What is the real cost of developing a website?

 

This is probably the most common question among our visitors. It is legitimate but unfortunately almost impossible to answer with a simple set of prices as it would be like asking "how much does it cost to setup a retail business?". Well, it all depends on your goal and your service and product quality needs. We can help you make a first estimate based on the time required to develop a basic set of elements that work and will promote your brand with strength. It is very important for us to have a clear idea of your project.

All details count. No surprise at the end, neither for you nor for us. All technical features are listed during a first meeting and considered carefully with a good balance between cost and real need to increase sales or visitor's experience before we send you a detailed quotation. 

We review with you during our first meeting:

• Budget (rough)
• Competition review
• Existing content
• Need for a writer
• Frequency of updates
• Multiple language needs
• Navigation structure (to minimize the number of clicks to the right information)
• Need of autonomy
• Objectives of your site
• Search engine optimization
• Special animations
• Special features such as news, custom forms, online store, blog, newsletter management...
• Target users
• Type of content (text, photos...)
• Visual identity
• Your favorite sites and the reasons you love them

We build a technical features list for your quote: 

We may also suggest some optional features that would greatly improve your business presence and that are never present in pre-packaged offers.

If your aim is to make a mass-consumer website with international reach and tens of thousands of visitors per day, you must have an idea of how much the top-10 have cost to develop at the very advanced point they are and with, for most of them a few hundred million dollars turnover, hundreds of employees including dozens just dedicated to maintaining the catalog's photos, and of course, a great team of web programmers and designers in-house. For such projects, or lets say the early stage of such ambitious developments, the timeline for a team of 6-8 people (if we were to reduce it to the strict minimum) involved would be counted in semester(s) and the budget will be proportional. Anything below 100,000 SGD is pure utopia for the site itself.  

But lets come back to earth and to your needs here...

How is the price of our website compiled?

It is pretty "simple" and identical for all our clients. Based on our hourly rate, from project coordination, interface development and design with your personalized visual identity, developers coding and testing and search engine optimization, the total time spent on your site and the flexibility we give you to ask for changes and support gives the amount of your bill.

This amount is well deserved and all our clients believe they made the right investment as we are equally available and listening to your case as a unique one, each time. All our costs are detailed.

How can some other providers display websites below $1,000? 

Well, the short answer would be getting a pre-packaged website will provide a pre-packaged copycat business showcase that would not bear comparison with our custom made sites.

Graphics when existing are in most cases common to other web sites and any functionality specific to your particular needs will be preset and with no possible changes. 

If your needs are basic, go for it, cheap purchase gives cheap service (if any) and cheap identity, not always bad, but often gives a bitter tasted of unaccomplished business. Beware of the hidden costs though such as website installation on your own server (when provider tries to sell its own hosting), maintenance, extensions, upgrades, time to build, availability, hot-line... Is the source country's reputation good for support? Reliable, Long term? When you build or expand a business you spread all costs on years of investment. You may want to think twice before going for a cheap site that will "happily" only cost you $ 1,000 ($25+/month for 3 years? Seriously? For a full-scale professionally designed website? Is my business worth 25$ a day? Am I ambitious enough?..)

Thousands of offers are available. But the only ones that prevail are the providers who understand your need and share a good tea or coffee with you (no 3-in-1 instant sachets at 1969idea...) 

The right price for the right business model:

To date, the prices of solid projects range from SGD 5,000 to 50,000. Anything lower from us will be great too with the same attention to details, but most probably with much less features.

Our strength is to have kept our clients satisfied.

* * *

Web design is based on highly valuable technologies:

A good load of creativity and a serious touch of  marketing know-how. There is no reason to undervalue it unless you expect poor results and mere support. Your business needs all tools to succeed, you probably should not take the risk of saving on essential web support.
We at 1969idea make sure to dedicate the time necessary to understand not only your needs, which most of the times vary throughout the discussion, but most importantly your corporate culture and the energy to deploy in believing in your products and services.
We subtly step into the skin of the ideal web customer. From an online shopper for a retail firm to a buyer of services or a large business in need for corporate (B2B) skills, our aim is to detect the new visitor's behavior while discovering how your website will efficiently capture the prospect's attention.

Autonomy

At 1969idea, we set you free of all technical dependency and we usually recommend to opt for Content Management Systems that will allow you or your staff to update securely your content with a very minimal training as well as to get any other webdesign company to take the hand if you need to change for any reason. That's what we call true evolutivity. We are not overconfident, we simply learn everyday how to serve our customers to the best they deserve.

Why a CMS and at what price?

In the age of fast rumors, fast competition, phone-based web content pick, it is a necessity to keep your online content up to date.

Search engine love what lives and grows, and so will your website's visitors. Calling your web agency each time you need to do a minor change or add content with month after month inflate unnecessarily your web design bill. With a CMS, adding content is as easy as with any word processing software.

We will teach you how, simply, with non-technical terms.

A good grade CMS website with features needed by most will cost around S$ 3,500+ whereas a complex website with an advanced design, an estore or intricate features will range more between S$ 5,000-9,000. But there is no real limit in creativity nor in technology so the rest is up to your need.

Happy customers!

Ask our customers (read their testimonials) what they feel about the investment and the answer comes invariably that being able to do all the changes by themselves is a breeze and that the look and feel of their website has radically changed the "professional" perception their visitors had. A budget worth every cent.

You place the company's identity in the hands of an agency, you can expect results at the level of your investment.
Do not underestimate your budget so you can be satisfied the dedication you will get in exchange.