Professional web development saves you 40–80 hours of work. You get a structure designed for conversion rather than a template, and the underlying technology is optimised for SEO and the GDPR from the outset. Below you’ll find a straightforward overview of providers, costs and the process.
"Having a website built" means commissioning professional service providers to handle the concept, design and technical implementation of a website - rather than going down the DIY route with website builders such as WordPress.com, Wix or Squarespace.
The difference has practical consequences. A professionally developed website typically saves the client 40 - 80 hours of their own work and is geared towards conversion and search engines from the start. On top of that comes a technical foundation that template systems simply do not offer: a clear information architecture, fast delivery, a well-thought-out mobile view and a legally compliant implementation.
Anyone commissioning a website is paying primarily for strategy – in other words, for defining what the site is intended to achieve. Added to this is the technical expertise required to build it properly. And someone takes responsibility if anything goes wrong.
Professionally designed websites achieve measurably better results than website-builder solutions. Conversion rates are typically up to 70 % higher across the industry, because user guidance, trust signals and calls to action are placed deliberately rather than left over by chance from a template. These trust signals also include being directly reachable, for example via live chat on the website.
The market roughly divides into three camps. Which type suits you depends on budget, complexity and how much responsibility you want the provider to take on.
Platforms such as IONOS, Jimdo, Wix or Squarespace with add-on design services. Suitable for small businesses with up to around 10 employees, a manageable range of features and clearly scheduled delivery times.
Tailored implementation with a personalised approach. Selection criteria: portfolio, specialisation in a particular sector or platform, references, communication style, demonstrable SEO experience.
Fully staffed teams covering strategy, design, development and project management. Worthwhile from mid-sized projects upwards, with several stakeholders and when you want the provider to take responsibility. Selection: 20+ references, specialisation, transparent processes, certifications.
These are builder-style services with built-in design help. Their biggest advantage is the short delivery time. You reach their limits when it comes to extensibility, individual SEO configuration and long-term data ownership.
Here you have a direct line and often very good value for money. The catch is a bus factor of 1: if that one person drops out, the project stalls. So put the specification in writing, agree clear milestones and settle the handover (source code, access credentials, documentation).
The right choice when more than one discipline is required – typically strategy + design + development + content + ongoing optimisation. Details of our working methods can be found on our web design page.
A professionally built website typically allocates its budget like this: design 20 %, development 40 %, content 25 %, SEO 15 %. This is a rule of thumb. For heavily content-driven projects the ratio shifts towards content, for e-commerce towards development.
Running costs that are often underestimated:
For a sense of scale: a business-card site starts in the low four figures, a corporate website sits in the mid five figures, and e-commerce and complex platforms well above that. If you do not plan the budget properly, you either build too small and have to rebuild in two years, or you leave out important disciplines (typically SEO and content).
Six criteria that hold up in the shortlisting stage:
A practical tip: send the same brief to three providers and compare the quotes. Besides the price, look at how thoroughly they ask questions, how clearly the service is described and whether the timeline seems realistic.
Well-run projects follow four phases. The duration scales with scope and number of stakeholders; the order stays the same.
Identify requirements, analyse the competition, refine target audiences. Result: project plan with sitemap, content framework and design direction.
Interactive prototypes, one or two structured feedback rounds. Changes are still inexpensive at the design stage; they become costly during development.
Development and content preparation in parallel, CMS setup, onboarding. By this point at the latest, you need a binding content deadline.
Comprehensive testing (functionality, devices, performance, security, GDPR, SEO), coordinated go-live, handover including training.
The requirements are clarified during the initial discussions. Competitor analysis and target audience research then define the strategic framework. This phase concludes with a detailed project plan including page structure, content outline and design sketches.
Now the interactive prototypes are created. In structured feedback rounds you check whether the result meets your expectations. Changes are still comparatively inexpensive at this stage.
Programming and content preparation run in parallel, the CMS is set up, and training for ongoing maintenance is scheduled.
Everything is tested prior to launch: functionality, devices, performance, security, GDPR compliance and basic SEO. This is followed by the coordinated launch and handover, including user training.
Four technical areas that reveal a professional build:
"Having a website built" sounds like a single block, but it is the sum of individual components. If you understand what a new website consists of, you can compare quotes better and assign responsibilities clearly.
