A screen presenting a guide to website pricing in 2024

How Much Does A Website Cost in 2024?

Website Design & Development - The Money Question

By Jesse Marsalia (Copywritter)
February 16, 2024

Does your current company website feel outdated and ineffective years after initially launching? Or is your emerging business ready to build a web presence completely from scratch?

So how much should you pay for website design? Like most great questions, the answer is, “It depends”. Luckily, this blog will uncover everything that impacts website design costs so you can make the smartest investment.

The Importance of Web Design

But before looking into the factors that influence website design pricing, let’s first ask why quality web design is so important. Taken at face value, website design can seem purely aesthetic, subjective, and an afterthought. However…

The data highlights just how greatly it impacts performance:

The takeaway? A site’s design lays the foundation to be engaging and user-friendly, driving sales rather than just existing as another boring online brochure. You may notice that the websites you spend the most time on have a lot in common. That’s not a coincidence!

Some of the Best Websites Do the Following:

What Drives Costs for Website Design - Project Scope

Now that we've covered the performance imperative of effective web design, we turn to the core question of this blog - how much should you budget for a quality website? What exactly impacts pricing levels across the broad spectrum of $500 to $100,000+?

A website designer creating new images for a website

Ultimately, it comes down to the scope of the project in question. The price can fluctuate wildly between a smaller project needing little in the way of unique content and assets. Let’s have a look at some of the most noteworthy items affecting the scope:

Number of Site Pages

Perhaps the most obvious factor determining the base cost of a website is the number of pages that need to be designed. There are a few common threshold tiers:

Number of Site Pages

  • 5 or fewer pages
  • Covers basic pages like About Us, Contact Us, and Location.
  • Cost Range: $500 - $1,200
  • Best for personal portfolios or small businesses.

Small Business Websites

  • 10-25 pages
  • Additional pages like Services, Team Bios, Blog, FAQ.
  • Cost Range: $5,000 - $10,000
  • Well-suited for growing small businesses.

Enterprise Websites

  • 25-100+ pages
  • Large subsections for ecommerce, databases and interactive tools.
  • Cost Range: $15,000 - $100,000+
  • Matches the needs of large regional/national brands.
A man with a table checking off the number of website pages.

As you can imagine, having a set page number in mind for your site helps inform quotes. Clarifying expectations upfront establishes a realistic scope of design.

Custom Design Work and Layouts

Custom design work for branded assets drives costs upward over simple template sites. Rather than slightly modifying generic themes and page structures that come with builders or CMS platforms, specialized design deliverables that require greater talent and time include:

Custom Logo Design

  • Symbolic icon encapsulating brand identity.
  • Custom Concepts
  • Cost Range: $300 - $3,000

Custom Illustrations and Infographics

  • Original drawings, data visualizations.
  • Tailored communication of brand messages.
  • Cost based on complexity but ranges from $100-$1,600.

Photography and Videography Direction

  • Coordinate branded photoshoots.
  • Editing and post production.
  • Cost Range: $500-$3,000.

Page Layouts, Navigation & UX

  • Plan beyond pre-defined site maps.
  • Unique click paths tied to UX strategy.
  • The more complex a website is, the more it will cost.

Both visual assets and navigational UX require a custom touch to maintain a professional feel. This adds major functions to the project scope beyond mere template tweaks. Prioritizing brand uniqueness justifies higher investments.

Copywritting

What is copywriting and how does it impact website pricing? To start, let’s define copy Copy refers to any written textual content across site interfaces, be it paragraphs or metadata descriptions. 

Skilled copywriters conduct topic analysis, interview stakeholders, study target demographics, and master buyer personas. Writers then optimize paragraphs for scannability through formatting, all while incorporating SEO keywords. The goal of a copywriter? To create value-driven information flows optimized for search visibility and user conversion.

A person typing on a laptop building a new website

So how much does a copywriter cost? For small sites, copywriting starts around $100 per page. But just as templates limit custom design, copy complexity including multimedia integration and interactive features can require thousands of words across platforms. 

This is where both art and analytical experience justify premium copywriting costs in website design budgets. Quality writing supports the visual elements to best drive ROI.

Mobile Responsiveness Across all Devices

With mobile usage outpacing desktop traffic across most websites, ensuring a seamless user experience across multiple screen sizes proves pivotal rather than just a “nice to have” feature.Responsiveness adds cost not just due to its technical requirements but also because of longer QA testing. However, the long-term flexibility boosts engagement across visitors’ preferred devices.

A phone showcasing different application and its responsiveness

Ecommerce Functionality

Powerful online stores call for integrations to payment systems, inventory databases, and order/shipping flows. These development requirements typically scale quotes between $3,000 for simpler stores up to $20,000+ for large inventories and customized purchasing experiences.

A mini shopping cart representing ecommerce websites

Investing in Website Design Drives Returns

You should now recognize that web design is far more than just a coat of paint. When approached with care, it weaves together customized creative assets, compelling content, intuitive interactions, and lean technical platforms built for speed and visibility.

As we've seen from the capabilities driving higher performance to the price factors at each level, design deserves priority positioning, not as an afterthought.

A glowing up arrow representing high ROI when investing in a new website design

As Search Engine Journal reported, an incredible 88% of websites are redesigned within 9-12 months in response to trends around visual branding opportunities, user expectations, and technical updates. This is exactly why CRE8 Digital offers end-to-end design and development services tailored to representing brands online through:

Reach out for a free quote on how our customized CRE8tions can help your company capitalize on quality web design. Discover what an investment in online presence through CRE8 can offer regarding ROI whether seeking branding refresh or launching new initiatives.

Ready to Launch Your Website in 2024?

Explore the possibilities with CRE8 Digital, your digital marketing agency in Houston, TX, where we specialize in creating custom, budget-friendly websites designed to elevate your business's brand.

Get Your Custom Website Quote Today!