What’s Included in Website Design…and What’s NOT
March 18, 2022
CONSUME CREATIVELY
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Updated 10/26/2023
We have been remodeling things in our office and homes for the last few years, and these experiences have made us acutely aware now of what is not included in a remodel design bid.
We hadn’t remodeled anything before. No one gave us a checklist to follow…so imagine our surprise when we were presented with 1000s of dollars in “upgrades” that we thought were included in the original estimate.
Luckily website remodels tend to cost far less then home remodels. But still, no one likes being sent an extra invoice for work they thought was part of the original project plan.
Because just like we hadn’t ever gone through a home remodel before, you don’t build websites every day, so how can you possibly be expected to know what’s included in a website and what’s not?
That’s what this post is all about. Uncovering the 10 most common things you might think are included.
So you can go into conversations with developers with an informed perspective and you’re not stuck with a massive bill at the end you did not expect.
Let’s take a step back.
How can you make sure you know what’ IS included in your web design?
Get clarification in writing.
Ask for an itemized estimate and a detailed contract that outlines all of the things and words that this company will do for you.
If they just give you an estimate, that’s like, “I’m going to remodel the bathroom” but it doesn’t tell you what they’re doing in the bathroom. And it doesn’t tell you your cabinet, countertop, flooring, or fixture allowances you don’t really know what you’re getting.
You might think you’re getting a custom marble floor and their estimate only includes laminate flooring…
Wait a second. We’re talking about websites here.
Okay, but you know what I’m talking about, right? Absolutely.
So if the estimate doesn’t tell you how the site will function, who’s migrating content from your old site, taking photos, writing text for pages, etc, etc, etc, it is not detailed enough.
Do not feel bad about going back and asking for details. That’s the only way that you can protect yourself in this situation.
Again asked for an itemized estimate of the work outlined in the contract. Make sure everything you talked about in those meetings with them is in writing in the proposal and you understand what it means..
If it doesn’t exist in the proposal, you can’t hold them accountable for it.
Now onto what’s NOT included in your web design.
1 – Don’t Expect Search Engine Optimization
Most companies build the structure of their website so that Google likes them. I say most because not all do.
Like all web design components, engine optimization is multi faceted. Most of the time fully featured, ongoing SEO is NOT included in the base price of a website.
For example, unless your contact includes “on-page SEO” the company is likely not going to keyword research for you and integrate it into the copy of your pages.
Additionally, unless you’re paying them an ongoing fee, they’re not going to do ongoing SEO services like link building and content building for you.
They may be building your site on an awesome framework that will optimize better than your past website because Google likes new stuff built the right way. But above and beyond that unless it’s in the contract they’re probably not doing it.
2 – Don’t Expect Hosting
Monthly hosting is not often included in the cost of your website design. But your design company should suggest a hosting company for you that they like to work with.
Think about hosting like your apartment. It’s the rent for where your website lives and not included in your web design. It should be a monthly or annual fee (at MayeCreate, we just charge for it annually because it’s so much easier to keep track of).
Number 2a – Continuing Software Updates
If you’re building your website on software like WordPress, software updates are released regularly to the plugins and WordPress core. These updates keep your website safe from hackers and loading quickly.
Regular incremental software updates also ensure that if you want to update or add more features to your site in the future, it won’t break everything.
These ongoing updates are not usually included in your website build.
3 – Don’t Expect A Domain Name
Your domain name is your URL. For us, it’s MayeCreate.com.
You probably already have a domain name. This isn’t usually part of your website build estimate. It’s a small additional fee paid to a domain registrar (GoDaddy is our fav).
Your web developer may manage your domain. We manage domain names for many of our clients because, honestly, sometimes they just forget to renew them. Then their website gets hijacked by some pornographer someplace; it is crazy.
Don’t let that happen to you. Just remember the price of your domain name registration, renewing it and making sure that it stays up is not included in your web design.
4 – Don’t Expect Ongoing Marketing
This is not the Field of Dreams.
Unless your current site has a flood of traffic you’re not just gonna have a surge of new business marching through your door because you built a website. If you are suddenly experiencing a bounty of unexplained website visitors you probably are under a bot attack…check your referral traffic.
To get legit web traffic you need ongoing marketing, and it’s probably not included in your web design unless it says so in the contract.
5 – Don’t Expect Ongoing Web Design Updates
If you need to add an employment application, add a service, add your pricing, or a new page, that’s totally normal and that’s also totally not included in your contract.
Look in your contract and see how long you have to request small revisions to your site and receive support to learn how to use your site after the site has been launched. There’s probably a time window written in the contract. Then you know, “okay, for the next 45 days, I can ask as many questions as I want to and receive a lot of support.”
After that, if you’re asking a whole bunch of questions, you may be asked to pay a consulting fee to relearn how to use your website.
Number 5a – Training
Not everybody will include website update training in the cost to build a website. If you want a human being to teach you how to use the special parts of your site make sure it’s also listed in your contract.
Your web designer might not train you on everything. And that’s OK. Depending on the software your site is built on there are usually plenty of resources out there teaching you how to do the everyday simple things. But even if you’re an expert you’ll want a quick training on how to use the custom built areas of your site. So make sure you ask if they’re providing training and how it will be delivered or you’ll be hunting and cursing up a storm as you figure it out on your own.