The core consists of the homepage as the entry point and the subsequent subpages. A typical corporate website comprises a homepage, services or product pages, an ‘About Us’ page, contact details and the mandatory legal pages. Each additional subpage incurs costs for concept, design and editorial work; therefore, the total number of pages should be included in the quotation at an early stage and not just on the invoice.
On a technical level, a content management system is usually employed. It determines how independently you will be able to maintain content later on: if you wish to update texts and images regularly yourself, you need a system with an intuitive editorial interface, not a tool designed purely for developers. We deliberately offer practical advice here, as an overly complex system is more likely to lead to inactivity than a simple one.
Design involves more than just colours. Good graphic design organises content, guides the eye and transforms a collection of pages into a cohesive whole. A well-thought-out, bespoke layout rather than a standard template is the difference between a site that ‘looks like many others’ and one that fits the brand. Anyone wanting a distinctive visual language should budget for photography or illustration as a separate item.
To ensure the finished website can be found, search engine optimisation is built into the structure from the outset: descriptive URLs, correctly marked-up headings, and well-thought-out internal linking between the homepage and subpages. As soon as your website is built and online, the ongoing work on content and visibility begins. Our SEO agency page shows how we go about this.
These seven mistakes come up again and again in practice, yet all of them can be avoided:
What helps: close coordination, binding milestones and short feedback cycles. And a contract that covers disputes before they arise.
Having a website built doesn’t have to be complicated. We’ll guide you from the initial idea right through to launch, step by step and without any technical jargon.
The range is wide. A small business-card site via a website-builder service starts at € 500 - 2,000 plus ongoing fees. Freelance web designers typically charge € 2,000 - 8,000 per project. Agency projects start from € 5,000 and, for complex undertakings, reach into five or six figures. What matters is not the headline price but what the quote includes - strategy, content, SEO, maintenance.
A simple website via a design service can be live in 1 - 3 weeks. With freelance web designers the range is 4 - 12 weeks, with agencies 8 - 24 weeks. The biggest factor affecting duration is not development but the client supplying the content.
For pure business-card sites with no conversion goal, often not. As soon as the website is meant to deliver leads, sales or measurable visibility, the picture changes significantly: professional conversion rates are typically up to 70 % higher than template solutions across the industry, and the SEO foundation determines whether the site is found at all.
A central one. SEO is not an add-on you set up later but part of the architecture - URL structure, semantic HTML, internal linking, page speed, structured data. If you only think about SEO after launch, you often end up building the site twice. More on this on the SEO agency page.
At a minimum: a written understanding of the brief, sitemap, design concept, development work, content responsibility, SEO basics, testing, launch, handover including training, and maintenance options. In addition: clear phases with milestones and a fixed price per phase or a transparent quota of hours.
Contact three providers with an identical brief. Compare: the depth of the follow-up questions in the initial consultation, the quality of references from your own sector, the clarity of the service description, the realism of the timeline, and transparency regarding follow-up costs. Anyone who does not ask clear follow-up questions in the initial consultation will not ask them during the project either.
A website is not finished at launch - that is when it starts. Next come technical maintenance (updates, backups, monitoring), content upkeep, performance monitoring and ideally ongoing SEO and conversion optimisation to improve your Google ranking step by step. Rule of thumb for the maintenance budget: 10 - 20 % of the initial investment per year.
Yes, provided the website is built on a content management system designed for editorial use. Texts and images on the homepage and subpages can then be amended without any programming knowledge; you can add new posts or pages yourself. Before the project begins, we’ll advise you on which system best suits your maintenance requirements and organise a brief induction session to ensure a smooth transition from ‘fully built’ to ‘self-managed’.
That depends on the type of provider and your budget. Builder-style design services work with customisable templates, while freelance web designers and agencies deliver a bespoke layout tailored to your brand. Bespoke graphic design costs more, but pays off where recognisability and your own visual language matter. A bespoke homepage with clear user guidance makes a different impression from a template that a hundred other companies also use - that is usually where the extra investment justifies itself.
We’ll listen to your project, provide a realistic assessment of the effort and timeline involved, and clearly state whether we’re the right provider for you. We won’t try to sell you anything afterwards.
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