Planning a business website? Account for these six costs
A website budget is more than design and development. Content, integrations, maintenance and measurement all affect the real investment.
Define the job your website must do before deciding where to spend. More features do not automatically produce better results.
Start with the business goal
Before requesting quotes, decide what the website must achieve: generate enquiries, establish trust, support sales or manage bookings. Each goal leads to a different structure, feature set and measurement plan.
Without a clear goal, it is easy to spend on features that look impressive but do little for the business.
The six areas in a complete budget
When comparing proposals, check whether each of these areas is included.
- Strategy, information architecture and page planning
- Brand expression, interface design and mobile experience
- Copywriting, translation, photography and other content
- Forms, booking, payment, membership or third-party integrations
- Domain, hosting, analytics, security and technical maintenance
- Search optimisation, testing, updates and ongoing improvement
The initial build is not the whole cost
After launch, content changes, platform updates, form checks and security still need attention. Consider the first-year total and the ongoing annual baseline, not only the build fee.
This gives you a clearer investment view and reduces surprises after launch.
How to compare proposals
A useful proposal clearly states the scope, pages, features, revision rounds, deliverables, timeline and support. If prices differ greatly, compare the scope before comparing the total.
The strongest investments usually improve customer experience, reduce manual work or create a clearer route to conversion.
Turn a starting price into a comparable budget
Current CORIS starting plans are HK$3,800 for a landing page, HK$6,800 for a business website, HK$12,800 for a multilingual website and HK$14,800 for an online store. Each is a scope starting point, rather than proof that every feature, language and platform is included.
For a store, specify product count, payment and delivery methods, and administration. Separate platform subscriptions, transaction fees, content production and maintenance. Unknown costs should not be treated as zero.
Self-service updates or developer changes?
Static brand sites and sites with an admin system have different update workflows. If staff change products or offers weekly, ask to see how they add content, change prices, update stock and recover mistakes.
Handover includes more than a password. Confirm platform accounts, instructions, backups, permissions, training and how additional products or features are charged.