10 Significant Factors that Determine the Restaurant Website Development Cost
Every company that decides to make a new website for itself or revamp an existing one is posed with the question of how much would a website development cost. This question is inevitable for every business, irrespective of its financial proportions.
Whether a company runs on a shoe-string budget or makes huge profits, businesses must stick to a certain budget for every task that needs to be accomplished. However, cost cutting on such a valuable, income generating task would prove to be disastrous.
Spending on creating a good website is indeed an investment as the money spent in this regard will lead to a consistent ROI. It is, therefore, imperative for businesses to create an effective website that lures visitors, speaks on behalf of the business and makes a lasting impression.
So, what are the factors that play a role in determining the website development cost? Here they are.
The price for a new website directly depends on the time spent on developing it. So, every factor to be discussed below will affect the time spent on the website development and, therefore, the cost incurred for getting it done.
Customization
Every website needs to have a USP much like the business that it has been built to propagate. While a basic template web design is sufficient to put a website together, the creation of several other elements is also necessary in order to reflect the uniqueness or individuality of the website and its business.
This requires customization. Organizations should never hesitate to invest in the customization of their website as this would not just attract traffic to the website. People who visit will stay for a considerable time on the website to learn about the unique business offerings.
If you wish to customize several parts of a pre-curated website template, it is going to take more time than expected and, thereby, more cost.
If you choose Restaurantify, a website designing platform, to get your restaurant website done, it is not going to take more than 10 minutes to even customize every little detail that is a part of the readily available template.
Design
Never settle for cheap templates. Your choices of templates should never be based on the cost. Reusing a template might easily be the most cost effective method to design. But, it would be difficult to identify a template that precisely reflects the brand. Therefore, one ends up creating a custom design that is more expensive.
If you choose to build a customized website, the cost would depend on the complexity of the design, the number of pages on the site and the number of design concepts.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Securing the first page of Google search results does not happen by itself as soon as a website is created. It involves a planned, systematic approach to top the search results.
Researching the keywords people use while browsing and optimizing the website to match the targeted keywords is crucial to achieve the first few places in Google search results. Despite having an amazing website, if your desired audience cannot find your site, driving traffic becomes almost impossible. This is where SEO could possibly be of help.
Search engines constantly update their algorithms to meet the evolving needs of site visitors. So, your website must naturally reflect these updates too.
SEO involves:
Determining the keywords people are searching for
Creating codes to ensure fast page loading
SEO is one of the most prominent factors that play a role in determining the cost of website development.
SEO is affected by factors such as competitive rankings of the keywords and the number of pages on your website.
Content List
Prepare a list of all the pages and other functional features for your website. If this list has not been done by you, the cost will vary based on how much research the web designer is expected to do. Have they been bestowed with the task of interviewing the target audience, analyzing the website traffic statistics or something much simpler than that?
User Friendly & Navigation
Making the website user friendly and creating the information architecture by organizing the pages, setting the labels and executing the internal and external linking.
The more a website designer spends time on such tasks, the more user friendly it is likely to become. But, it will certainly add to the cost of website development.
Social Media
Making a social media presence that includes Twitter, Facebook, Google + or LinkedIn will add to the website development cost.
In this digital era, no business can escape a social media presence as it is the most important component of a successful marketing and branding campaign for any business.
Mobile friendly
Websites must possess gadget compatibility to ensure that no visitor leaves unsatisfied. Unlike the by-gone days of desktops and laptops, people of the millennia prefer hand-held mobile devices. But, people continue to access information, search for products or services using various devices.
Irrespective of the gadget people use to gain access to the website, they must be able to navigate effortlessly through the pages and obtain the information that they are seeking.
Web designers realize the necessity for gadget compatibility and take necessary measures to ensure that consistency is maintained through all devices.
This is known as a ‘Responsive Design’. It ensures that the site is formatted in different ways based on the device from which it is accessed. The cost will vary according to the content used and the degree to which the website’s design is responsive.
Content Management System
When a Content Management System or CMS is in place, one can change the photos, pages and text on the website with just a few clicks. While most of the popular CMS platforms are free (open source), the web designer must be paid for the configuration and theme creation (customization).
The cost for the open source CMS will depend on the number of pages that the website will have and the complexity of website design.
Functionality
If you wish to have more technical components or functionalities on your website like ecommerce, message boards, photo galleries, blog sections or webforms, then the cost would be higher.
Almost all functionalities are available as free plugins or modules and can be add the website. But, they will require configuration and customization.
Content - Text and Blogs
If you already have a website, then you must decide if the existing content can be used for the revamped site or will there be a requirement for fresh copy.
The content for the website needs to be an in-depth explanation with all descriptions and specific details made available to the reader. Foresee how much your business would benefit from weekly blogs or news articles. If you require content written specifically for your business, the cost would depend on the number of words or pages and the amount of research work necessary.
Email Newsletter: If one wishes to play down on costs, making use of a pre-existing website design template for an email newsletter, would be sufficient. If a generic template does not work as effectively as expected, then a custom design is necessary and the cost is increased.
Having read all the 10 factors that determine the website development cost, you now must have a fair idea of how to estimate the cost beforehand.
People tend to underestimate the efforts that go into building a professional website for businesses. While the cost for an average web design is approximately $ 5000, based on the factors mentioned above, one can also get a professional website done within minutes - without knowing anything about code.
Restaurantify is a platform for restaurateurs to create a restaurant website by themselves, within minutes, at an amazingly affordable price. With hundreds of aesthetic website templates to choose from, they can also be customized to adhere to brand identity. This platform is meant exclusively for restaurants that are looking for reliable website builders. Websites created using Restaurantify are SEO friendly, gadget compatible and have a responsive design. Content support is also offered based on requests. Try it to enter the virtual realm in style.
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