The Internet has become widespread, and today, if you have a question, you can immediately search for it on your smartphone. It has become commonplace for people who own stores or run companies to use websites to advertise their businesses or introduce their companies.

However, it is not unusual for people to say, "Okay! Let's create a website to introduce our store as well," the first thing that comes to mind is probably the worry about production costs.

Everyone is concerned about costs and market prices, but you want to keep costs as low as possible while still creating a quality website. In this issue, our engineers will explain the market price, tips on how to keep costs down, and factors that determine costs.

What is Website Production?

Website production refers to the creation of a new website or the renewal of an existing website. It is also sometimes referred to as website production.

Having a website not only allows you to transmit content and attract customers, it also allows you to link your website with your company's services and applications. Its effectiveness is widely recognized, and many companies and stores are beginning to focus on their websites.

Market Prices for Website Production Costs

The market price of website production costs varies depending on the type of website, the client, the quality required, and the content to be created.

Among these factors, the "type of website" has a large impact on the cost of website creation. Here, we will provide an overview of each of the major types of websites and the market price for their production costs.

Type 1. EC site

An EC site (Electronic Commerce site) is a website that sells products over the Internet.

There are two main types of EC site management methods: "mall-type" and "in-house EC site. Web production is required for the latter type of e-commerce site.

The production cost of an EC site depends mainly on the type of store system to be introduced. For example, there is a difference between using an "open source" system such as EC-CUBE and an "ASP" system such as Shopify or BASE.

EC-CUBE is one of the most popular store systems. It seems to have a relatively large number of engineers who can handle it, and if you just want to build a general online store, you may be able to request it for about 500,000 yen.

On the other hand, there is also the "scratch" option, in which an original EC site is built from scratch without using a store system. While the degree of freedom is greater, the cost tends to be more expensive, with the minimum cost being around 6 million yen.

Type 2. Corporate website

A corporate website is a website designed to introduce a company. A corporate site generally consists of contents such as company profile, employment information, and service introduction, and it can be said that it plays the role of introducing the company on behalf of sales and public relations personnel.

We live in an age where the Internet is widespread and any question is immediately searched for on a smartphone. It is becoming commonplace for companies to build corporate websites to gain the trust of stakeholders.

On the other hand, since most companies now have corporate websites, corporate websites that merely provide corporate information tend to be less readable. While it is important to communicate the company culture, employee interviews, branding, etc., the cost is high depending on the amount of content.

Type 3. Recruitment website

A recruitment website is a site that varies in cost depending on the functionality and purpose you require. If the site has only the minimum functions necessary for recruiting, it will not cost much.

However, in today's world where competition for human resources is heating up with foreign companies entering the market one after another, it is difficult to secure excellent human resources with only the minimum amount of information.

It is also important to appeal the strengths and appeal of your company to job seekers, but the cost of posting employee interviews and video content will be higher.

Type 4: Landing page

A landing page is a vertical web page that appears when a visitor clicks on an advertisement displayed on a website. It is also sometimes referred to as an "LP.

Landing pages are mainly used for listing advertisements to attract customers. The market price for a landing page is low, with the most common price range being 300,000 yen to 600,000 yen.

However, in the case of landing pages, the concept of "operation and improvement" is very important when understanding the market price. Landing pages need to be constantly revised in detail through A/B testing, etc., so please consider that there are more costs involved than just the initial production cost.

Does the cost of website production vary depending on the client?

The main types of companies that commission website production are "production companies," "advertising agencies," and "freelancers. Since it is true that the market price varies depending on the client, let's check the approximate market price for each client.

Client 1: Website production companies

There are many website production companies of various sizes. Small and medium-sized production companies are suitable for salons, cafes, and other private businesses. These production companies seem to be lighter in footwork and more flexible than large production companies.

On the other hand, if you have many advanced requests, such as "I want to make a website that mainly features video" or "I want to introduce a reservation form or other system," it is better to hire a large production company. Although the production cost will be higher, they have a large number of engineers and will be able to produce a website that meets your requirements with high technical capabilities.

The market price for production costs is generally between 100,000 yen and 3,000,000 yen for a small to medium-sized production company, and 3,000,000 yen or more for a large production company, but it is important to obtain quotes from multiple production companies and consider the actual request.

Client 2. Advertising Agencies

An advertising agency is a company that performs advertising activities on behalf of a client company. Specifically, in most cases, the agency is responsible for branding the company and attracting customers through the use of a website.

In most cases, advertising agencies outsource the production of the website itself, but they have a wealth of know-how on how to attract customers after production, and will be able to produce a website that is strong in attracting customers. This is one of the strengths of advertising agencies.

