What drives the cost of a website

One-time build, monthly upkeep

Every proposal we write has two parts. The build is a one-time cost: planning, design, writing, development, data imports, testing and launch. The monthly part covers hosting and technical management, a set number of support hours, and any services that continue, such as a data sync or SEO. Optional add-ons are listed separately, so you can pick only what you need.

Costs that come from other companies are listed too: a Wix premium plan, the domain, payment processing fees and any paid apps. We do not mark them up and we do not hide them.

The factors that move the price

1. How many pages or products

A contractor site with eight service pages and a dozen town pages is a small, writing-heavy job. A store's size is set by its product count: a few hundred products can be added by hand, while thousands mean scripted imports, batch processing and checks on the data. Above roughly 5,000 products, the search, categories and sitemaps need more planning, and Wix's limits (50,000 products, 1,000 categories) start to shape the design.

2. Where the data comes from, and how clean it is

Clean data is cheap; messy data is not. Products exported from a well-kept eBay store, with item specifics filled in, import quickly. A spreadsheet with merged cells, missing weights and five spellings of the same brand needs cleanup first. We look at your data before quoting, because this factor alone can outweigh the rest of the import work.

3. Connections to other systems

Each integration (an eBay sync, an inventory or ERP feed, a payment gateway) carries a one-time setup and usually a monthly fee, because a feed needs watching. The cost depends on the other system: a documented API is straightforward, while an undocumented export needs more care and more testing.

4. Logins, roles and workflows

A site where everyone sees the same pages is simpler than one with member accounts, roles, approval queues or a staff screen. Each role and each workflow (who can see, edit and approve what) adds building and testing, since every role has to be checked by hand. See custom web apps and member databases.

5. Writing and photos

Pages need real words: what you do, how it works, who it is for, questions answered. If you provide the content, the price is lower. If we write it from interviews and research, it takes time, and it is usually worth it, because thin pages rank poorly and look empty. Your own photos are better than stock; we resize and prepare them as part of the build.

6. Replacing an old site

A rebuild adds an inventory of everything the old site does, a plan to move its content, and a redirect for every old address so search rankings and saved links carry over. A site with a few pages is quick to map; an old wiki with thousands of pages is a project in itself.

7. What happens after launch

The number of monthly support hours, how often data syncs, and how much ongoing SEO you want (for example, two new guides a month versus four) set the monthly cost. Some businesses need only hosting and monitoring; others want a steady stream of new pages.

Ways to keep the cost down

• Send your logo, photos and facts early, in one place.
• Start with the pages and features that make money, and add the rest later.
• Clean up product data you already know is messy before the import.
• Decide who approves the site and keep that group small.
• Skip features nobody will use. We will point them out.

Three common project shapes

A contractor or trades site: factors 1 (a handful of service and area pages), 5 (writing) and 7 (hosting, SEO). No integrations, no logins. The smallest of the three. See contractor websites.

A parts store beside eBay: factors 1 and 2 at full size, 3 (eBay sync and payments), sometimes 4 (a staff order screen) and 7. The largest of the three. See stores for eBay and surplus sellers.

A club or organization member site: factors 4 (roles and approvals) and 6 (moving an old wiki) lead; the page count matters less than the workflows. See member websites.