What does it cost?

The truth is that it is extremely hard to answer this question. Imagine approaching a home developer and asking how much it will cost to build a new house. The developer will need to take into consideration a large number of variables, including, but not limited to, square footage, location, and desired materials and finishes. Similarly, there are a large number of variables that affect the cost of building a website. This difficulty notwithstanding, let me try to give you some estimates.

If all you need is a basic marketing brochure website (5 - 10 pages) that will use an existing theme (template), then you may spend less than $1000. However, if you don't want your site to look exactly like someone else's, you will want to modify an existing theme or create a simple custom theme. You need to be prepared to pay for the time to plan, design, and modify/develop the theme. So, you should probably figure that you will spend at least $1000. For example, the website you are now visiting would be approximately $1750.

If you want to create a site with a richly developed theme that has more than a few pages, a few pictures, and a contact form, you should figure that the cost will be closer to $2000 than $1000.

A relatively expensive site that includes a small E-Commerce solution will be approximately $5000.

Keep in mind that these estimates are for small- to mid-size businesses.

I have provided these (very broad) guidelines to help you get a sense of what I consider to be the low and high ends of the spectrum. The only way I can provide you with more accurate and meaningful figures is if you tell me your specific needs.