How much will a website build out or re-design cost for your business or ministry? As Christian Website Designers we prioritize transparency in all aspects of our work. We want you to know how much you should expect to pay for a new marketing site for your business or a re-design of your church’s website. At the end of the day it comes down to how much work is involved on different aspects of your site.
There are 2 main factors that constitute the amount of labor and/or software involved with your project: The size and complexity of your site.
This means that a customized, appealing, professional 8 page informational website (About, Services, Portfolio, Contact) for your small business with standard customization is going to cost less than a membership based customized 50-page non-profit website with e-commerce and member only donations/benefits etc.
Our website packages for small business info sites and/or basic church websites usually cost between $2200 & $8000.
That’s a big price range difference. Allow us to break things down so that you can see where those cost differences come into play and so you can estimate what it will cost to build your website.
Why Should You Hire A Professional?
If you are busy like most folks who run their own business or are building a new ministry or church and/or tech just isn’t your thing… then you probably need to hire a professional to build your website for you. That’s just how simple it is.
I’m sure you’ve already thought of this yourself and you may have tried to look for a website designer in your local area or online. If you have then you have probably experienced this:
- No accurate prices shown.
- Or Prices that vary greatly, from very cheap to very expensive.
Our website design business has been in this industry creating christian websites for businesses and nonprofits since 1998. So we’ve seen a thing or two. We’ve done a ton of research and worked with many different companies and developers over the last 20+ years. So we can confidently say that we know how much a christian website design should cost.
Overall Pricing & Why
Overall when working with experienced, well reviewed, high standard website designers that did list their prices and/or have told us their prices, we found the average website cost rates in 2022 to build a modern, professional small business website was typically $2,000-$10,000 but can be as much as $20,000 (or more) depending on the functions required, number of pages, plugins, features like e-commerce and or membership systems etc on the site and the amount of customization/revisions required.
Website Design vs. Website Development. Website design and website development are a buzz word used flippantly as the same thing in most folks minds. But these two terms mean very different things. Website design is like working with an engineer and architect to create the blueprint for a new house you are building. Website development is like working with the electrician, contractor and plumber to actually build the new house. Our 2022 pricing estimates listed above are for website design “as well as” website development (i.e. all inclusive cost).
Here is a deeper look into the specific factors and variables affecting the price of building a small business or non-profit website:
- Amount Of Pages: Let’s use this as an example; A Christian Website Design Company offers an 8 page website package for $2500. But you need at least 20 pages to start since your organization has a lot of different ministries or services and each ministry/service needs its own page. How much more should you expect to pay? On average you can expect between $75-$100 additional per page on top of the original package cost. So in this case you would need 12 more page which would cost $1200.00 In this example, adding 15 pages (to the 10 pages included in the standard website package) would cost $1,500. Add this amount to the original base price of $3,500 and the revised total is $5,000. Every situation will vary, obviously, but at least this gives you a reasonable cost estimate based on common pricing in the industry in 2022.
- Custom site layout. Websites today are usually started with a theme stack of elements or element templates. It is very uncommon for a website to be designed from scratch these days. It is much too time consuming and expensive because of that. A well made theme stack like Avada or Salient will give you all of the bells and whistles needed to create a beautiful site. Since they have thousands and thousands of variations for the design elements you’ll still have a “custom” looking site without having to pay someone to design each aspect from scratch. With that said, there is still a lot of customization and coding work that must be done to get the layout, look and functionality you’ll want even when using a theme stack. These professional theme stacks are a big part of how you can have a professional christian small business or non-profit website built for the $2000-$5000 range as opposed to $15,000-$20,000 etc.
- Custom images & graphics. Fancy images, icons and graphics can be the difference between you and a competitor, but they can be expensive to have designed by hand. We recommend finding free images at Unsplash or purchasing custom graphics, videos or photos from Shutterstock to save money on custom graphics.
- Custom logo. Although not required, a custom logo is a highly recommended asset for any website. A custom logo increases the trust/credibility factor people will feel when they view your website. For a professionally designed logo in 2022, you should budget between $550-$900. We provide custom logo design packages here.
- Custom programming. More times than not, we can find a WordPress plugin for the exact functionality you may want to have on your website. Such as a Learning Management System like Learndash or a Membership System like Memberpress. But in other cases you may need a custom programmed solution like a Stock Portfolio Management System we made for Financial Issues. Or custom reporting systems to draw data from multiple areas of your website. In a perfect world features like these on a website would be plug and play. Custom programming can require many hours of scoping, implementing, testing and re-working etc. Oftentimes, custom programming requirements quickly cost an additional $10k-$20k on top of your regular website build.
- Number of design revisions. Most of not all website projects start with an initial rough draft of your design and content put together. Once you see the initial rough draft it is best practice to have 1 to 3 rounds of design and layout revisions along with testing the website. Some website designers offer as many as 4-5 rounds of revisions. Keep in mind that each of these revision rounds add to the overall cost of the project. We provide 3 rounds of revisions with our website packages and that usually satisfies all parties 99% of the time.
- Website content development (i.e. copywriting). Well planned, enticing, thoughtful and easy to understand content is the foundation of a solid small business and/or ministry website. You’ll need to answer the “who, what, where & why” of your business or ministry as quickly as possible on your website. If you are planning to build a website but do not have any content yet, it is recommended that you begin writing or hire a copywriter as soon as possible. If you have a current website that is outdated or the content is weak and not converting visitors it should be revamped. In our 20+ years of building websites we have found that content development is the toughest part of the website creation process for most of our customers. This is because a lot of thought and labor time must be spent on content and it can be quite time consuming. We offer professional website copywriting as an additional service. We do also recommend if you would like to write the content yourself that you follow advice from Storybrand on how to develop content.
Tips:
PRICE TIP A: If you are wanting to move forward with a professional website built for your business or ministry but do not feel that you can afford a big payment upfront, we offer interest free financing on our packages. That way you can have a professional presence online for your business or organization but cash flow it over time.
PRICE TIP B: Be wary of “affordable” or “cheap” pricing. Unusually low prices offered by agencies or freelancers often translates to poor workmanship, an unpleasant experience or nickel and diming you for every little thing.