WEBSITE DESIGN PORTFOLIO

WEB DESIGN TORONTO PRICES...HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU REALLY SPEND FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

If you are a new business owner, by now you realize the importance of having a website and how important it is when it comes to creating your online presence. 

But by now you are probably wondering, what are the current website design prices and how do I make sure I don’t get ripped off? Well in this post we are going to help you figure out the best strategies to make sure you don’t get ripped off and that you get good value for your money. 

First and foremost, all of our website design Toronto prices are right here on our website, we are very upfront about what we charge and we always tell the client exactly what they can expect for the amount we charge them. 

In order to figure out what your website will cost we have to go through a couple of questions so that we can quote you “the customer” as accurately as possible.

1. How many pages will the website have?

2. Do you want template based or custom designed and coded?

3. Will you need content development?

4. Will you need professional images or stock images are enough?

5. Do you need custom developed features on your site or do you need just photos and text?

6. Do you need monthly updates on your website?

7. Do you need custom graphic design?

8. Do you need additional marketing support for your website?

9. Do you need videos on your website?

How many pages will the website have?

Before meeting with a website designer , you need to sit down and make a list of all the pages you would like to have on your website. This shows your web designer that you are prepared and are actually serious about your business rather than just running around and asking for quotes without actually knowing what you want. Do your best and make a list of all the pages that you think are needed and relevant to your website . Once you meet with a web designer in Toronto , they can give you feedback on some of the pages that you noted in your workbook and also give you feedback as to what pages may or may not be needed on your website . For example, when we meet with clients for the first time, after we learn a bit about their business from our first consultation, our team will usually end up doing some market research and along with that, we look at some competitor websites to see if they have good page ideas that we could potential add onto your website. 

Do you want template based or custom designed and coded?

Once you and our website designer in Toronto figure out the exact number of pages that the website will need, the next topic of discussion is, if you want custom based or template-based website for your business. As web designers, building a template-based website and customizing it to the clients look a feel is something that we do recommend depending on the exact type of business that you are starting. If you are looking to have a portfolio-based website for a small local business that you are starting, then template based is more than enough for you. However, if you plan on doing business worldwide with multiple languages and custom integrations and features personalized to your business, then you may need something custom coded. Talking to your web designer and letting them know about the specific short-term needs of your business and the long-term plans of your business will help them figure out which path to choose when it comes to building your website. 

Will you need content development?

Another important thing to consider is content development, do you plan on writing all the content on your website or is this something that you would like our website designer in Toronto to complete on your behalf. Once you and our website designer compiled a list of all the pages that are required on the website, now it’s time to figure out which pages will have content and which ones won’t have content. Typically, a page can have anywhere between 300-1000 words of content, depending on what the page is trying to communicate, for example if you want to have some blog posts that relate to your business then that’s something we can discuss and figure out the exact length that you are looking to have and the exact number of posts. 

If you are an e-commerce brand and your product has descriptions from the manufacturer, it’s important that you write unique content about each individual product as you don’t want to risk your website from having bad rankings due to “duplicate content”. 

Duplicate content is essentially a piece of content that is found on multiple website on the internet. Google’s advanced algorithms will be able to detect if your content is duplicate or not, so be careful and consider writing unique content about your products.

Will you need professional images or stock images are enough?

Next important topic is the photography on your website. No, stealing photos from Google images is not legal and very unethical. If you need good quality and affordable images, you can literally purchase them for roughly $5 bucks per image, sometimes even less if you buy a bulk package. Websites like the ones below are some free stock image website examples, however you’ll find that the paid websites tend to have more variety.

Free stock photo websites

https://stocksnap.io/

https://www.pexels.com/

https://unsplash.com/

https://burst.shopify.com/

https://www.reshot.com/

https://pixabay.com/

Paid stock photo websites

https://www.shutterstock.com/

https://www.bigstockphoto.com/

https://stock.adobe.com/ca/

If you have custom products and you can’t use stock photos because they don’t match your products, then you’ll need a professional photographer to come in and take pictures of your products on-site, don’t cheap out on this service, do make the investment and hire someone talented as you will be using these images for the life of your website to produce sales, hire an expert and let them wow you with their photography skills. If you need someone trustworthy and reliable that does great work, reach out to us, we know lots of good photographers in the city.

Do you need custom developed features on your site or do you need just photos and text?

The next question you need to ask yourself is, do you need custom developed features on your website, for example, do you need a “members area page” do you need a “forum” where people can post and create content, do you need a live “build your own car” feature or kitchen builder software, pretty much anything that is custom in nature, will require someone to custom develop those features for your website and the prices can vary from anywhere between $1000 and up depending on the complexity of the features requested. 

At our web design company , we’ll always look online to see if there is pre-existing software or apps that we can integrate with your website and save you the cost of custom developing these features to save you money, however in the rare scenario that no pre-existing solution exists, we may have to custom develop it for you. 

Do you need monthly updates on your website?

Once the website is launched and completed, you need to figure out if you need ongoing maintenance on your site. If you have a standard small business website with text and images, then you don’t necessarily need any maintenance, however if you are a portfolio-based business and want new photos uploaded to the site or have blogs written and published on a monthly basis, you can ask our website design team for prices on recurring monthly services. The fee ranges depending on the number of hours required to complete the project. 

There is also the possibility of training you “the client” on how to edit your own website so that you can take care of your monthly updates, like uploading blogs to your site or adding new images as your portfolio changes, this could even include updating your ecommerce products. 

Do you need custom graphic design?

The element that separates plain websites from amazing websites is the use of graphic design, this can include things like logos, font styles and much more. Now most websites can get away with not using graphic design, it really depends on your industry and what level of standard you have for your business and what level of prestige you are trying to create with your future customers. If you are dealing with a more affluent niche in your business, then it’s well worth investing in graphic design to help your brand look more “premium”. At minimum, you should have our website design company create your logo and your social media cover photos for you just to cover the basics.

Do you need additional marketing support for your website?

When business owners start looking around for website design Toronto prices , apart from the website itself, they often forget that the marketing is a totally separate cost that needs to be looked at when it comes to your website design package . Websites by themselves don’t produce much value. Think of your website as a digital real estate just sitting there. However, your marketing is the highways, streets, and overall infrastructure that helps customers navigate the world wide web and find your website vs your competitor’s website. Similar to when buying a house, you need to factor in the running costs, the maintenance and upkeep of the home. Your website functions the very same way. 

You can’t have great marketing but bad website and you can’t have a great website but no marketing as these two work together hand in hand. You need great marketing to catch people’s attention but you need to send them somewhere so that they can turn into leads and sales, that is the purpose of your website, to serve as your digital storefront. 

Do you need videos on your website?

When you are looking around for website design toronto prices and getting quotes from lots of different agencies, remember to consider having videos on your website, did you know that videos help your website convert more website visitors into customers. Think about it, imagine you are shopping around for website design prices in toronto and you come across lots of website that look the same. But one of them has a video of the owner of the company going over their packages and giving you some info about the company and more details about some of the services they can help you with. Guess what you are more likely to like and trust the website with the video rather than a website that has no video content. 

Having good quality videos helps bring your website to life and helps you communicate your message better with your future ideal clients. Even though you’ll be spending a lot of money on your marketing , by having a video on your website will help you get more value out of your advertising dollars. Ask our website design company in Toronto to refer you to someone who specializes in video as this is going to be a great investment for your business and for your conversion rates.