How much does a website cost in Australia? The truth.

What you’ll learn in this article:

• What’s involved in building a website.
• The on-going costs of a website.
• Why some websites are free, and others are not.
• How to ensure you’re getting a good deal on your website.

We always get messages asking, “How much does a website cost in Australia.” And, we know it’s going to frustrate the heck out of the person when we say it’s best if we get someone to get in touch as we customise each and every quote personally to their needs. But you know what would be more frustrating? If we said $0 to more than $30,000—but without the right information, that’s the truth.

Building a website is like buying a car. Everyone’s needs are different and unless you’re careful, you’re going to be taken advantage of. Imagine if you only need a 2-door get-around car with low fuel consumption but end up paying the price of a 10-seater family lugger with the latest safety features, all because ‘that’s what the average person buys.’ This is what majority of website builders in Australia are doing.

To help you decide on a website service, we’ve listed everything you need to consider when choosing your perfect match.

How much does a website cost in Australia in 2019?

What’s involved in building a professional website?

When people think of building a website, they tend to only remember the main pages they see straight away, like the home, about, services and contact page. However, every single page, down to the thank you, terms and conditions and error pages require the same amount, even more, work as these main pages. All of these stages and contribute to hours, even days, of work.

This just a basic overview of what happens to a website during production:

The Design

Every single visual aspect, down to the font and the placement of buttons, is created or chosen by a designer. Website designers in Australia go through years of studying in ensuring layouts, fonts, colours, buttons and everything to do with a website is easy for users to see, navigate and instinctively know how to use. They also need to constantly be learning to accommodate for new trends, both in design and for search engines.

A freelance website designer will charge anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars for something incredibly basic up to $10,000+—just for the design. At Localsearch, the design cost is worked into the entire package.

The Content

Writing website content isn’t as easy as it seems. Professional writers know how to drill down into a reader’s psyche and target emotions to make them want to buy or whatever action they want them to do. They must also balance this with writing for different demographics, making this targeting subtle AND working to what search engines dictate. As you can imagine, this is constantly changing, so requires constant education.

Also involved in the content process is an editor or proofer. They ensure spelling, grammar and the overall language used on every page is correct.

If you plan on creating your own website but hiring a freelance website copywriter, you’ll be charged by the hour, in most cases. This can cost you anywhere from $50 (for a not-as-experienced copy writer) to $200 (for a specialised writer) per hour. And a heads up, these hours include researching, writing and proofing, so it can be costly. Services like Localsearch include copy in the price.

Development

A developer is the person (or persons) responsible for taking a design and concept and making it usable. It’s a lot more complicated than this and actually involves them learning a computer language (or multiple) known to most people as ‘code’.

Like anything, technology is always evolving, so development is a constant task and requires developers to always be learning.

Technology, Backend & Hosting

A lot of people forget that a website technically isn’t something up in thin air floating around. It needs somewhere for all the site’s information to be stored to be called upon when it’s needed. This is where hosting comes in. Think of hosting like a folder in a filing cabinet where all the parts of your website (including all the code indicating what images, colours and text are to be shown and where) are kept, ready for when you need it.

There is also the software your website needs to make things work. For example, to have an online store, you need software to allow for transactions. Then there is the security and all the ‘little’ things you tend to forget about need to be accounted for. It all costs money, too. The more you want to do, the more your website will tend to cost.

Quality Assurance Testing

Everyone makes mistakes but a QA tester helps to ensure your website doesn’t have any. Website services, like Localsearch, include QA testing to ensure everything works as intended and prevent errors. This includes clicking on every button and tab to ensure they all go where and behave like they should.

And then there is the other stuff…

Does your business have overheads, like the cost of running an office and work vehicles? Paying staff? Computers? Phones? Software? Marketing? So does a website design company.

Are there any ongoing costs in running a website?

Unfortunately, websites aren’t a set-and-forget kind of deal. The hosting we mentioned above is an on-going cost—a little like rent for the space your website occupies online.

Then, with how often search engines change their algorithms, to continue being found, you’ll need to either invest in your own constant training and time to spend on your search engine optimisation (SEO) or pay someone to do it for you. An SEO specialist (like this) will ensure your content, design and even things off of your website, are geared towards getting you found online by the right people.

And you know how we mentioned the evolving technology developers need to keep up with? Your website needs to keep up with these changes too. Like when HTML4 upgraded to HTML5, websites had to upgrade with it or get left behind.

By choosing a website design company you can trust, you’ll be made aware of any of these running costs and when you need to make decisions. You won’t get this from a free website provider—they’ll let you find out your website has crashed on your own months after the fact.

What’s the difference between a free website and a professionally built website?

As a business owner, would you give away your work for free without an ulterior motive? A free website is a trap. You’re getting something that appears to do what you want, but in fact, it’s a waste of time, and possibly, in the end, you’ll spend more than you would of if you’d just trusted a professional in the first place.

In fact, there is so much wrong with a free website, we have an article dedicated to it. Read: Is a free website any good?

How do I know if I’m getting a good deal on my website?

Do your research. Check out the business’s Google My Business reviews and see what other people have to see. Browse through their portfolio and check out some of the website’s they’ve made. Look at their own website.

But what about how much they charge for a website? It’s best to stay away from website companies with non-customised prices. If they’re charging the same for a 5-page site as they do a 10-page, that’s a bad sign. You should only be paying for what you use, although, remember everything we mentioned is involved in the price above.

In conclusion…

Building a website is an investment into your business’s future, so you need to make an informed decision. If you’d like to discuss more about what the website you had in mind would cost in Australia, give us a call. Our quotes are customised to what your business needs, not what the average Joe has. Oh, and you can pay them off in 10 monthly instalments.

Feature image: Photo by Fabian Blank on Unsplash