared web agency prices, or has even requested multiple quotes, they would have probably ended up more
confused than before they started due to the drastic variation of prices agencies charge for websites these days.
So approximately how much should you pay for a website? Before
answering this question, we first need to address a rather concerning issue that has lately befallen our industry.
The standard price of websites has plummeted over the past decade, as there is a worrying trend towards ‘cheap’ or even free website offers, which is beginning to dilute the value of the industry and the quality of its offerings. For example, many host companies are now promoting ‘free websites’, which makes business owners believe that they can create their own website just by using a simple website builder tool, that ends up with them dropping in some text and a few images into some bland looking design template, which they will never be able to fully customise. Other agencies may offer full websites for only a few hundred euros, but again this will be an un-tailored solution, with no focus on how the content is delivered, whether it is user-friendly for visitors, or how the site will be optimised for search engines.
Free and low cost websites cheapening
the web design profession
Of course, these options work well for small businesses with a very limited budget, which just want a presence online where they can direct customers to for more information about the company, but this type of website
should in no way be confused with being an effective communications tool that will add any value to the business, or be able attract customers and convert visitors into actual sales. Also, when you consider the following stages of creating a website, you need to ask yourself, can all this really be included in a 5 page website worth 250€!
Stages in creating a
basic website
Stage 1: briefing meeting to discuss and finalise the specifications of the site
Stage 2: concept creation – brainstorming to create an eye-catching design that delivers a particular message to the right target audience Stage 3: information gathering and collation – writing content,
searching for stock images etc.
Stage 4: website build and development – installing the content
management system, personalising the design template with chosen design from stage 4, creating the pages and navigation menus,
inserting content, installing plugins, widgets and modules, writing any custom code or programming, making the site responsive
Stage 5: proofing and revisions
Stage 6: search engine optimisation - so the website can be found in search engines such as Google following launch
Of course, the cost of a website can vary considerably depending on the features and functions that are required such as a standard 5 page website compared to an online shop, however on a like-for-like basis, it is not uncommon for a company to receive a quote for 300€, one for 2000€ and one for 5000€ for the same specifications. So, how do you know which of these is the most reasonable? Firstly, to ensure that you are receiving a realistic figure from a professional company you need to ask the following:
How to spot a realistic web design
quotation for a quality website?
1. What questions did the agency ask
before producing the quote?
Although it can be a little annoying having to answer a multitude of questions when all you want it is rough price, in fact the more questions the agency asks, the more accurate your quote will be and it also shows their experience in the industry.
2. Was a price for online marketing
included in the quote?
If your company website cannot be found online, then there is very little point having one. The quote should include some mention search engine optimisation, whether it’s included in the actual web design package cost, or as an optional extra.
3. Did they ask whether you would be
supplying content such as text and
images etc?
The actual creation of quality web content can be very time consuming, therefore if you don’t have any, or just think that a few paragraphs taken from a brochure would work (which won’t), then the cost of content creation and any photography purchases will also need to be considered.
4. What is the lead-time
of the project?
If it only states two to three days to create a website, then do not think that you are going to get a solution of any quality, as producing anything of quality takes time!
5. Are specific features and
functions itemised?
Don’t just assume that your quote will included specific features such as newsletter signups, slideshows, galleries, revolving testimonial widgets, photo manipulation or additional languages. These should all have been specified during the initial contact with the agency and therefore be
6. Are you dealing with a
professional agency?
Check how long the agency has been around, generally the older the
agency is, the more experienced and stable they are, so will not disappear after a year leaving you to clear up the mess with lost hosting passwords and out-dated coding etc. Also, check out their portfolio, what is the
general quality of their work, do they look like cheap websites, or ones that have particular attention to detail and thought given to content.
So, how much should a website cost?
The standard rate in Spain for quality web design services is around 25€ per hour for basic HTML and CSS coding (used for custom design and layout of pages) and graphic design, and 40€ per hour for more complex programming such as PHP (for more complicated features and functions not provided by existing plugins and widgets available with Content Mana-gement Systems.
Therefore, for a basic website, which has been created using a content management system, such as Wordpress, with a template that has some CSS design customisation, it takes between 25 – 40 hours to create from conception to completion, depending on the level of design customisation and additional functions, therefore it will be somewhere between 600€ and 1000€.
Of course, for a completely custom designed website with extra features, additional pages and/or copywriting and graphic design services (such as the design of complex illustrations) it will be more. Every element needs to be accounted for, otherwise it will either be rushed or overlooked, lea-ving you with a mediocre, substandard website that will not perform its primary function of attracting visitors, and for businesses, bringing in leads and sales.
In order to calculate the approximate cost of a website,
here is a quick breakdown of the main costs you may
need to consider:
Small basic website with CMS (5-10 pages) – 600€ to 3000€ Standard e-commerce website – 1200€ to 5000€
Fully customised feature rich website (10 – 50 pages) - 3000€ to 10,000€
Completely bespoke or multinational website – 10,000€ plus Hosting – around 70€ for a shared host account, and anything from 300€ to 3000€ a year for large traffic or bandwidth heavy websites
Domain name – around 10€ per year
Copywriting services – 60€ per page (based on 300 words) Logo design or custom illustrations – 250€ to 500€ each
Search engine optimisation – expect to pay around 250€ for a small local business to 2000€ per month for large national ones, and anything up to 10k a month for highly competitive products on an international scale.
Of course, every website is completely different, so you’ll never be able to fully calculate the cost of your website without speaking to a legitimate professional in-depth about your specific needs, but I hope this has given you a good idea of what you should pay for a good quality website, and remember that if you pay peanuts for your website, you’ll most certainly get monkeys working on it!
