Corporate website costs: what are you actually paying for?

Ask three companies to quote for a corporate website and you may get three very different numbers. The difference is rarely the quality of the design; it is usually what the quote includes and who looks after the site afterwards. In this post we explain the items that make up the cost of a corporate website and list the questions that help you compare quotes properly.

What goes into the cost

Domain

This is your site's address (for example yourcompany.com) and it renews every year. The most important point is that the domain is registered in your name. A domain registered to an agency or a freelancer can cause trouble if you ever want to switch providers.

Hosting and servers

This is where your site's files and database live. Cheap shared plans and properly managed servers differ a lot in speed, security and backups. Always check whether hosting is included in the quote and how much it costs to renew.

SSL certificate

This is the HTTPS certificate behind the padlock in the address bar. Free, automatically renewed certificates are common today, so you may not need to pay for one separately.

Design and setup

Adapting a ready-made design to your company and building a fully custom design are very different in both time and price. For most small and medium-sized businesses, a well-adapted ready-made design is enough.

Content

Texts, photos and service descriptions are usually the part of a project that runs late. Agree from the start who will prepare the content and what happens when you want to change it later.

Maintenance, updates and security

The work doesn't end when the site goes live: software updates, security patches, regular backups and help when something goes wrong are all needed. Sites without maintenance slow down over time and become easier to attack.

Subscription or one-time payment?

Some companies charge once and hand the site over; hosting, maintenance and updates are then charged separately or left to you. With a subscription, servers, backups, security and updates are included for a monthly or yearly fee. We compare the two in detail in subscription or one-time licence.

Questions to ask when comparing quotes

• Whose name will the domain be registered in?
• Does the price include VAT, and what do renewals cost?
• Who will add the content, and can I change texts and photos myself later?
• How often are backups taken, and how is a site restored if something goes wrong?
• Are updates and security patches included?
• When the contract ends, can I take my domain and content with me?
• Which support channels are there, and how quickly do you reply?

A quote with clear answers to these questions is often cheaper in the long run, even if its headline price is slightly higher.

How İvme Yazılım prices a corporate website

Our Corporate Website packages bring the domain, hosting, SSL certificate, software updates and technical support together in one package; the domain is registered in your name. You update your content yourself from the panel. If you'd rather not pay monthly, we can install the same software on your own server with a one-time setup package and hand it over up and running. See the current packages and VAT-inclusive prices on our pricing page.