However, from a cost perspective, in the majority of cases, advertising agencies do not have the technology to produce websites. In most cases, a margin of 20-50% is added to the cost of outsourcing the production, making it more expensive than hiring a website production company directly.

Client 3: Freelance

Freelance refers to a way of working that does not belong to a company or organization, but contracts with a company or individual for the work requested. Freelancers are active in a variety of industries and professions, such as web designers, consultants, and engineers, and many freelancers take on website production.

In addition, nowadays, with the abundance of freelance matching services such as "CrowdWorks" and "Lancers," it has become easy to find freelancers who match your conditions. Since freelance work is handled on an individual basis, it is often less expensive than work for a production company or an advertising agency.

However, even when speaking of freelancers in a nutshell, there is a wide variation in skills, techniques, and costs among individuals. When considering hiring freelancers, it is necessary to carefully examine "whom to hire.

Tips to keep the cost of website production low

The biggest obstacle in website production is the cost. Although we would like to keep costs as low as possible, cutting costs may lead to a decline in quality. How can we keep costs as low as possible while ensuring quality?

Here, we explain tips for keeping development costs down from the perspective of an active engineer. 

Tip 1: Take advantage of subsidies

Did you know that you can take advantage of government subsidies for website production? Actually, there are many active engineers who do not know about it.

Although it depends on the scale and purpose of the website production, there are four main types of subsidies that can be utilized.

There is only one grant that can be utilized for a single website production. However, you are not guaranteed to receive one if you apply, and the application process is complicated. Depending on the grant, you may need to submit a business plan, wage increase plan, and other documents, and then undergo a screening process.

However, if the screening process is successful and the grant is adopted, it can help reduce the cost of website production. It would be a waste not to apply because the application procedures are troublesome. Keep in mind that there is such a system in place.

Tip 2: Keep the number of pages to a minimum

Most production companies provide estimates in the form of "⚫︎yen per page" or "⚫︎yen  per function" .

The breakdown of production time includes direction work by the director, design work by the web designer, and coding work by the coder, etc. A site with many pages and functions will require more work time, while a simple site will require less work time.

Longer work hours naturally mean longer hours for the director and engineers, and higher labor costs. If the number of pages and functions can be kept to a minimum, costs can be reduced.

The number of pages, in particular, can be easily reduced through ingenuity. The cost can be greatly reduced by simply combining the "Greetings from the President," "History," "Corporate Philosophy," "Company Profile," "Access," etc. into a single page, rather than creating them as separate pages.

From an SEO perspective, it is said that the more pages, the better. However, if the content is small, it is better to put it all on one page than to go to the trouble of creating separate pages, which will lead to cost savings.

Tip 3: Update and add content in-house

To reduce website maintenance costs, you may want to consider updating and adding content in-house.

If you have a CMS that makes it easy to add and modify text and photos, you can delegate the work to your in-house staff. Asking in-house staff to create blogs and useful articles can also help keep maintenance costs down.

However, adding content on an ongoing basis requires ideas and effort. The in-house staff assigned to this task may also have to work excessive overtime hours due to their other duties, and the quality of the content may deteriorate.

While there is no problem if you are just updating information, if you are looking to attract customers through your website, it may be a good idea to ask a professional firm with strong web marketing skills to write articles for you.

【Column】Is it cheaper to create pages using WordPress?

WordPress is a kind of CMS, which is a software that allows you to build a website without technical knowledge such as programming. It is popular worldwide because it is easy to use from building a site to posting contents.

Since WordPress is free to use if you prepare a domain and a server, it is often said that "the cost of creating a page will be cheaper if you use WordPress".

Indeed, the cost of website creation using WordPress is relatively low, ranging from 300,000 yen to 1.5 million yen. This is because you can ask freelance engineers to create your website through CrowdWorks.

Also, WordPress has a lot of templates. If you request for the use of such templates, you may be able to produce your site at a lower price.

However, in order to differentiate from other rival sites, originality is required. To implement sophisticated design and rich functions, it is difficult for a freelance engineer to work alone, and you will have to ask a production company to do the work.

If that happens, the cost will be higher just because you use WordPress. In other words, it cannot be said that "using WordPress is cheaper", but it depends on "what kind of website you want to produce" after all.

Leave website development to GIG!

GIG has achieved high-quality system development with the support of our accumulated know-how and expertise in system development, including the production of job service and real estate referral service websites, and large-scale CRM development projects that utilize vast amounts of data.

In addition, we are proud of the careful and close communication we have had with our clients, as shown by our abundant website production experience.

We have a wide range of work available, and can provide comprehensive support not only for website renewal, but also for web marketing, SEO, and keyword design.

We offer a free consultation, so please contact us for more information.

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