How Much Does It Cost to Build a WordPress Website and Why?

How Much Does It Cost to Build a WordPress Website and Why

Introduction

Occasionally, a customer is stunned by a quote when they want someone to develop their own website. The average website costs 300,000-400,000 forints. Of course, this is chosen by the developer. So if I want to be more precise (less accurate) from 100,000 forints the sky is the limit. This is even more expensive on the foreign market. But what does this offer actually consist of?

Well, there are a lot of ingredients, some of which I will try to present in the following lines.

Experience and knowledge:

A lot of people don't pay for that and then they do it. Usually the result of this is that the development ends up with a professional, because the client realizes that it is not so easy to do this. It's usually hard to figure out how to start. Otherwise, the developer will already receive a development that bleeds from several wounds and needs to be patched. In this case, the simplest and most effective method is to “retract” the page. It is no coincidence that those who do this work have taken many years, a lot of time, money and patience to develop themselves and acquire the right knowledge. Personally, I have been creating WordPress websites since 2016 and to this day, every day I learn something new, follow trends, watch videos, read forums, buy courses to keep my knowledge up to date about what I do.

Consultation:

Consultation is the process of assessing the customer's needs. Anyone who has participated in a consultation, let's say several times, knows that every customer is different. We need to find a common voice. You need to be able to ask the right questions to find out what the customer really wants. How complex will the site be? What functions will it have? How will the design be? In the meantime, of course, I am already thinking about what and how I will solve during the development, so that I can see how much work will be done with it, and what is the price for which I will take the job. Of course, in many cases there are blind spots that I do not know how to solve (e.g. a function), but if the other 90%I can solve it, then I try to allocate resources in the quotation in such a way that everyone benefits. It is not my intention to fool the client, which is why I tell you when there is a “blind spot” in the project. Thus, it is clear to everyone what is the delicate point in the development process. Of course, the consultation is also time, in which time I could also deal with development. For new projects, my consultations are free of charge, of course.

Design:

Planning is a very complex process. I need to see the menu structure in front of me. What will be the pages, what will be the unique types of entries, what will be the unique fields? What other dynamic content will there be? What part of the site will the user want to change in the future? What solutions should the site have? What will be the layout of each element of the website? What's the color scheme? What font will we use? Do you have storage space? If not, where should the storage be? And these are still theoretical questions. Here you need some typographical, design theoretical, color theory, system design knowledge as well.

Quotation:

In the meantime, the quotation can be made here. It is also time to write, so that everything is detailed, avoiding future disputes.

Preparation of the contract:

It also takes time to prepare the contract. This should include all the steps that make the tasks transparent for the client and the contractor and protect both parties. If this is successfully signed, then the substantial part of the work can begin.

Another planning process:

All of the above “must also be put on paper”. Then comes a branch or flowchart, where I draw the final menu structure, possible user journeys, user processes.

Then, the wireframe, or wireframe for the page, is created. Here we have only the layout, with some dummie content, i.e. not yet the actual content, only placeholders. So you can see what kind of layout the website will have. Then comes the prototype, which actually looks like the final page. Therefore, in optimal cases (and abroad), you will be charged as much money as you would for the website itself. This is a prototype that can be clicked on by the customer and is available in different screen sizes.

But what is the need for a prototype if you also need to create a website separately? The question is legitimate, and in the beginning I thought it was unnecessary work. But time has shown that it is necessary. Even for small projects. Even if the entire page is not created in this way, some static pages and dynamic content are worth it and must be done! Why is that? Because a design design created with Figma or Adobe XD is easier to make changes to than a page that is already under development. We know these. The logo should be a little bigger, it should be a little greener... Therefore, it is better to get the desired shape in the design than to have to modify it on the go. On the one hand, it is frustrating and on the other hand counterproductive to jump back and forth between tasks on the go. In many cases, even in spite of the plan, this could not be 100.%bypassing.

When designing, it is also necessary to take into account, write down what extensions, theme, etc. may be needed. The price may change in the light of this, but later on.

With planning, as you can see, days go by.

Resources

In the process of development, of course, we need resources that cost money. I'm not talking about infrastructural things like computers, operating systems, image editing and other software, printers, print cartridges, gasoline if you have to quit because of the consultation, other overhead costs like the phone bill (there was a customer I talked to for 9 hours a month on the phone), internet. It's about things like a development server that needs to be paid for every month, various cloud services where data needs to be stored, CRM systems for project and related documentation management, domains, monthly fee software, etc. It's all a cost.

And then the development. Although the WordPress framework itself is free, in order to provide it with superpowers, programming knowledge and plugins are also needed, since it is basically designed for blogging. In the beginning, when I started, I tried to solve everything with free extensions, which let's face it, either I succeed or I don't. Free extensions are usually free because someone has developed them out of sheer altruism or because there is a premium version. If there is no premium version to pay for, the plugin may be of poor quality, or it may not be upgraded after a while because it is not profitable. Why should the developer continue to develop? So, whenever I could, I bought plugins of good quality and many times that arise during the development of customer projects. It is precisely so that I can satisfy all (usually) customer needs, and so that I do not always have to depend on someone or something. If you like, I've reinvested some of my earnings in tools to improve the quality of my work and give customers something extra, even if they don't know or understand what premium tools they're getting for their websites in an extra way (which is partly why this article is written). Extensions can be annual, monthly, or so-called LTDs (lifetime licenses) that are valid for life (at least until the end of developer support).

