How much did you pay for your website build?
Howdy!
I'm a cheapskate and always build at the lowest cost possible (well...the lowest cost without sacrificing a huge amount of quality).
I'm sometimes shocked at how much people pay for simple, content-based websites.
I.e. not a web app, but just a website that just consists of a landing page, contact page and perhaps a blog.
So, if you paid to have your website built, how much did you pay?
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Personally I am a big fan of https://cruip.com/ , you get a bunch of competitive templates for 70 bucks.
Have never come across Cruip before! Awesome stuff
dude i want to kiss you, this is an amazing tool
Hey, I'm the agency owner and we usually charge between $1200 - $2000 for a custom WP website like that however considering that the following is included i think that pice is more than fair
In the first phase, you get the homepage design, the second phase are inner pages design and just after you are fully satisfied with the design we start with the development
So when we work on a website atlest 5 people are involved in the project, we consider that our price is really competitive as most of our customers are agencies who outsource projects to us.
Your pricing is very competitive for full scale end to end design and build service
Exactly the type of info I was wanting to hear! Thank you.
When I first started I used a free Bootstrap 4 template. I looked at all the website builders but it took longer to learn the platforms than custom code it myself from a template (which I could host for free on Netlify).
Once I shut that SaaS down I looked at my idea list and the idea of a website builder that worked for marketers, designers and developrs jumped out so I built it https://versoly.com
Also the second you need a contact form or blog it is worth upgrading to a website builder. I have seen founders waste days/weeks reinventing the wheel.
So the decision is do you have more time or money.
Nice! I've come across Versoly before - can't say I've used it though. I'm more of a Wordpress guy myself.
Yeah a lot of our customers are ex-WP users, some racked up 10+ years on it.
But after security issues, plugins and general maintenance (and how different Versoly was to current solutions) they swapped.
I would suggest building it yourself with wordpress, I know it gets hate but I feel as if it's a great option, especially paired with elementor + siteground
That's my go-to build! Literally exactly what I do haha
I actually have a cool story. Me and my cofounder had no coding experience (now I am learning to code, but only started 1 month ago). So one year ago we were searching for a company to build our marketplace, and the offers ranged in the 100k to 200k CHF(~USD).
Then throught our network we got an 70k offer from a company in poland that would do an mvp for 20k and the rest for 50k. The objective of the mvp would be to have the basic stuff and earn some money and then when we get some revenue we would finance the rest of the 50k.
Long story short we paid 20k for front end and very little backend (just send confirmation emails, register users and upload articles) and no admin panel. The customers weren't even able to pay in the website (so no revenue for us).
When we asked how much it would cost to upgrade so we would have the basics to make some money they sended an offer of 300k. So needless to say we just wasted 20k.
We were destroyed and thought that would be the end of our startup, but I found sharetribe where you can create your own marketplace in minutes (like shopify for marketplaces) and now I am learning to code so I can had more features to it. (So maybe happy ending?)
Yikes! A fair amount to lose. Wishing you all the best for this new iteration
Templates are a great place to start if you're testing an idea and want it to be low cost. I find builders like Wix & Squarespace have limited features so would recommend Webflow. Webflow has tutorial videos that rival 'Masterclass.com' - invaluable when starting out. To build a good website (design, flow, SEO etc.) without spending weeks you need previous design experience and basic understanding.
If you can afford to pay for a website an agency makes it a frictionless process but often comes at higher costs. As @blunicorn mentioned, you pay more for reputation.
Employing via Upwork or Fivver can be very cost effective. This is easier if you arrive with an idea of what you want (i.e. copy elements of other sites). Many freelancers use Wordpress which has an unlimited number of plugins and is therefore extremely feature rich. I however find Wordpress outdated in 2022 with constant update needs and slow speeds when stacking features.
I started https://www.yolkk.co.uk/ *have bought the .io but haven't made the switch yet! We start with a blank page so every site is unique, nevertheless rely on pre-built customisable components for speed. Yolkk is still growing and I plan to launch on Product Hunt after further feedback.
Very interesting pricing model for Yolkk - do you have a minimum contract length?
Thanks Harry. Only on the top tier model (Pro User). Minimum Contract is something I may have to introduce in the future but I'm interested to see what happens with no contract for now!
I think this model is fascinating - would love to hear updates when you have any!
