What is the cost of a small business website? What should it cost to develop a website for a nonprofit organization, a church, or even a political campaign? The true answer to those questions is… it depends.
It depends on the functionality you want. It depends on the level of graphical content your web designer will have to create for you. It depends on whether or not you want your web designer to write content or copy for you or if you will provide that content. It depends on the number of pages you want to create. It depends on whether or not you want to create a shopping cart (or eCommerce website). The list goes on.
A Typical Website Is 4 Pages
A typical website may consists of 4 pages, including your home page, a page the explains something about you or your organization (the about page), a page that lists or details your services (the services page), a page that includes your contact information and instructs viewers on how to reach you (the contact page). These 4 pages will cost anywhere from $300 to $500, depending on who you get to design it and, of course, any number of the variables listed above. However, for a simple 3-5 page website for an organization that does not have much content and is making their online presence debut, $500 should be sufficient.
For those who have needs beyond the standard 4 pages like creating a donation (or causes) page that allows you to collect donations, creating a photo gallery, a news and media page, a calendar or upcoming events page, a blog, a project portfolio, or integrating your social media outlets, adding an email list signup, or maybe you have product to sell, you should consider your starting price for a website at or above $1,500. Again, your cost will go up depending on the needs of your website. Some would say a good rule of thumb to estimate costs is to add $100-$200 per additional page. Keep in mind, this may not be accurate as the additional pages may require additional coding.
Talk to Your Website Designer
At any rate, you should have a detailed conversation with whomever you are allowing to design your website to ensure they understand your needs, they understand your mission, and they understand that you may or may not want all of the bells and whistles starting out. This ensures you get something that you can grow into and expand over time. This also allows you to define and set the expectation upfront for what you want.
Get A Proposal (and A Contract)
Have your web designer provide you with a proposal, quote, or memo of understanding that outlines your deliverable or end product and the total cost. The proposal should also include the rate for additional pages or extra work like editing graphics, writing copy, etc. Many companies have been burnt (so to speak) by web designers who have taken their money and given them sub-par websites, incomplete websites, or website projects that never got beyond the “Coming Soon” splash page and the developer just ran off with the money (the full payment) because they did not have contract or anything in writing. To that end…
Never Pay the Full Price Upfront
Even if you have the capacity to do so, you should never pay full price for your website design up front. Ask your designer for payment terms. For example, Notion Motion Corp. offers a structured project payment plan that includes 3 payments: 50% down, %25 at substantial completion (typically 2-4 weeks into a project), and the final %25 at project completion. Even in those cases where our clients have offered to pay the full price upfront, we decline and insist upon the structured payment plan. The payment plan helps to keep us motivated to complete the project and to render a high end product to our clients.
To summarize, if you are looking to get a website for your small business or nonprofit organization, be prepared to spend at least $500. If you have a lot of content or you have product to sell, be prepared to spend $1,500 or more. Other factors that will affect your price include SEO, SEM, continued website maintenance and more.
Notion Motion Corp. understands the needs of small businesses and nonprofit organizations. We also understand the minimal cash flow the small businesses and nonprofit organizations have. We offer straight-forward consultation to help our clients attain what they want in an online presence. And, we go out of our way to ensure a successful project.