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It is crucial to your business that you have a website that performs well and shows off your business in the best light possible.
Here is a run down on how much a website costs in the UK in 2023 and what you need to take into consideration when thinking about your website’s cost.
One of, if not the most important question that you have is how much does a website cost in the UK in 2023. You want to know if it is cost-effective for you to have a new website for your new venture.
When it comes to building and designing a website, many elements come together to produce the finished website for your business. Costs vary depending on the complexity of your website, which website functions you require, such as being able to put your products on the website and which website platform it is built on.
The comparisons of the different types of website designs are outlined below, giving you a breakdown of which package is best suited for your business and ultimately, how much a website costs in the UK.
Each website project is different so the costs will be varied for each website but the following gives you an insight into how much your website will cost. All of this will be discussed in our initial discovery call together so that we are on the same page at all times for your website project.
Before we compare website packages and work out how much does a website cost in the UK, there are some things that you should know before looking at how much your website will cost.
Your domain is simply the name or URL of your website. For example, my domain is louiswebsdale.co.uk. You need to purchase a domain so that potential customers can find your business by visiting your website's URL.
Web hosting is the process of renting out space on the web to store and keep your website's files safe. Depending on the website platform that you decide to use, hosting may be provided by the provider or you may have to purchase hosting. We have recently opted to only use sustainable web hosting providers for our clients!
Find out more here.
SSL certificates tell browsers that your website can be trusted and that it is safe to visit for potential customers. If you do not have a SSL certificate, your website will be labelled as not secure and may even tell potential customers that your site is trying to steal their information.
If you need your website's copy written for you, the time spent will need to be taken into consideration into the website cost. Also, if you need stock imagery to be sourced for you, additional hours will need to be discussed.
If your website project is urgent and you need to see a first draft on a short basis, the agency or freelancer may need to take this into consideration when creating a quote for your website.
Every website project is different and you may want some additional functions for your website that may not be universally used on all websites. We're very happy to discuss these functions and aspects of your website and they will be taken into consideration for your website's cost.
You may here people talking about website design and website development and wonder what are the differences as people often get the two mixed up!
Website design is the process of designing the front-end of a website in an user-friendly, responsive layout and design. Alternatively, website development is the process of developing the back-end of a website so that the designs created in the website design process can be reflected onto the front-end of the website.
In general, website design should take place before the development starts as the developer will need to know what they need to produce as the end product. Website designers can provide wireframes or templates of the website pages to you and also the developer so that everyone is on the same page at all times. Having said that, sometimes the same person may be both designing and developing your website which will lead to an easier transition from design to development as they will not have to relay information onto another person which could cause some misunderstanding.
Depending on the agency or freelancer that you work with, the design and development costs may be combined into one cost or package so that you don’t have to worry about paying separate costs
| Do-It-Yourself Website | £100-£500 |
| Bespoke Website | £500-£750 |
| Ecommerce Website | £750-£1,000 |
| Custom Functionality Website | £3,000-£5,000+ |
Firstly, there are free, do-it-yourself website platforms which although may be cheaper in the short-run are unreliable and ultimately will mean that you have to spend more time in the long-run on your website.
These platforms are very limited in what you can put onto your website and you may be restricted to having their own branding on your website or their domain rather than having a custom domain. The platforms are likely to have poor hosting as well, meaning that the speed and security of your website will be weak. This looks unprofessional for your business and you won’t have the freedom or customisability that you would with a bespoke website design and build, under your full control and creative freedom.
Moving forward, what you really want is a bespoke website which is not restricted to a subscription that gives potential customers a great impression of your website.
So, how much does a bespoke website cost in the UK? Well, read on to find out!
These website packages include a design and build of a bespoke website for your business. On average, these websites have 5 pages, creating an online brochure for your business that potential customers can visit at any time, even if you are on holiday or away from the office. Your bespoke website will be easy to edit and manage and you will have full control and freedom with your website. Unlike other web design companies, we do not restrict access to your website nor charge at an extortionate hourly rate to make changes or additions to your website.
Websites in this category are professional and modern, showing off your business in the best of light even though they may not be the most complex in size or functionality. If you are looking to sell products through your website, an ecommerce website package is more suited to your project’s requirements as these packages include a bespoke website design and build with a fully functional payment system built into your website.
