Why is Web Design Pricing so complicated?

With most purchases it is pretty easy to compare pricing by researching on the web, visiting stores, chatting to salespeople. When it comes to graphic design and web design, like any other creative service, things get a little trickier.

Firstly what is the difference between website design/development and graphic design?

When you have to produce a corporate brochure for your business there is a process you would follow:

You would need content, images, and an idea of your corporate brand identity before you could start. You would work out how many pages you think you would need and get a quote on design and layout of the brochure. Once the brochure is designed you would need it printed – the printing pricing would depend on what paper and printing extras you would like such as binding, gloss varnish, matt varnish.

The process of designing and producing a website is very similar:

You would need content, images, and an idea of your corporate brand identity before you could start. You would work out how many pages you would need and get a quote on design and layout of the website. Once the website  is designed you would need it developed – the development pricing would depend on what functionality you would need, what extras you would like such as flash, forms, e-commerce, catalogues, search, social media, picture sharing etc.

Except there are other factors in web design and development that need to be taken into account that will affect the web design pricing:

1. Once you have an approved website design you would need to develop it. This means someone has to build each page's content and images in HTML code (for the most basic site functionality) and you will need a skilled, professional, experienced web developer to do this.
2. The website is dynamic, needs to be consumer-centric and any design has to have a purpose  - drive people to perform an action. This could be to contact you, view a store list, purchase online, download a brochure. A web strategist needs to form part of the design and development team to make sure the site will fulfill your marketing objectives (A web designer will not necessarily have this knowledge)
3. A website is useless if it is not marketed. While designing and building the website you need to make sure you are optimizing it for Search Engines. The web strategist will assist you with this however after the site is up you are advised to employ a specialist to market your website effectively through SEO and PPC (Google advertising)
4. There is a lot of proofing and testing that will need to be done before the website can go live – make sure you allow for this in your timelines.

Website Design and development pricing can differ enormously between suppliers. If you send out a brief you may get quoted a web design price of R15000 from one supplier and  R150000 from another. How is this possible?

Website design is priced based on a number of factors and you have to make sure you are comparing apples with apples:

• The skill & experience level of the web designer,

• The skill level and experience of the team that project manages the website

• The research and strategic process that happens before the web design even begins,

• The platform/ software/ programme the website will be developed in:

Some web designs are done by web developers using more template based designs, some web design companies have graphic/web design teams that ensure the quality of design and conceptualization is high but the practicalities of web development are also considered. The numbers of different programmes are growing daily and your web strategist needs to ensure you are developing the right site for your objectives at the right price.

• If branding is important to your business you can't leave your design solely up to a web development team – from a purely design perspective a professional graphic/ web designer is key.

• How much Search Engine Optimisation is included in the build of the site.

When you are looking for website design pricing cheaper is definitely not always better but you also need to be on the alert for website suppliers trying to sell you an overcomplicated solution.

There are many options and many areas to consider in this constantly evolving web industry so consulting an impartial web strategist to set you on the right track may be a worthwhile investment.

Lindy Taoushiani, Strategy Director, Artifact Advertising

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