Let's face it, websites are expensive. You have to be totally honest with yourself and ask - what is your budget and how much are you willing to spend on establishing your web presence?

Having done the necessary steps to begin understanding your audience, you will no doubt have a good idea of how valuable your website will be to your business. How much are you willing to pay for such an asset?

The problem with setting a budget for your website at this early stage of the planning process, is that it is impossible to establish how much your site is going to cost without knowing all the detailed requirements. It stands to reason that the more complex your website is, the more it will cost, and vice versa.

At this point, the easiest way to approach your website budget is to decide on the maximum amount of money that you are willing or able to spend. Based on this amount, you can then move forward and start negotiating with web companies to get an idea of what type of site you can afford.

Your Budget and Marketing

All too often, people completely forget to include website promotion into their budget planning. You might think it is simply a case of "build it and they will come", but the plain fact of the matter is that if you don't spend money on promoting your website, no-one is likely to know it even exists!

Although we will cover more on Online Marketing later, a good marketing budget to set aside for promoting your website is about a third of your entire budget for developing the website (if possible, setting aside half the amount would be even better).
If you are planning to spend $10 000 on your website, you should set aside at least an additional $3 000 for marketing.

If you would like some more advice on your website budgeting, why not let us help you? Visit our WebWise Advice Centre and get in touch with us. We'll be happy to discuss your needs in more detail.

Click 'Next' to move onto the next lesson - To Manage Or Be Managed