How to calculate how much money you would need to build a blog or e-commerce website?

That is a bit complicated question, because it may vary from free in blog platforms names web2.0 to millions dollars for a website in top 100 SimilarWeb rating. However, I will try to split total cost to parts for new website you start from scratch.

Mainly it is:

• Hosting

• Domain

• Design

• CDN

• Software (themes, plugins, scripts)

• Other expenses

Hosting and Domain cost

About domains and hostings already written a lot, so I will not go into details here. You can check these articles to find cheapest options for good quality:

The Best Cheap WordPress Hosting For Low Traffic Sites

NameCheap hosting review 2020

With links above you would be able to pay for domain less than $10 a year and for hosting less than $5 per month. The more interesting topic, which some people still don’t know much about is CDN or Content Delivery Network.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

I am in love with CDNs. A CDN takes your websites assets (Javascript, CSS files, Images even the whole website) and serves them locally them across the globe so that your website will load faster to the user visiting your website from another country.

My account costs me a mere ten dollars a month just for this blog. This means it has an average load time of 1.6 seconds depending were in the globe you are reading this.

Website Design and Development cost

With over a decades experience in designing and developing bespoke websites for clients across the globe I have a fair and competitive pricing structure. I always try my best to keep my costs down as much as possible and to always go above and beyond the call of duty.

My fees depend on a lot of variables but essentially I base these on four different types of websites that I create around my client and their wants / needs.

Basic Website Costs.

Consider this website package as a glorified business card but with much more content. As I have alluded to a few times before in this and other posts I develop websites from the ground up and to my clients wants and needs. This way I know the site is going to be fast loading and my client gets exactly what they want.

Developing a site this way means I can easily extent the site with more functionality and features for my client in the future and as my clients business grows.

This makes sense as lots of templates and themes are often overbloated with code and comes with every possible feature a website owner does not want or need. It also means that I do not have to dig into hundreds of thousands of lines of code to add or modify a feature of the website which in turn saves on time.

My basic websites are of course handbuilt and designed from scratch, Include 4 or 5 pages including a home landing page, about us, services and a contact page and are designed for people and small business owners looking to develop an online presence.

How much does a basic website really cost? Well these usually take me about one week to design and code with custom graphics, hosting setup and email account creation and usually start at the low price of five hundred pounds.

Small Business or Blog

Although basic websites are good to people wanting to start out with a business and are looking to gather interest, leads and customers. It’s usually better to start with a Small Business website and Blog included because I build these ontop of WordPress CMS and are easily extendable.

Just like a Basic website, I build these from the ground up to my clients wants and needs but are also designed for my client to update the site on a regular basis without having to consult and rehire myself all the time.

These sites offer a lot more than just a basic site like social media integration, Analytics, custom domain email accounts, Review and Testimonial integration and finally Google My Business.

How much does a Small Business or Blog website cost? Well naturally this is a lot more involved than just building a basic one in HTML and CSS and of course, I have to also provide training on how to use and update the website. This kind of website can usually take me anywhere between three and six weeks. Because of this my fee usually starts at £3000.

Ecommerce websites

Most of the websites I build from scratch are the small business ones above but sometimes you want all those features and more like selling your products and services direct from the website.

Perhaps you are a bookstore or a theater and don’t want to use any third-party integration to sell your tickets or books because they take a commission. This is where Ecommerce integration comes into play. These sites are much like the Small Business or Blog websites above and include the custom theme creation but are a lot more involved.

How much does an Ecommerce website cost? On top of the bespoke theme I would have to integrate a lot more functionality into the site, Are you selling physical products or a service? order management, tracking delivery, delivery costs, live chat, stock levels, product description and variations of a product are just a few of the features I build into these websites.

This of course takes a lot more time to work on and to train my client. Because of this these Ecommerce websites start at £3500.

Bespoke Websites and Apps

Sometimes WordPress just will not do and a truly bespoke and unique database driven website or PWA (Progressive Web App) is required. WordPress is great and although some themes can take me six or more weeks to work on, generally WordPress can be setup in a day or so with a downloadable theme or template. Another benefit is infinity choice of plugins, some os them give priceless functions for search engine optimization.

Although rare, I do from time to time get a client wanting something very unique and bespoke with a budget to match. These websites usually have highly advanced and specific features the owner wants and needs.

It could be a bespoke Ecommerce website with a highly advanced feature that’s not possible within a WordPress theme or Plugin. It could also be a bespoke Social network or Forum like Facebook or Twitter. It could be an advanced PWA (Progressive Web App) that can be added to a mobil home screen and work offline (much like most apps from Google Play store or Apple).

How much does a Bespoke Website Cost? As with most things of this nature it takes a lot of time and skill to research, design, develop, test and finally deploy as I need to take into account the different browsers and devices the website and app will have to run on. Safety and Security as well as Legality’s and user data, Website and App speed, Database structure, PHP, MySQL, Design and so much more.

Because of all this a bespoke site can take anything from four months to build and as such my fee usually starts from £5000.

Thank you for reading,