These websites are built on WordPress, the industry’s standard platform for website creation – 43% of all websites on the web are built on WordPress. WordPress is a secure and flexible content management system (CMS) that is used as the foundations for your website.
The CMS is easy to edit and is widely used, meaning that you will easily be able to edit your website, unlike other website platforms that will have you scratching your head when trying to make simple changes. Also unlike other website platforms, there are no subscription fees with WordPress, meaning you only have to pay for hosting, your domain and SSL certificate.
So, how much does a WordPress website cost in the UK? Well here’s what is included in your WordPress website design and build and how much it costs.
Here’s what is included in your bespoke WordPress website design and build and we are happy to discuss any of these items in our initial discovery call together to give you further understanding into what you are paying for. These projects are usually in the region of £500-750 but a more specific quote will be discussed in our discovery call.
Your WordPress website will be bespoke with each page designed and built to fit your business and business' persona. For the most part, 5 pages for your website is a great start and of course, more pages can be added at a later date.
If they are not purchased already, I can help you sort out your domain, web hosting and SSL certificate. Alternatively, we can give you suggestions for which hosting provider to use and can walk you through the process if you would like to purchase them yourself.
If we are working together for a brand new website build, professional email accounts for your business can be set up for you. These accounts can then be added to your Outlook or Gmail accounts.
With WordPress websites, you need to keep the loading speed of your website into consideration at all times. For every extra half a second a website takes to load, you will be losing 20% of your website traffic.
| Website Feature | Feature Explanation | Feature Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Name |
| £15-£35 per year |
| Website Hosting |
| £75-£100 per year |
| SSL Certificate |
| £50 per year |
| Website Design |
| £500-£750 |
These websites are built on Wix, another one of the industry’s standard platform for website creation with over 120 million users in 2019. Wix is different to WordPress with web hosting, SEO tools and a website builder fully built in to the platform.
Unlike WordPress, Wix has its own subscription plans that you will have to use in order to use Wix for your website platform with upgrades avaialble if you would like to add an ecommerce store to your website or allow customers to book sessions with you through the website.
So, how much does a Wix website cost in the UK? Well here’s what is included in your Wix website design and build and how much it costs.
Here’s what is included in your bespoke Wix website design and build which is different to WordPress as the Wix platform provides aspects of your website such as hosting for you. These Wix websites are usually in the region of £500-750 but a more specific quote will be discussed in our initial discovery call.
Your Wix website will be tailor made for your business' image and message. The Wix editor is an easy to use, drag and drop website builder as well.
We can help you purchase your domain for your new website and I am happy to discuss this in more detail. Wix takes care of your hosting and SSL certificate so these will not need to be purchased.
If we are working together for a brand new Wix website build, professional email accounts for your business can be set up for you so that you do not have to worry about doing that yourself. These email accounts can then be added to your existing Outlook or Gmail accounts.
| Website Feature | Feature Explanation | Feature Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Name |
| £15-£35 per year |
| Wix Subscription Plans |
| £11-£27 per month |
| Website Design |
| £500-£750 |
Ecommerce websites sell products and services through their website, creating an online shop that you can receive orders from even if you are away from the office. These websites act as traditional websites but have a payment process and gateway built into the website. The full payment process is secure and the ecommerce process pages are fully branded so that your customer’s have a personal checkout experience with the world’s most common payment gateways available.
You can sell physical products, downloadable products or online courses through your ecommerce website and more than one of these options can be used at one time. Regardless of the website platform that you use, the orders and payments that you receive can be easily managed and you will receive email notifications whenever you receive an order, review or a sign up to your website’s email marketing list.
Ecommerce websites can be built on WordPress as WordPress has a plugin marketplace that includes addons can be installed onto your website for free including WooCommerce, a customisable plugin that gives your website all of the ecommerce functions that it needs, able to be installed completely for free.
WooCommerce is compatible with all major payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Afterpay, Worldpay, Klarna and there are many extensions available if your desired payment gateway is not available within the plugin initially.
So, how much does an ecommerce website cost in the UK? Well here’s what is included in your ecommerce website design and build and how much it costs.
Here’s what is included in your WordPress Ecommerce website design and build and we are happy to discuss any of the aspects of your ecommerce website in more detail if you would like. Ecommerce websites start at £750 and we can discuss this in more detail in our initial discovery call.
