Not sure whether you really need a website for your small business?

Don’t know how to get a website design for small businesses?

Confused between multiple companies or website builders?

Wondering about the average cost of website design for small businesses?

Then this post is for you. Here we’ll tell you all the details about getting (OR NOT GETTING) web design services for small businesses including where to start, the average cost of website design for small businesses, and which service providers to choose.

Why you should get a small business website?

The first question that might pop into your head as a business owner or decision-maker for a small business is “why exactly do I need a website?”.

Because the truth is getting a website is definitely gonna cost your business money.

From the design itself to maintenance services, when you decide to get a web design for small businesses, you must also brace yourself for monthly and regular expenses.

So it’s only natural to wonder why you should force these expenses on your business.

While we have a complete article with 20 reasons to have a website for your business, we’re gonna give you 3 main reasons here as well:

• Web design for small businesses will absolutely make you look more professional and trustable to your potential customers.
• You can leverage your small business website for multiple online marketing efforts which are not possible at all without a website.
• You get to expand your business in ways you can’t imagine with a website.

Allow us to elaborate!

It’s the year 2022 and almost everyone (including my grandmother, literally!) knows what a website is. 

In fact, based on data 75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design.

This means that not having a website, searches for your brand that don’t return your website as a result, having a poorly designed website or using unprofessional design platforms will cause people to lose faith in your business.

A website is not just a bunch of pages. You can actually use it for many marketing efforts.

In fact, having a small business website is necessary for some internet marketing methods, such as online ads or Google Ads. You can use it for PPC ads, for attracting organic traffic from Google or even for directly selling your products on it as an eCommerce store.

Without a website, you’re limited to your physical office or store. With a website, you get to connect with markets with other languages or location.

You can also sell online 24/7 without you or your sales team even being awake! This brings in so many opportunities for growing your small business with a website.

If any of the above reasons or sub-reasons apply to you, then you must absolutely consider getting web design services for small business.

If non of the above apply to you (which is highly unlikely!) then perhaps you don’t really need a website for your business.

How to order the right small business website? With answering 5 major questions!

After you admit that you need a small business website design, it’s time for the harder parts: Actually ordering web design for small businesses. 

This step is usually intimidating because many business owners are not familiar with how websites are made, how they function and what they need for them.

This causes them to fear being ripped off by website design agencies or ordering a website design that turns out to be not fit for their business and wasting their budget.

But rest assured, if you answer the questions below, there’s nothing scary about purchasing website packages for small businesses:

1. What is your main goal for having this website?

This seems like a philosophical question to many business owners! But bear with us. What is the main thing you want from this website? We’ll name a few, and you tell us which one it is:

• Sell products or services on it
• Just as a formality for your business’s online presence
• Attract potential customers to it with online ads
• Attract potential customers to it through Google
• Sign people up for a specific something

Choose one or two and say it to your website design agency. Trust us, it makes a huge difference. 

2. Who is your main target audience?

Another philosophical question! Although you must have a clear idea of your target audience by default, many small business fail to do so.

Just answer the following questions:

• How old are they usually?
• What is their job or industry?
• Why do they need you?
• what are their habits?

Now put all the answers in one sentence and say it to your website designer. For instance:

I need a website for giving information to sales managers of construction companies, who are usually above 40 and can use this information to by material from us.

3. How many main pages do you need for your small business website?

Main pages could be ones such as: 

• Main page
• About
• Contact
• Services
• Products
• Shop
• FAQs
• Policies
• Blog
• Media 

If you need an eCommerce website design, make sure to tell your web developer the number of your products, categories and sub categories as well.

4. What necessary functions or features do you need?

By functions we mean tools that are beyond design features. Some main functions are:

• Online chat
• WhatsApp integration
• Online forum
• Real estate listings
• Products comparison
• Online payment
• Online reservation system
• Online ordering

5. Are there any specific design preferences that you have?

If you want specific colors or graphic elements or a custom design, be sure to communicate it to your website designer.

It’s also our recommendation to send a few samples of websites you like in terms of design to your web design agency. This shows them your taste and preferences even more.

What is the Cost of website design for small businesses? What affects it?

It’s no exaggeration to say this is probably the most important question for small businesses. And you know the answer: It depends!

