What does a website cost in South Africa?

Most people who ask me this already have one quote that looked too high and one that looked too low. The numbers are hard to compare because the quotes rarely say what you actually get for the money. Here is my price and the five things I think it should buy.

The price

A standard site is R12 500. That covers up to five pages and the Google setup, meaning the work that lets Google read and list your site properly from the first day, submitted to Google at launch. It does not include your Google Business Profile, the listing on Google Maps, which is a separate job. Anything bigger, such as a second language or a booking flow, is quoted before work starts, so the number does not move halfway through.

You can also spread it. R2 500 up front, then R1 250 a month for 12 months with your hosting included for that year. If you would rather keep the hosting you have, it is R2 500 up front and then R1 000 a month for 12 months.

Five things the money should buy

1. You do not have to write anything. Most website projects stall waiting for the owner to send the words. With me the words come from one call about your business. Nothing is invented. Johanna du Preez, an attorney in Pretoria, said the site came together “with very little guidance needed from me”. Her practice went from an empty domain to a live site in 13 days.

2. Someone who questions the brief. A website should start with what you need it to do, not with a list of pages. Henro at Recon Electronics put it like this. “His background in business analytics was invaluable in refining the project scope.” Expect to be asked why, not only what.

3. Customers who can actually reach you. Recently I opened the website of a local business with dozens of five-star reviews, on my phone, to call them. There was no phone number on the homepage. A form can fail the same way and look perfect while it does. I test every form with a real message to your inbox before launch.

4. Someone who notices when it breaks. On a Thursday morning in August a client’s domain was put on hold by the company it was registered through. Their website and email stopped. My monitoring flagged it within five minutes and it was back within the hour.

5. The truth about what a website does. A website is where people land, not what brings them. What gets a local business found is a Google listing kept up to date, reviews from real customers and new content. That takes months. A cheap quote that skips this is not a cheaper version of the same thing.

What it costs after launch

A website keeps costing a little every month, whoever builds it.

The domain renews once a year. It should be registered in your business name, not your developer’s.

Hosting is where the site and usually your email live. Mine is from R250 a month. That puts the domain, website and email on one account, with the renewals done before they lapse.

Changes. Something will always need updating, like a new service, a price or a phone number. Ask now what that costs later. With me, ongoing changes are the care plan, from R750 a month on top of hosting. That covers changes done for you, a daily health check, backups, your Google Business Profile kept up to date and a monthly report. A one-off change is quoted per job.

Five questions to ask any quote

1. Whose name will the domain be registered in?

2. What does hosting cost after the first year?

3. Who writes the words on the site?

4. Is the Google setup included or only the design?

5. What does a change cost once the site is live?

If a quote answers all five, you can compare it with any other quote fairly.