Your website will be bespoke with each page designed and built to fit your business. This includes the design and build of the ecommerce pages - the shop, product pages, cart, checkout and account pages.
As mentioned, your ecommerce website will be set up with the most commonly used payment gateways worldwide. If your desired gateway is not available initially, WooCommerce has many extensions available for other payment gateways.
Mobile traffic has been around the 50% mark since the beginning of 2017, showing that is is essential for your website to have a positive user experience over all devcies.
With ecommerce websites, the loading speed is even more important as in one survey, when load time was decreased by 0.1s, retail customer engagement increased by 5.2%.
| Website Feature | Feature Explanation | Feature Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Name |
| £15-£35 per year |
| Website Hosting |
| £100-£150 per year |
| Payment Gateways |
| Free or paid, depending on gateway |
| Website Design |
| £750-£1,000 |
Beyond all of the websites that we have looked at so far, your needs might not fit into any of those and you may need a bespoke, custom website so that your site is best fit for your requirements.
The cost of a custom website can vary greatly depending on a number of factors, such as the complexity of the design, the functionality required, and the level of customisation needed. As we have looked at, a basic custom website with a standard design and functionality is going to cost in the region of £500-£750. For more complex websites, such as those that require extensive e-commerce features, custom applications, or complex integrations that require custom development, We’d say that you are looking at a cost of at least £3,000 and most likely more.
As well as this, when it comes to building a custom website, it’s important to consider not only the initial development costs, but also the ongoing maintenance and upkeep costs as these will be much higher than the costs of a basic website. This includes expenses such as hosting, security updates, and software upgrades, which can add up over time.
Ultimately, the cost of a custom website will depend on a variety of factors, and it’s important to carefully consider your needs and budget before embarking on a web development project. With the right planning and execution, however, a custom website can be a valuable investment that can help you achieve your business goals and stand out in a crowded online marketplace.
| Website Feature | Feature Explanation | Feature Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Name |
| £15-£35 per year |
| Website Hosting |
| £200-£400 per year |
| Integrations |
| £500-£1,500 |
| Website Design |
| £2,500-£5,000 |
Once your website goes live, we are still on hand for any future changes or additions that you would like to make for your website. This may include anything from adding new pages to the site to adding ecommerce functionality to your website.
We offer Website Maintenance packages so that once your website goes live, you don’t have to worry about your website’s health. These packages include plugin updates, security monitoring, core updates and bug fixes on the rare occasion that they may arise.
Each website is different and there are features of your website that will affect how much it will cost. This includes the size of the website, the complexity, whether you would like to sell products through your website and the timeframe that is required. Website hosting, domain and SSL certificate purchases are also taken into consideration when totalling up how much your website will cost.
There are a lot of website designers who can a range of website design and website development services, either as a website design agency or a freelancer. Website designers usually have an hourly rate or will provide you with a quote depending on the project with prices ranging from £100-£5000+.
In addition, prices are affected by the agency’s or freelancer’s experience, availability and other factors specific to that designer and it is always a great idea to research pricing before making a decision. We would also recommend to look at the designer’s portfolio and social media so that you can get an impression of their work and see if you feel that you could work well together.
Each website project length is different and it will depend on a number of features:
There are many aspects that affect how much your website will cost from external costs to the how quickly you would like your website to be completed. Here’s a list of what will affect how much your website costs:
Domain costs vary depending on which domain registrar you use. On average, domains cost in the region of £5-£30 and need to be renewed yearly so that you remain the registrant and owner of your domain. Some domain registrant companies may even give you the first year of your domain renewal for free and we can suggest to you a domain registrant company if you do not have one in mind or have not registered your domain already.
Again, the cost of web hosting depends on which web hosting provider you use. On average, you can expect to have to pay in the region of £70-£120 per year for the hosting of your website. Even though a cheaper hosting plan may seem attractive, cheap hosting leads to slower website loading speeds, weakened website security and commonly, a lack of support from the hosting company.
There are many website platforms that may or may not be suitable for your website. Here are the most commonly used website platforms and our recommendations about each platform.
We’d love to hear what you’re hoping to achieve from your project and any questions that you may have.
Delighted to announce that I am the Rising Star Winner in the 2023 Brentwood Business Awards!
