Website Pricing: What It Really Takes to Design and Build a Professional Website
Got sticker shock? If you’ve ever wondered why businesses like ours charge thousands of dollars to design and build an eCommerce website on Squarespace or Shopify, keep reading.
We’ve seen the ads. They make it sound so easy, don’t they? “Anyone can build a website with our platform!” Some DIYers (with the technical aptitude they can’t fathom others don’t possess) say the same thing.
Indeed, the days of coding a website from scratch are long gone. (Back in ancient times, we built websites using only HTML.) Thankfully, WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, and others developed user interfaces that opened up website creation to many more people.
And yet … we’ve heard from so many clients who tried to DIY their website but ended up spinning their wheels, utterly frustrated, wasting much more precious time than they had ever anticipated.
As an artist, you already know that giving someone the best tools — the finest paints, quality brushes, a premium canvas — does not produce a masterpiece nor make someone an artist. The same principle is true for websites.
The reality is that creating a professional website and eCommerce capability requires a unique blend of technical, business, and creative skills. Website experts like us have these skills and experience and work on websites every single day.
Most artists we work with are excellent at their craft but would rate their technical skills as moderate at best. Their world does not revolve around absolute and relative hyperlinks, CSS, when and where to use code snippets, updating a DNS record, the best approach for a mega menu, pondering SEO best practices, etc.
“Everything Else”
Many DIYers can get their account set up and a rough Home page started. But then reality creeps in … “there’s everything else.” They’re soon in a cycle of frustrating starts and stops, searching for definitions, tutorials, and videos (which can be a swamp of outdated content, making it even more confusing).
Then there’s writing. Being a “good writer” doesn’t always produce strong marketing copy. Too many artists get rather worn out with this aspect as well.
There are exceptions, of course. If you have the technical aptitude and experience to do it all on your own — great! If you have a knack for writing engaging copy — fantastic.
But for those struggling, we save them angst and loads of time. Everything is done faster and ready for sharing with the world.
Number of tasks and Hours
How many hours does it take to build a thorough, professional website? To give an example, for Show & Sell, our eCommerce website, we have a running checklist of over 110 discrete tasks, including decisions and revisions. For an artist with 20 works to start, if we have all of the artwork images, titles, dimensions, and descriptions ready to go from the artist, it will take ~65 - 75 total hours to do things right.
For a less technical, inexperienced person doing the same tasks, it could take at least double those hours to complete, if not more. That’s almost a month’s worth of full-time effort, but it’s usually done in their spare time, which means their DIY website project can stretch on for several months and beyond.
Another common DIY pattern is to build a basic site, get 1 - 2 artworks posted, and figure they’ll make improvements later, including loading the rest of their artwork. But frequently, “later” never happens.
This impacts in two ways:
1) The first impression of a website is extremely important, so if it doesn’t look professional and lacks important elements, visitors will likely turn away and not come back.
2) If their website had been up and running after a few weeks instead with a substantial number of works instead of procrastinating and avoiding, they could have used all that time to attract buyers and gallerists, build their email list, and work on social media.
Then add in setting up Business Email, social media marketing, email marketing, and so on … all of those efforts also take time and technical aptitude.
PricE Comparisons
At Austen Agency, we structure and display our offerings how we would want to consume them. That includes:
Clear, transparent project pricing
Short and flexible 6-month plans for services such as technical support, social media, and email marketing
No auto-renewal so that clients can re-enroll on their timeline
And other helpful services, such as QR-enabled business cards and brochures
Because some artists are just starting out, we offer a range of website types to accommodate various goals and budgets, starting at $400 for a non-eCommerce site.
In the marketplace, website designer rates vary widely between $25 - $120+/hour. We are very experienced and use mid-range rates for projects, social media, and email marketing. We use lower rates for Technical Support Plans. We also feature flexible, short-term plans in several areas (social media and email marketing) because this approach is helpful to artists, who generally don’t want to get locked into long-term contracts.
Unlike other art website marketing services, after we build your eCommerce website and the first 6 months of support, we do not make you dependent on us unless you want to be; you fully own your website and can get help from anyone to whom you give access. Most clients opt-in to our Technical Support Plans, but there can also be breaks. (But you’ll continue to pay Shopify or Squarespace to host your site.)
For perspective on pricing, here are costs published in “How Much Does a Website Cost (2024 Guide)” by Forbes and another by WebFX:
For comparison, here’s our Pricing:
eCommerce Website Design Price (one-time cost) is $3500 base price + Add-Ons
Annual Maintenance Costs (what we call Technical Support Plans) are optional and sold in 6-month terms; one year is $600 - $780.
Your hosting provider (e.g. Squarespace or Shopify) ranges from $30 - $100+/month, depending on features. They always offer discounts for annual payments.
Other Options
There are other art-focused website companies such as Artlogic, ArtCloud and Art Storefronts. These businesses have developed their own proprietary platforms and appear to charge ongoing monthly and annual fees for hosting and various levels of support.
The monthly fees range from $49 to hundreds depending on the features you want and number of artworks. There are pros and cons to this model. One drawback is the dependency; you don’t really own or control what happens to your website if they go out of business, for example.
We advocate for building your website on tried and true website platforms like Shopify or Squarespace, which have millions of active businesses relying on their infrastructure. (View usage and other stats on Squarespace and Shopify for perspective.)
Since platforms like Shopify and Squarespace are not dependent on one type of industry, they’re here for the long term, with ongoing improvements and features. Because of their scale, their pricing stays fair, and the integration options (such as Augmented Reality and print providers) are plentiful. You can hire art industry specialists like Austen Agency or other experts to help you make the most of these amazing tools.
The Bottom Line: It’s an Investment
A website is the foundation of any serious art business, and it’s worth the investment to get it done right. We’re here to answer any questions and discuss your online marketing needs. Schedule your free consultation today.
