I’m building a site for a client and I have 2 questions.

1. What do you charge a client for a website? I’m just looking for an initial cost for a basic site.

2. Are there companies like HubSpot out there that host, integrate CMS, analytics, etc. all in one place?

I built my current employer’s website, but I did this under payroll and manage our site with HubSpot. I’d love to have the client go with HubSpot, but not sure if it is the budget and want to be able to research alternatives and I’m unsure where to start looking for those alternatives.

@lizkarschner As Charlene points out, there are many contributing factors to cost. Some charge an hourly rate in range of $20 – $45 but even then there’s variability. 

I’ve also seen fixed price for certain number of pages and graphics and SEO. It all depends on how much work you’re doing and how much your client is contributing. 

A very basic website e.g. 4 pages should be in the range of $300 – $600 but depends.

HubSpot is typically used for much larger and more dynamic web solutions that rely upon SEO/SEM to produce leads and goals. I don’t know for sure but my guess is that type of service is not cheap. 

Give us some more detail on the work load and then you’ll probably get better answers. 

@bhuvan thank you so much for the snappages.com link. A lot more customization available. I am definitely signing up for the business and possibly the developers as this is what I like to do.

The main reason I was working on moving him towards HubSpot is the ability to nurture leads, have analytics, and build the site / blog all on one platform. No reason to go from one platform to the next. There are so many features like tracking keywords (a list you generate), inbound links, etc. that I think is really helpful to see the progress the site is making. So I’m just looking for something that could be similar with a lower cost.

Finally, I spoke to my client last night. If he decides to go with HubSpot, we only need 5 pages to merge and then can build from there, so I was going to design and create those 5 pages. I then was planning on staying with him for a while till he feels comfortable to take over. I said $500 for the site and then we can either do a per hour or per page from there forward, but the $500 includes the design and layout of the first 5, and the snappages looks a heck of a lot better than what I have been using since I can change the template around a lot more.

@lizkarschner

It’s impossible IMHO to give a price for a basic site. Too many variables. It’s like saying what’s the price for a car. 

Well, you can spend a few hundred dollars for a junker or millions on a NASCAR vehicle. 

If you’ve got a 5 mile commute and you don’t care what people think of you, the junker should work fine. If you’re going for a trophy, better pony up.

If you’re trying to figure out what to charge, one way to do it is to look at how many hours you expect to work on the project and decide what your time is worth per hour.

Then double it, because you’re going to put in way more time than you think.

If the customer wants SEO, social media integration, a blog, an email newsletter, a mobile friendly version, that’s all fine, but it’s also all extra.

Just my .02 from 15 years building websites!

@rich-brooks great explanation!

Websites always takes more time than you expect and each site comes with it’s own unique goals and needs that affect the bottom line. 

It’s hard to judge until you’ve got a few sites under your belt. Keep track of your time not just for billing, but also track how long it takes you to complete different tasks and project segments.  This will help you better judge future projects. 

There are a number of online services that can help you do this so your not just using a clock and paper–or spreadsheet. I use Freshbooks for my billing and one of their many features is a timer that will associate your time to a project, task, and includes a field for notes. They have a 30 day free trial if you want to ck them out.

Best of Luck!
Jules