Budgeting for Website Redesign Costs
To create a better UX, improve rankings, and increase traffic, companies should redesign or refresh their websites; however, the price of these projects varies dramatically. Whether you simply want to update branding or want to completely overhaul your site, here’s what you need to know about website redesign costs.
For many consumers, online research is the first step before making a purchase. Consequently, a well-designed website is an important asset for companies, helping them create a great first impression and build their credibility.
Resource: Need help finding a web designer for your next project? Browse our list of web designers.
Earlier this year, our web design survey revealed that half of consumers (50%) believe that website design is important to a company’s brand.
The same survey revealed that people value a great user experience (UX), accessibility, clean navigational elements, and appealing visuals. To be competitive, companies should provide a well-designed website that reflects their business values, is memorable, and is easy to use.
Otherwise, potential customers could leave the website without making a purchase or booking a service. If your website doesn’t meet user expectations or site metrics are falling short, it might be time to redesign your site.
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How to Tell if You Need to Redesign Your Website
- It’s not performing well on search engine results pages (SERPs)
- It’s not mobile-friendly
- It looks outdated
- It doesn’t reflect your brand
- It loads slowly
- Your conversion rate is low
- Engagement rate is very low
- You require a developer to make updates or post new content
The Truth Behind Website Redesign Costs
While the cost of a website redesign can be expensive — ranging between $3,000–$100,000 — the enhanced user experience and improved design are well worth the investment.
Done properly, a website redesign can improve rankings, increase traffic, and even improve a site’s conversion rate.
Factors of Website Redesign Cost
The price range for a website redesign project is wide because there are many factors that can determine the final cost. The size of a site, the scale of the design changes, the style, and the functionality included in the design plan can all increase the cost of a project.
By keeping these factors in mind, companies can prioritize certain elements, cut costs, and earn a higher return on investment (ROI) for their redesign efforts.
Size
Web designers usually bill by the hour. Consequently, labor costs increase significantly when the size of the project increases. This means that a website with thousands of pages, for example, will take longer to complete than a 50-page website and will be more expensive to redesign.
Companies need to budget for each page on their website that they need to redesign.
Here’s what to expect a website redesign to cost based on its size:
Style
The style or look of a website can often drive up costs as well. Many companies want to build a bespoke website because it provides a unique experience that can impress visitors, improve search engine optimization (SEO), and leave a lasting impression of the company’s brand.
However, custom websites are usually more expensive. Templates make it easy for web designers to turn out a product quickly and add third-party integrations for additional functionality.
Many website builders also provide themes, or a web design package designed for specific industries such as construction, law, or hospitality. Using this cookie-cutter approach, designers can change colors or add images to make the website look more unique while saving time in development.
Unfortunately, these templates can’t accommodate many add-ons without impacting the site speed. They can also be difficult to support over time and may require a lot of upkeep.
By creating a custom website, companies ensure that their site has all the functionality they need and reflects their brand well.
While a custom website may be more expensive to design and develop initially, it can be easier to manage, more secure and save companies money in the long run.
Functionality
More complex websites will take longer to build and will be more labor-intensive, making them more expensive, but you get what you pay for; and website functionality is key to a successful website redesign.
Website functionality is one of the biggest reasons why a company may decide to redesign their website. Our web design survey revealed that 42% of people would leave a website because of poor functionality, showcasing why companies should invest in creating an accessible web design.
Even though certain features can increase the cost of a project, companies should invest in website functionality. By improving the user experience, they can rank higher on SERPs, attract more visitors, and keep users engaged longer.
Important Details of a Website Redesign
To improve functionality and ease of navigation, web designers must consider how users interact with the platform. Using this information, they must adjust their designs to improve accessibility, navigation, and usability.
When redesigning a website, it’s important that companies prioritize:
- GDPR Compliance*
- ADA Compliance
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Mobile-ready layout
- Contact forms
- Search bars
- Third-party integrations
- Administrative features
*Note: GDPR is not required in all countries, but is being proactively adopted in many countries as standard best practice.
However, not every website needs the same features to be functional. For example, an ecommerce website would need a shopping cart and checkout function, but a nonprofit may not.
While investing in functionality businesses should still think carefully about what features their site needs to keep their costs low.
Here is what companies can expect to pay on web design based on what features they decide to include:
Pro Tip: Prioritize functional features and design elements. This can help you design a fully-functional website that meets your needs. If your budget is tight, this can also help you determine what can be cut to save money.
