How much does a website cost in Australia this 2023, specifically? This is a frequently asked question. and here’s an article to help you understand everything. In Australia, a simple website can cost anywhere from $1500 to $8000, and possibly even more. To give you a general idea:
- Small business website (A$ 1,500 – A$ 3,000)
- Lead generation website (A$ 3,000 – A$ 8,000)
- E-commerce website (A$ 8,000 – A$ 20,000)
- Custom feature-rich website (A$ 20,000+)
Now, while these figures are based on our experience, take them with a grain of salt.
Because the truth is, there’s never a straightforward answer to that question. The actual cost of a website varies depending on a lot of factors. Apart from the type of website, other factors include the number of pages, design and features, optimise for SEO, and so many more.
In this article, we’ll go deeper into the factors that can affect website cost, including what’s covered in quality website design.
What is a website?
Technically, a website is a collection of web pages that are accessible over the internet. In today’s digital world, it’s almost impossible not to have heard of or visited a website, so you likely know it’s much more than just a collection of web pages.
For example, if you are a business owner, a website is a valuable tool you can use for showcasing your products and promoting your services. Or, if you’re managing a non-profit organization, a website is a great way to spread information about your endeavours and create awareness about your cause.
So, we can say that a website is a platform that allows you to establish a presence online and connect with a wider audience.
Type of websites and how much they cost in Australia?
When you’re looking into the cost of website design, the first and foremost thing that you need to ask yourself is, “What type of website am I looking for?”
The type of website that you want to build is a big factor in determining the website design cost. Of course, that greatly depends on the goals of your business, your budget, and your target audience.
Here are some of the most common types of websites and their approximate price ranges.
1. Small business website (A$ 1,500 – A$ 3,000)
A small business website is typically used by local to medium-sized businesses that are just starting out. It’s a great start-off point where they can present basic information about their business, including what the company is all about and the few products and services they offer.
Usually, this type of website contains only a few pages, such as the home page, about page, contact page, and services or products page.
2. Lead generation Website (A$ 3,000 – A$ 8,000)
A lead generation website is a bit of an upgrade to the small business website.
As in the name, this website’s main purpose is to generate leads. It’s not only designed solely for displaying your business’s basic information but, more importantly, to encourage visitors to take action, such as signing up for your email list or getting a free consultation.
So, this type of website is typically designed with features that are more engaging for users. For example, it could include adding multiple call-to-action buttons or forms or making visual elements (such as text, images, etc.) more intuitive to encourage clicks.
3. E-commerce Website (A$ 8,000 – A$ 20,000)
An e-commerce website is the best choice if you have a lot of products or services that you want to sell directly to customers or an online store.
This website is a little bit more complex than the previous two, that’s why the e-commerce website cost tends to be higher. It requires adding advanced features such as a shopping cart and a payment gateway on top of visually appealing and interactive text and graphics.
This combination makes your website more user-friendly for customers and helps them make better purchasing decisions.
4. Custom Feature-Rich Website (A$ 20,000+)
A custom, feature-rich website is necessary when you are looking to include designs or functionalities that are unique to your business or brand and make your website stand out from the rest.
Features can include user registration, app integration, tailored plugins, and so on and so forth. This can require more time and effort since it aims to provide specific features catered to your brand or business.
Keep in mind that the types of websites above are not the only ones out there. There could be more specific categories of course, but those listed are good starting points before you dive into more specific types.
Website Design Pricing Factors
Apart from website types, it’s important that you also understand the other specific factors that can affect website costs. These are as follows.
1. Number of Pages
Simply put, this refers to how many pages you intend to have on your website. The more pages you have on your site, the more work it requires, which can increase the web design cost.
Think about writing a five-page essay. Surely, that would take you more time and effort to complete than, say, making a two-page essay.
2. Design or Themes
Design or theme simply means how your website will generally appear to users, including text, graphics, colour palettes, and layout, as well as other functions that contribute to the overall user experience.
