Do you wish to know how much does it cost to create a website in India? Website development cost has always been a major concern for business owners. With a lot of to and fro involved in building a business, he/she tries to predetermine every expense beforehand.
However, estimating the cost to create a website is not easy as it depends on a number of factors such as domain and hosting, website design, content, CMS, and required functional modules. Moreover, the same varies from vendor to vendor and involves both fixed and variable costs.
Some of the common factors that affect the cost to create a website are as mentioned below:
1. Domain
A domain name is used to represent one or more IP addresses, such as a personal computer used to access the internet. When planning to build a website, purchasing a domain name is the first step. You can get one for your business from domain registrars like GoDaddy, BlueHost, HostGator, Google and more.
There are certain registrars that also offer you a number of integrated services like the dashboard for managing DNS, hosting and databases. So, know what all services/ features you would want from a domain provider and choose accordingly. Generally, a domain would cost you around INR 900-1200/year.
2. Hosting
To host your website, you would need a web server that will cost you on a monthly or annual basis. This would depend on the type of package you have opted for from the service provider. Moreover, the cost to create a website would also be impacted by the shared or dedicated hosting space, any special discounts offered by the provider, etc.
For a professional website, VPS may be opted for hosting based on the configuration and server platform.
Giving you an estimated cost for different types of hosting space, a shared hosting environment would cost you anywhere from INR 5000 to 10,000/-; hosting it on VPS may cost somewhere between INR 40,000 and 100,000 per annum depending on the configuration and server platform; a dedicated server costs you the highest i.e. INR 150,000 to 400,000.
3. Design
This particular cost varies as per the type of design chosen for the website. While a few readymade designs are available for free, these are available with a lot of hidden limitations. Since these are amateur designs, these are not suitable for serious businesses.
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These are also difficult to maintain and are not available with any support from anywhere.
Therefore, opting for a professional design is a great idea. Although this may seem to cost you once, making any modifications to it may lead to some additional costs. The best way to get an exclusive design ready for your website is to outsource this job to a web designer, share your needs, and get the same delivered as per predefined deadlines.
A neat professional design may cost you around INR 10,000 to 60,000 with a single site shared license whereas an exclusive professional design would cost you somewhere between INR 100,000 and 300,000, sometimes beyond.
4. Content
Content plays a crucial role in defining the success of a website. Therefore, getting the right content uploaded on the website within the desired timeline is utterly important. This content may include anything from images, documents, write-ups, videos or any other resources.
Available in varied formats like presentation, blogs, videos, and others, the cost of getting this content ready depends on the type of business you are into, the level of complexity of your services, and others.
Marketing factors like SEO and digital marketing may also play a role in affecting the overall cost of the website development. A copyrighted content for a page would cost you around INR 3000/page.
5. Content Management System (CMS)
A quality CMS is important to upload and update the content on the website.
While there are a number of free CMS available in the market like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento, these do not always serve the desired purpose.
If you have some specific requirements and would like to engage your customers in a better way, then there is always a possibility of building a customized CMS with the help of web developers. However, remember that building a customized CMS would cost you somewhere between INR 100,000 and 500,000.
6. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is one of the important factors to help your website rank on SERP for a set of particular keywords. Optimizing your website for search engine implies that it will appear higher in search results when an individual searches for a business like yours.
SEO services are generally available in packages with the service provider offering either on site or off-site SEO or a mix of both. Although optional, SEO may cost between INR 20,000 to 45,000 annually for a business. Also, any business would need at least six months for the SEO showing its results.
7. Social Media Setup
Social media setup is about setting up the business page on different social media platforms and updating it regularly with relevant business updates. Since social media pages are not a new concept and gain more preference when they validate the website as correct, setting up these accounts can help in improving your online presence and ranking in search results.
Getting this done in-house can be pocket-friendly. However, if you choose to outsource, it may cost you anywhere from INR 5000 to 20,000/year.
8. Setting Up Email Newsletter
Newsletters have increasingly become popular among the business houses to advertise or promote themselves. These can also be used to target some anonymous individuals, subscribers or customers for business updates or building a community.
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To use this service, you need to have a newsletter application service integrated into your website. This cost of integrating a newsletter application service into your website varies depending on the type of newsletter you want to send.
9. Responsive Web Pages
A responsive website has become an important way to improve the user experience across different platforms and screen sizes.
Since Google too considers this feature as well as the mobile page speed as a ranking factor, it is important to keep your website responsive.
As making such a website requires a lot more CSS and incorporation of its frameworks like bootstrap and flex, the cost can generally go up in comparison to other websites. For instance, if a website has about 5-10 pages, its additional cost can go up by INR 3,000 to 5000/site.
10. Clear Navigation Structure
A clean navigation structure is important to help visitors understand where they would find a particular piece of information.
Helping to improve user experience, developing clear navigation requires one to have a clear understanding of human behavior.
Moreover, it also adds to the cost of building the required website. For instance, a smart collapsible menu costs you more but lesser than the one with images and icons in menu/navigation design. The additional cost due to navigation structure can cost you somewhere between INR 5,000 to 50,000 depending on the simplicity and complexity of the navigation menu
11. Site Searches
This can work as an added navigation capability of a website. Acting as a virtual assistant to locate elements in a website, this works best for the users when you have made certain changes to the website.
Adding this feature would certainly add on some extra cost. If you plan to add an advanced search feature, the added cost to create a website can be even more. Generally, this cost can increase by INR 10,000 to 30,000 per website depending on the type of search capability you add.
12. Cost of an eCommerce extension
Adding complex features like scheduled discussions or forums can lead to an added cost for the website. An eCommerce extension too does not come at a pocket-friendly price and will make you shell out a lot of money.
It will also add to the workload on the website developer as he/she would need to develop a product catalog for the business as well as add a shopping cart feature to the website. This would also need payment gateway integration. All this combined can lead to an additional cost of INR 10,000 to 60,000 along with the time you would need to set up the website.
Website Development Is Expensive
Although it is possible to get a website ready at minimal cost, this won’t make any sense. A website without any necessary features and functionality is a sheer waste of time, money, and efforts. Therefore, it is rather a better idea to develop a website that has all the features required to attain the desired results and revenue.
Make sure that you keep on updating your website regularly with latest features and developments that are rolled out in the market from time-to-time. This will not only help you to keep your customers happy but also to improve your visibility and stay ahead of your competitors in the market.