6 – Don’t Expect Photography
The images for your site might be actual original images of yours, or they might be stock photography. They could both be included in your website design, or not, depending on what you discussed and what’s in your contract.
Keep in mind if you’re buying stock photography from a big stock photo provider, it will cost you money. Just know that that could be an additional fee that you might have to incur if it’s not included in your website design. Also, if you don’t have professional photos and want professional pictures, don’t assume that your web designer will take them.
7 – Don’t Expect Content Writing and Editing
It takes time to read through every word you’re planning to include in your website design, rethink it, reorganize it and reword it.
A lot of clients just assume that we’re going to go in and do that for them. And for many clients we do, most of them, as a matter of fact. And they pay extra for this service. They also know they’re paying extra for it because it’s described and in the itemized estimate.
Web developers build websites. They’re not necessarily photographers, marketers or creative writers. Don’t assume your web developer will read and edit the stuff you give them. I love our MayeCreate development team, and even they will tell you designers and developers are not readers. They see words as shapes, a puzzle to fit on a page.
That big paragraph is just a rectangle to your designer.
(That’s why we employ writers like myself too 😏.)
In your initial meeting the salesperson should ask you if you’re providing content or if they’re doing it for you. If they don’t ask, the likelihood that content development is included in your website design is nil.
8 – Don’t Expect Content Migration
For the main pages of your site (Home, About, Services, etc) your designer should be creating and adding the content unless you’ve had a conversation about doing it yourself for certain pages to save money.
What they might not be doing is moving over the seven years of blog posts from your old site to the new one. That takes like seven hours to do. Your web designer is not gifting you seven hours if they’re keeping track of their time. So make sure things like that are line items included in your estimate for your website design.
If you have sections of your site like blog, portfolio, jobs, or careers ask how you can deliver that information to your developer so that they can auto-populate your website. It can be done. But, the information needs to be formatted the correct way in a spreadsheet. If you can deliver the information the right way you’ll save yourself money for sure.
9 – Don’t Expect Programming Upgrades
You want a website that’s easy for you to update. That often includes programming.
Programming can be simple or it can be complex. It can also be deceiving. What might feel complex can actually be simple or visa versa.
Programming is also rigging your Staff page to allow you to reorganize people by dragging and dropping. And auto formatting each person’s information so they all look the same to keep it easy to update if you’re adding and subtracting staff 4 million times a year.
Programming is also a shopping cart, donation portal or members only section. If it makes your site do more than just show words and images on a page – that takes programming.
Your salesperson should ask you questions to help determine what should be built as programming and what shouldn’t.
Once your site’s in the building phase, some things might be able to be added on easily, but you might also get charged extra for them because they take extra time. Know that when you ask for additional functionality outside your contract, you may be charged for it.
10 – Don’t Expect Optimization for Every Loving Browser Under the Sun
This nightmare for designers is orchestrated by a cross between creating sites for people using antiquated systems and everyone else keeping with the times. Basically, optimizing for every stinking version of every browser on the face of the earth.
Before I dig in and go on a full blown rant I want to make an announcement:
Internet Explorer is dead. Like dead dead. 💀
We held a wake for Internet Explorer when it died. We were so happy we didn’t have to build websites that worked on Internet Explorer anymore. Optimizing for IE forced us to duplicate code all over building almost a whole different website to get it to work in the idiot browser. It was holding us back from building faster loading progressive sites.
And then it died. And we rejoiced.
So, if you expect your website to work seamlessly on Internet Explorer, you’re probably going to have to pay extra for it.
Your site will look different on different screens and devices.
Understand, even when your developer is building this amazing adaptive web design, optimizing it to look perfect on every single screen for every single person is really tough. If you want it to look a certain way everywhere – you’re going to have to pay extra.
But even if we all used the exact same device and browser you still can’t account for every user’s settings.
Your site is not going to look the same for everyone because they are not on the same device. But also because they all have different self imposed user settings.
As I was a fledgling designer I was like a kindergartener with a prized art project. I wanted to show off all my awesome sauce to my mom. So I went over to her house, chest puffed out with pride and pulled up the new website on her computer and almost died of a heart attack. Everything was huge and just not right. It was like someone had sat on my art project and the glitter scattered all over the floor. I hung my head and I told her I must have messed up. But she said all websites look like that to her, and mine looked great. Then I realized she had her browser zoomed in to 200%.
Ya, so, user settings. It’s a thing. And everyone is different…you can’t control it and neither can your web designer. And it’s not included in the cost of your website design. Add it to our list of things not to expect in your design.
Now go forth and negotiate with confidence.
Now hopefully, you can go into those conversations with potential designers and developers, review their contracts and their estimates and be aware of what might be missing. Entering into your relationship and project with better expectations of what’s included in a website design will end up Resulting in a fantastic website without a ton of hassle because that’s what it’s all about, right?
Who Manifested This Madness?
This fabulous human, that's who.
Monica Maye Pitts
Monica is the creative force and founder of MayeCreate. She has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with an emphasis in Economics, Education and Plant Science from the University of Missouri. Monica possesses a rare combination of design savvy and technological know-how. Her clients know this quite well. Her passion for making friends and helping businesses grow gives her the skills she needs to make sure that each client, or friend, gets the attention and service he or she deserves.