Thanks Harry, interested to see outcome myself! My belief is if I create a website that converts then they'll stay. + Once you've made a lot of websites the time it takes decreases exponentially!
Great idea, I am wondering how will it be in terms of changes to the website after go live. A large number of website will require someone looking after changes and customer support. Do you plan on using freelancers for that?
Thanks Krash! Certainly do hope to hire in the future and definitely rely on freelancers where the need arises. I'm also intrigued to see the level of alterations people require. I'm sure some customers will be demanding and others much less so - all changes are included in the packages but more pages are an additional cost. Websites are hosted on Webflow platform which has great editing capabilities in addition to (unlike WordPress) doesn't require constant updates. Lastly, I have a customer portal that allows customers to submit changes and upload documents. I hope to build on all these elements as we grow :)
For my first business, I built my own site (wasn't too bad) until I had a solid customer base and the concept was def proven. Then I paid around $25,000 for my first redesign. The second redesign was significantly more.
Following that same process now. The design you see on GapScout is by me. But, the redesign is already in the works to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
Why?
Well, I am my own investor and I'm in a different position than I was when I started my first business. Also, my first business benefited greatly from a professional design. The brand soared afterwards, so I know how important it is to have a polished look and what it can do for a business.
Hope that helps!
I like the path you take - and I particularly like that you're repeating the path even after you've had an excited and (presumably) a bit more capital lying around! Thank you for sharing
Thanks! :) ...
Building software companies is fun. I like the creative side of it all. So, I'm back for more!
Good on ya'!
I (no technical knowledge whatsoever) built my website with no code for under 300$ - https://www.knowledgehunt.co/
It looks fine but has many flows. Thus I am rebuilding it now on Bubble.
The design will cost around 300$, and hiring a person to build it on Bubble will cost around $1.5k. I hope it will be worth it.
I get two sites ( a. https://fontchangerguru.com/ b. https://whatslinkhub.com/ ) in just 370$ from an Asian developer. Now I'm looking for a SEO expert who can grab targeted traffic on these sites.
Thanks for sharing, and good luck with the Bubble build!
The first version was pretty good for the validation period though
If you're going to an agency or experienced freelancer I would say expect anything upwards of $2k for something quite impressive, Webflow is an awesome web-building tool.
If you are prepared to do something yourself and invest some time in learning, you could work on top of a Webflow template/ cloneable you like the aesthetic of, or as an even simpler building tool like Wix or Squarespace although they aren't as scaleable in the long run
Interesting - I'd guess those are overseas agencies at that price?
Most agencies based in the US, Europe or Australia
We built ours ourselves for $0, but I've worked at companies that have paid tens of thousands to have their website built. I think it's a combination of companies knowing what their service is worth, and/or being a great salesperson - one company will charge $1000 for something that another would charge $10,000, but the results will often be pretty much the same.
It's the same with SaaS really though. There are established companies selling something similar to what we've built, but they charge 100x more because they've built a reputation, and a solid sales and marketing operation....the quality of what the end user receives is basically the same though :)
This is exactly what I'm seeing, and what partly inspired this question. I'm amazed at how some companies (normally small companies that have been around for 5+ years, in simple businesses like recruitment and niche consulting) are paying huge amounts ($10,000+) for what is essentially a Wordpress template with some edits).
You can use Open AI Codex now to build webpage.
A lot of services that are offered are bought from marketplaces (envato/bubble) and resold with minor changes.
Do you still need to go through the waitlist for Codex?
Yes. I joined their waitlist. Got invitation yesterday to try out the codex.
Nice! Would love to see what you build with it
Thanks. Right now i am thinking over idea? Can we monetize code? Somehow but how? Think of coders like influencers and earning like them with their code. Exclusively for coders.
Hi
When it comes to hosting and domain name registration, respectively, I have discovered that Namecheap and Linode offer the most value for your money if you want to start from scratch.
You can undoubtedly host your website on AWS or use Wordpress to handle your content as a starting point (until you need to add more capabilities) (has a bit of a learning curve) at https://www.ohjeanrecords.com/products/kody-nielson-birthday-suite
Thanks
If you want to build everything from scratch, I have found that Linode and Namecheap have the best value for your money when it comes to hosting and domain name registration respectively. You can definitely use Wordpress to manage your content as a start (until you need to add more features) or AWS to host your site (has a bit of a learning curve).