Of course, a simple, minimalist design will cost you less than a fully customized one since the latter requires more thought and effort.
On the other hand, when it comes to themes, a template or pre-designed one is more affordable, although it may not be enough to fully capture your brand or the functionalities you prefer for your website. In this case, a custom design is a better choice.
3. Features
Have you come across those effects wherein you hover over a text or button and then additional information or an image pops up? How about the interactive maps on accommodation booking sites?
Those are all examples of features or functions of a website.
Of course, there are a lot more of these features, such as animations, video backgrounds, content sliders or carousels, and so on. The more features you want to include, the more complex and expensive your website can become.
4. Language Versions
If your business caters to people who speak different languages, it will be necessary to have a website with many language versions.
This is especially the case for businesses that have customer bases all over the world. Having different languages on your website allows you to connect better with people, but it comes with additional work and cost.
5. User Registration
User registration is a specific feature that allows your visitors to create profiles on your website. Think about making your own profile on sites like Pinterest or Reddit.
However, user registration goes beyond just social media sites. They are also very common in e-commerce sites and other membership sites, for example, your company’s database or an organization’s Learning Management System (LMS).
Nonetheless, adding this feature makes your website more complex, which means it will take a lot more resources, including money, to incorporate it.
6. SEO compatibility
If you’re making a website for your business, you want it to rank highly in search results and become more visible and accessible to your online customers. This includes making sure that your website has a fast site speed, optimized content, and superb responsiveness.
In a nutshell, that’s what SEO compatibility is all about.
Optimizing your website for the search engine will be good for your website, and ultimately your business. Like other factors mentioned, it requires effort to create an effective SEO strategy, which means additional (but totally worth it!) costs.
7. Integrations to other apps or software
Depending on the type of business you have, you may find it necessary to integrate certain applications or software into your website.
For example, you may be looking to add social media “share” buttons to increase traffic toward your blog pages, or project management tools to make your business workflow more seamless.
This requires additional development work to make sure that the integration works smoothly without any issues. The more complex the integration, the higher the website costs would be.
8. Payment Systems
Payment systems integration is a more specific type of software or app integration that applies mostly to e-commerce sites, as well as other websites that require payment, such as:
- Subscription sites (e.g. Netflix, Youtube)
- Hotel/accommodation booking sites (e.g. Airbnb)
- Online training sites (e.g. Coursera)
- Freelancing/service sites (e.g. Upwork)
This requires additional work to ensure that your website works well with payment gateways, PayPal for example, and give users a seamless purchasing experience. This comes with additional cost, however.
What covers the cost of a quality website design?
It’s always a good idea to know what you’re paying for when you want to have a website built. A quality website design must include all that’s necessary to make your website functional and visually appealing to your visitors. This includes the following.
1. Website Plan
The website plan is simply a sketch or a roadmap of the things you’d like to add to your website, the pages you’ll design, and the functions and information on each page. Apart from that, it also considers your business goals and the characteristics of your target audience
Overall, it’s a tool that will help you understand all of the elements before your website is created.
2. Domain
A domain is the web address that visitors use to access your site. It’s essential to have a memorable and relevant domain that reflects your business or brand.
If you’ve ever attempted registering a domain previously, you’ve probably encountered a range of prices, with some starting at $9. The cost of registering a domain depends upon factors such as domain extension (such as .com, .org, .net), the domain registrar’s availability, the demand for the domain name, and a few other elements.
3. Hosting
Web hosting is the service that makes your website accessible on the internet. It offers a safe and secure location for the storage of your online content, such as images, code, videos, and text.
So, your website must be handled correctly by a trustworthy web hosting service to ensure your website is constantly up and running, quick, and safe.
4. Website themes
As we discussed earlier, a website’s theme determines how your website is going to look and feel. From a more technical perspective, it’s responsible for your site’s front-end design.