You’re probably frustrated every time you hear such answer. You need real numbers to work with.

To get actionable numbers you need to know the factors that determine The average cost of website design for small business:

a. Technology

The technology of your website design affects your website design cost greatly. If it is coded and programmed from scratch, it usually has the highest price.

If platform such as WordPress are used, the price is usually lowered. 

b. Custom design

If you have specific design requests, including graphic design or advanced effects, that will definitely affect your website price. 

c. Number of unique pages

The more pages you need that need to be uniquely designed, the higher your small business website cost would be.

d. Features

If you need specific features on your website such as price comparison or 3D image modules, the higher the cost would be.

e. Ecommerce or not

eCommerce website are usually more expensive than ordinary business websites.

And that’s because they usually need advanced ecommerce integration and features such as payment gateway.

f. Web design company 

And last but not least the design company or person!

This is actually not a new concept, and we experience it everyday. You pay more for some clothing brands not necessarily because it has higher quality, but because of the brand itself.

To that end, older companies or more well-known ones which have established their own brand might charge higher for their services.

What are hidden costs of web design for small businesses?

The above factors are the main factors of the website design itself. But you mustn’t forget about the hidden costs.

These costs are unavoidable, but nonetheless you should know them in order to have a clear picture of your expenses.

– Domain

 A domain is basically the website address you need for your website, for instance www.yourbusiness.com.

Domains have different prices based on their type. For instance .pro domain costs higher than the usual .com.

You can check your preferred domains availability and its price here.

– Hosting

You need a place on the Internet to keep your website’s files. This is called hosting. Hosting fees are yearly like domain fees.

Depending on your website’s size you might need a small hosting or bigger one (for instance for an ecommerce website with multiple products).

– Content

If you don’t have any content or proper content to upload on your website, then you might have to pay for preparing that.

Content creation prices differ. For instance in DAAVIN we charge about 250 AED for 1000 word of content.

– Data entry

Entering the data for your services and products requires expertise, time & energy.

Whether you do it yourself, hire someone or ask your website design company to do that, it will cost you money per page, per service or per product.

– Website Maintenance

A website needs maintenance and monitoring, especially for technical reasons and keeping its system up to date.

You might purchase monthly website maintenance packages or you might choose to ignore it, which would cost you fees again in near future.

Website builder vs. freelancers vs. web design company vs. in house website designer! Which to choose?!

Now that you know the average cost of website design for small businesses, it’s time to see who to pick for the job.

There are 4 ways for getting a small business website, some are more know for affordable websites for small businesses. But each have their own pros and cons.

Website design agency for small businesses

Hiring a website design company is the most common way. There are a few points you should know about it:

• It gives you the advantage of a team not just a person.
• It costs more than using a website builder or hiring a freelancer.
• It gives you more commitment as you’re facing a legal entity with legal responsibilities.
• They might have cheaper deals for hidden costs like domains and hosting.

In house website designer for small businesses

• It gives you full control over your website design process as the web designer works for you.
• It costs more than a website builder or freelancer.
• It gives you the advantage of changing your website every time you need.
• It has more legal responsibilities.
• It’s good for small businesses with eCommerce businesses and high number of online activity which requires constant care and work for the website.

Website design freelancer for small businesses

• It costs less than a website design company and in-house designer.
• It has less commitment as you are only facing a person.
• It includes a 1-person team and therefore less experience.

Website builder for small businesses

• It costs less than all the other ways.
• It requires a lot of time and energy to learn to work with it.
• It needs an expert to work with it, otherwise the results would be unprofessional.

Small business website design with DAAVIN

At DAAVIN we happily work with small and medium sized businesses in need of a website or a website redesign. 

Our websites are mostly designed on the popular WordPress platform, which helps us provide affordable websites for small businesses.  

We don’t have fixed website design plans. We prefer to provide quotes or recommendations based on every business’s individual and unique needs. But all our website packages for small businesses include hosting, domains and SSL certificates for website security.

Our business website prices usually start from 1000 AED and our eCommerce solutions from 2500 AED.

If you want to know more details on how we can help your small business, contact us for a short call or an online meeting or just click on the WhatsApp button at the bottom of the page for a quick chat.