In the following list, I enclose the general list, which includes some of the extensions I often use during projects, and their current prices in dollars and forints. All this for the sake of illustration. If you divide these into individual projects and subtract them from the quotation, you can see how much the customer actually receives in addition to the above described (because otherwise it would have to be purchased for each project if you want to build your website from quality materials).

• Meta Box (3-page LTD (the rest is paid annually, so this is the cheapest LTD)) 299 USD - 102.610 HUF (https://metabox.io/pricing/)

• Automatic css – (only available with annual fee) 149 USD – 51.133 HUF / year (https://automaticcss.com/pricing/)

• Happy Files Pro – 59 Dollars – 20.247 Forints (https://happyfiles.io/#download)

• Piotnet Forms Pro – (only available with an annual fee) – 59 USD – 20.247 Forint (https://piotnetforms.com/)

• WPCode Box – 59 Dollars – 20.247 Forints (https://wpcodebox.com/pricing/)

• Oxygen Builder – USD 179 – HUF 61.429 (https://oxygenbuilder.com/pricing/)

• OxyExtras – USD 149 – HUF 51.133 (https://oxyextras.com/get-started/)

• WP GridBuilder 104.30 Dollars – 35.793 Forints (https://wpgridbuilder.com/pricing/)

• 301 Redirects Pro – 49 Dollars – 16.815 HUF (https://wp301redirects.com/)

• Swiss performance (only available at an annual fee) 30 Dollars – 10.295 Forints (https://ewww.io/swis/)

• Ewww Image Optimizer (only available for a monthly fee) 7 Dollars – 2402 Forints (https://ewww.io/plans/)

• Squirrly SEO – (only available for a monthly fee) 21 Dollars – 7206 Forints (https://plugin.squirrly.co/wordpress-seo-pricing/)

Total: 399.557.- HUF

Of course, the list changes from time to time, but in broad terms these are the general extensions that I use for a “basic” website. I looked at the lowest package everywhere and it refers to the lowest number of websites (1-3-7) where the package allows it.

Prices may change, of course, but I've recorded this with today's date: 2023-06-28.

In brackets, I would note that it is also possible for the customer to buy a template that can be obtained relatively cheaply. However, these templates have predefined features and design elements. It is difficult and takes a lot of time to modify these later, to improve them further, to add additional functions. So, in the long run, it is also possible that the soup will be more expensive than meat.

There are exceptions when a client wants something that only requires an add-on that I don't use. In this case, it must be purchased by the customer, but we always discuss this in advance and this is how you can make your decision.

Development

Then the actual development will finally start, when I will create the local and online development environment, install WordPress, plugins, theme and everything necessary for the project.

For websites, I need to create a global color palette, install fonts locally for the page. In this case, I have to get the given font and then integrate it into the website with the help of appropriate tools. The use of fonts imported with the previous embedded solution is sometimes objectionable from the point of view of GDPR.

I create pages, posts, layouts, menus and everything else you need for the site. I create Custom Post Types (CPT) and related Custom Fields. I integrate them into the layout so that the content can be managed dynamically.

You need to know how to set up your permalinks (direct links) etc. These are also important for custom post types.

The page needs to be optimized not only for desktop view, but also for additional breakponits (display sizes), so there's a lot more work to be done with a layout than you'd think at first.

Linguistics (multilingualism) should be addressed in more than one language.

The customer can keep track of how their site develops in the online development environment.

Testing

During and at the end of development, we test the site to see if everything is working properly, and then we start sharpening the site to its final location.

After that, there are a number of small steps that are needed to bring the site to life. For example, the various integrations:

Google Analytics – this is where the customer can track the number of visitors, their behaviour and conversions. You may also need to set conversion targets if this is the case. This means that a specific action of the visitor is recorded as an Analytics conversion. For example, if the customer has contacted us via the contact form of the website, this is a conversion.

Meta Pixel Integration – Integration of Facebook/Instagram tracking code into the page

Google Search Console integrating

Technical and On-Site SEO settings – Keyword research, Metadata upload, Image ALT tag placement etc. (I will write more about this later)

Local SEO Settings (I'll write more about this later)

Installing and configuring page security-related settings and page security-related extensions.

Next is billing and closing the project. Of course, in order to provide the right service, the invoicing program also has some costs.

It is also worth noting that running a business involves other costs such as accountant, TB contribution, social contribution tax, local business tax, Chamber contribution, etc. I only link them here because in order to be able to write a contract and receive an invoice, so to be sure on this front, it is also necessary to operate a business.

This comes with marketing costs, as it is worth advertising to get new customers, as well as countless marketing activities that take up a lot of time, but do not directly generate revenue, but also require certain software.

Well, to put it very simply, it's these components inside and out that make up a quote. The list is not exhaustive, but I think it provides some insight into why a website costs so much.

Final thought

As a last thought, not so long ago we had a gas mechanic who asked for 20,000 forints for a 40-minute job. Personally, I spend 2-3 weeks with an average website for which (depending on the complexity and functions) I usually charge 3-400.000.- HUF. I think that knowing these things, it is already possible to re-evaluate a quotation related to the development of a website.