So, it’s critical not to pick just any random theme. A quality website design is one that’s aligned with your brand image and business.
5. Images
Images are essential to a good website’s design. Apart from adding visual appeal, they can help you communicate your message more clearly.
Thus, just like picking a suitable website theme, it’s important to select the right images, those that resonate with your target audience.
6. Content
The written copy you see on websites is essentially what website content is. For example, client testimonials, the about us section, product descriptions, and many others.
A high-quality website design contains effective, SEO-friendly copy that both informs and encourages the user to take action while they’re on your site. As always, the content should be relevant to your business, as well as to your target audience.
7. Web development
Web development refers to the actual creation of your website, including the features and functionalities, layout, text and images, and all other elements that form part of the website plan.
This involves the use of modern web development tools and technologies to ensure that the website is not only visually pleasing but also fast, responsive, and user-friendly.
With that being said, it’s pretty normal to expect that a big percentage of the budget will be allotted for the cost of website development.
8. Testing
Before your website goes live, it must undergo comprehensive tests and inspections to identify possible bugs and fix recurring issues. As a result, your website can function properly and smoothly.
Ultimately, a website that has been thoroughly tested before launch can give you confidence that it meets industry standards, provides a superb user experience, and functions accordingly, as planned.
9. Website Maintenance
The process doesn’t end on the launch day. To keep your website fresh and of high quality, it needs to undergo regular maintenance.
So, what exactly happens during website maintenance?
Here, your website is kept up to date with the latest security patches, software updates, and necessary changes in the content. This way, your website remains secure, optimized, and relevant.
Learn More about: WordPress vs HTML: A CSS Web Development
With all that being said, you should now have an understanding of what a good quality website design must include. This way, you’ll have a better idea of what to look for when searching for a web designer and get the best value for your money.
Website design sample quote
KBA Web offers affordable website design in Australia.
If you’re looking to partner with us, feel free to contact us and discuss your requirements. Then, we’ll provide you with a web design quote where we outline the costs and services we can offer.
However, once we understand your needs further, we’ll get back to you and give you an update with a more accurate estimate of the timeline and cost for website design. We make sure to respond to your inquiries within 24 to 48 hours.
Here are some factors we include in our quotes.
Design and technical specifications
We plan and study your competitors, design the website layout, and create a sitemap and wireframes.
- Design: creating user-friendly mockups of design, internal page designs, and desktop and mobile views
- Programming and development: connecting all the design elements and building them to achieve a top-quality website
- Review and beta testing: conducting tests, fixing bugs, and improving the site
- Website launching: announcing that your new website is already live
- Regular maintenance: making post-launch fixes to the design of your website, doing hosting maintenance, bug-squashing, and addressing security threats.
Note that the specifics of the website quote can vary based on the scope of your project, the services we offer, and all of your specific requirements.
We’ll also talk about milestones with you to ensure that the website design project remains on course, starting from day one.
Website specifications
Every website should start with specifications. If you have prepared your website’s specifications, you’ll get more favourable quotes and responses from us.
Your website specifications are an official document, which is why all the crucial aspects and data required must be listed. Software professionals and readers can also examine the content of your site’s quote to ensure that it contains all the information about your site.
Costs
The pricing for web design varies with the features and functions you want to include on your website. We provide a detailed breakdown of the associated costs for your easy reference. Furthermore, we also carefully plan the amount of capital you will need to develop your site based on the price you included in the quotation.
Final thoughts
When it comes to having a website built for your business, it’s important to see it not just as an expense but as an investment. As with most things, you get what you pay for, and that’s especially true for website design.
Of course, you do have the choice of getting a cheaper web design service. However, you’ll most likely get “cheap” results, and end up sacrificing quality communication, project management, and ultimately, the outcome of your website.
So, invest wisely and make sure you work with a trusted expert web design company. This way, you can grow your business’s online presence in ways you’ve never imagined.