Read, ‘What Makes a Website Functional?’
How much does it cost to DIY a Website?
Plenty of website builders make it easy to design and develop user-friendly and SEO-friendly websites.
These tools allow people to create an entirely new web design even if they don’t have a background in coding or web design.
Building a website on your own is definitely the most affordable option for a website redesign project, ranging on average from $100–$500.
Due to its affordability and scalability, many small businesses choose to build their own websites. Redesigning their site could entail downloading new templates or upgrading to a new hosting platform.
However, building a website can be tricky. People who are unfamiliar with web design best practices are likely to make simple mistakes that can impact the UX and appearance of their site. Over time, this can impact SEO, traffic, and conversion rates.
Additionally, it can take significantly longer for web design novices to get their website up and running, when a professional can complete simple redesign projects much faster.
The key to successfully redesigning and building a website yourself is choosing the right CMS and web designer for your business.
Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert
WordPress, for example, provides a user-friendly CMS, drag-and-drop features, many plugins, and endless themes, ensuring that companies can achieve the look and functionality they’re looking for.
However, frequent theme and plugin updates make it difficult to manage. On top of that, WordPress sites are appealing to hackers because it’s open-source.
For companies looking to add ecommerce functionality and protect their customers’ data, other builders such as Wix and Squarespace may be a better choice because they provide more security.
Read, ‘The 10 Best Website Builders of December 2021.’ and “Should You Hire a Web Designer or Use a Website Builder?”
How much does it cost to hire a freelance web designer?
For people who don’t feel confident redesigning their own website, hiring a freelance designer is a middle-of-the-road option that can still provide great results. Unlike web design novices, they are up-to-date with the latest trends and are able to build more complex websites.
Freelance web designers usually charge by the hour, rather than the project, and on average cost about $75 per hour.
However, this price may vary based on the designer’s experience and the scope of your project.
For example, Ripe Media reports that entry-level web designers may charge as little as $31/hour, while more experienced designers on the freelance job platform Upwork charge up to $100/hour.
As a result, hiring a freelance web designer for your project can cost anywhere between $500–$5,000.
While most freelance designers are very skilled, finding the right one for a project can be tricky. They have fewer resources than web design agencies and they often work on multiple projects, so they may take longer to complete a project.
Hiring them can also be more risky than building a site on your own or hiring a well-known agency. It can be difficult to verify their skill level and hold them accountable for their results.
Before entering a partnership with a freelancer, be sure to:
- Verify their references
- Check their certifications
- Review their portfolio
- Test their coding skills
- Create strong communication channels to prevent miscommunications
- Get scope of work and the contract in writing
This will ensure that you hire a well-qualified designer who can meet your project requirements.
How much does it cost to hire a web design agency?
Web design agencies tend to have more resources than freelancers, who usually are just one designer. This makes web agencies better suited to take on larger or more complex projects.
These teams are composed of experts with a variety of skills, including UI/UX experts, frontend designers, graphic designers, and web specialists. This ensures that they can create custom designs, implement any features that are needed, and deliver a fully-functional website.
Web design agencies can come with a hefty price tag: simple redesigns can range from $15,000–$30,000, while more complex designs can be over $75,000.
Still, web design agencies can help keep a project in budget by completing projects quickly and delivering a top-notch product that needs few revisions.
On top of that, they can assign simple tasks to entry-level designers while more experienced designers tackle more difficult tasks. This ensures that companies get exactly what they want but minimizes costs as much as possible.
Resource: Use this calculator to estimate the cost of your redesign project.
The best way to get an accurate estimate for a website redesign is to create an RFP or contact web design companies with a description of your project.
Budgeting For A Website Redesign Project
Redesigning a website can improve UX, resulting in more engagement, higher rankings, and a higher conversion rate.
While some projects can be expensive, the price varies depending on the size, style, and functionality included on the website.
To get an accurate estimation of how much a project will cost, companies need to outline how many pages they need to redesign, what features they want to include, and whether or not they want to invest in creating a custom site or relying on a template.
With a better understanding of what they want to accomplish by redesigning their website, they can decide whether or not they want to save money by designing and building a site on their own, hiring a freelance designer, or working with a full web design team.
Need Help Selecting a Reputable Web Design Agency?
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Additional Reading
Need help selecting a company?
Based on your budget, timeline, and specifications we can help you build a shortlist of companies that perfectly matches your project needs. Get started by submitting your project details.