What Is the Average Cost of Website Design for Small Business?

Designing a website yourself vs hiring a professional

When it comes to creating a website for your business, it’s important to consider all the options. Your first thought might be to hire a professional, especially if you lack design or technical experience. This is the easiest option but it can be expensive, and it will impact the average cost of a website design for your small business.

While you can find agencies that offer special discounts for first-time clients, it’s unlikely that you’ll end up paying less than $300 on a single project. At the upper end of the scale, fees can go well into the thousands. For example, Pronto Marketing charges $3,500 for a six-page website. Therefore, this option only makes sense if you have very specific requirements.

You can also outsource the job to freelance professionals, using platforms like Upwork and Fiverr:

Typically, the rates here are a lot cheaper. Plus, there’s an element of flexibility with freelance work, so you can always reach out to a professional to discuss your options and get a quote.

Alternatively, you can design the website yourself. While this might seem daunting, there are plenty of tools that can make things a little easier. For example, drag-and-drop page builders offer a quick way to design all web pages on your site.

However, if you decide to design your website by yourself, there are a few other things to consider. First, you’ll need to get a domain name for your website. This is the address that users enter into search bars to access it. You can obtain a domain for as little as ~$7 from providers like Namecheap.

You’ll also need to purchase web hosting. Most beginners go for shared hosting as it’s an affordable option. With a reliable provider like Bluehost, you can find shared hosting plans for just $1.99 a month. These include a free domain name and SSL certificate for the first year.

What is the average cost of website design for small business?

Now that you know a bit more about the options for designing your website, let’s take a look at some key factors that influence the average cost of website design for small business.

1. Themes and templates

When you use a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress, you’ll need to select a theme to determine the look and feel of your website. You can get a beautiful theme like Neve for free, or opt for premium themes from third-party providers.

It’s important to make sure that your chosen theme is light, fast, and secure. Plus, it should receive regular updates to ensure compatibility with other tools:

Most themes include templates for blog posts, contact pages, about sections, and more. You may even be able to customize the theme to suit your needs.

Editing your theme is especially easy with the WordPress Site Editor. This gives you near-total control over all templates, as well as template parts like headers and footers. To access it, simply head to Appearance > Editor in your WordPress dashboard and choose the template you wish to edit.

Then, you can add blocks, apply block patterns, edit the style of different elements, and more:

You can find plenty of free themes in the WordPress Theme Directory. If you want a premium theme, you’ll find some stunning designs on ThemeForest and other marketplaces.

Premium themes generally cost between $13 and $69 on ThemeForest. Alternatively, if you have to work with a professional designer on a custom theme, you can find freelancers on Fiverr that charge between $60-$80.

2. Responsive web design

About 60 percent of the global population uses mobile phones to browse the web [1]. Therefore, it’s important that your website can adapt seamlessly across different screen sizes.

Fortunately, most themes are designed with this in mind. In fact, it would be quite rare to come across a theme that isn’t responsive, but it doesn’t hurt to be certain. While browsing through WordPress themes, you’ll want to read the reviews by other users for assurance.

Meanwhile, when adding plugins to your site, you can check that the software is responsive by scanning the description or list of features. Additionally, you might find an FAQ section on the plugin page where this question is answered.

Most free themes and plugins are optimized for mobile devices. If you ask a designer to build a theme for your website, you probably won’t pay any additional costs to make it responsive, as this is standard practice in the web design industry.

3. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is another factor that can affect the average cost of website design for small business. SEO is a set of best practices that optimize your site for search engines like Google. It can make your website rank higher in search results and drive more traffic to your pages.

It’s important to make sure that every element of your site is SEO-friendly, including plugins and themes. You can also take additional steps to improve your site’s SEO.

For example, you’ll want to use a tool like Google Keyword Planner to discover popular keywords. Then, you can use these keywords in your content, metadata, headings, and alt tags:

However, you’ll also find agencies that offer SEO services like keyword research and on-page optimization. Depending on the agency, these services can cost as little as $150. If you have a large or complex site, you could pay up to $5000 a month for professional SEO.

If you need a complete SEO strategy but you don’t want to fork out thousands of pounds, you can hire a freelancer for roughly $500 on platforms like Fiverr:

Alternatively, you can task an expert with completing specific SEO tasks, like backlinking. Typically, on Fiverr, you can secure this kind of service for around $40 to $100.

4. Ecommerce functionality

If you’re planning to sell products on your website, it can influence the average cost of website design for small business. For example, you’ll need to sign up for payment gateway services, pay transaction fees, use ecommerce tools like marketing software, and more.

With WordPress, you can use the WooCommerce plugin to transform your website into a fully-fledged ecommerce store:

The plugin gives you access to storefront themes, product blocks, and many other features. You can also utilize WooCommerce Payments to manage online transactions. Plus, WooCommerce Shipping is an excellent solution for businesses that sell physical items.

You can get started with WooCommerce for free. If you have particularly high order volumes, you might qualify for Woo Enterprise. This is priced on a case-by-case basis.

Additionally, you might need to pay for some WooCommerce extensions. For example, if you want to add the Worldpay payment gateway to WooCommerce, this will cost you $6.59 a month.

On the other hand, if you want to hire a professional to design an ecommerce website, you can expect prices to start at around $1000 for a small business site:

However, if you’re after an enterprise-level site with custom features, you can see that prices can rise right up to $25,000.

5. Content (landing pages, images, and other graphics)

Another factor that can affect the average cost of website design for small business is content creation. You’ll need to create landing pages, images, blog posts, and other types of content.

The easiest way to design pages for your site is to install a page builder plugin like Elementor:

This plugin enables you to build pages with an intuitive, drag-and-drop editor. Plus, your layout will update in real-time, so you can assess your design as you work.

Most page builders offer a free version, though this can be limited to basic elements. Therefore, you might prefer to upgrade to a paid plan to unlock more widgets and templates. With Elementor, paid plans start at $59 a year.

On top of this, you might want to produce images and other graphics. You can use a royalty-free image site like My Stock Photos, or take your own photographs. Then, you could edit images with a free graphic design tool like Canva:

Canva also gives you access to a free logo maker, though you can find a similar service on platforms like Looka.

Another option would be to hire a graphic designer or an illustrator (if you want custom images for your site). Freelance professionals typically charge between $12 and $70 for this service, depending on your needs.

Conclusion on the average cost of a website design for a small business 🏁

With so many ways to build a website, it’s difficult to choose the right option for your skill level, experience, and budget. You can partner with an agency if you have a large budget, or hire professional freelancers. However, if you lack resources, there are plenty of tools that help you design your own site.

Here are five factors that affect the average cost of website design for small business:

🏗️ In short, you can build a website for nothing more than the cost of a domain + hosting ($33 for the first year with Bluehost), or you can spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $10,000+ to set your website up.

Do you have any questions about the average cost of website design for small business? Let us know in the comments section below!