How much to design a website in Singapore?

Thinking of creating a website for your Singaporean business? Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or a fresh startup, a website is a game-changer. But before you embark on this exciting journey, let's unpack website design and development, explore what influences the costs, and navigate the Singapore market with confidence.

If you are a business in Singapore, you might be curious about the cost of designing a website in Singapore. The answer to this question varies depending on who you ask. Traditionally agencies quote for a website design project by

1. Number of pages
2. Complexity
3. Your budget
4. Technology used
5. Retainer offered
6. Grants available
7. Copyrighting needs
8. Graphic Design requirements

More recently, agencies have also started to bundle in marketing services such as Performance marketing or SEO and also partner with website builder software companies to sell their solutions as part of the package.

Website Design vs. Development

Imagine your website as a stunning restaurant. Design is the ambiance, the layout, and the overall visual experience. Development is the kitchen – the coding, programming, and technical magic that makes everything function flawlessly.

• The design focuses on the aesthetics: colors, fonts, images, and how users navigate the website. It's all about creating a beautiful and user-friendly experience.
• Development takes the design blueprint and transforms it into a living, breathing website. This involves coding, connecting the site to the internet, and ensuring everything works seamlessly.

Cost of designing websites in Singapore in 2024

Several factors influence the price tag of your website, so let's break it down:

• Complexity: A simple, informative website will cost less than an intricate e-commerce platform with advanced features.
• Customization: A one-of-a-kind, custom-designed website will be more expensive than a template-based option.
• Features: Interactive elements, animations, and complex functionalities add to the development cost.
• Content: Developing original content like videos or writing blog posts can increase the overall budget.
• Development Team: Hiring an established agency will likely cost more than a freelancer, but may offer more experience and expertise

So that you do not have to go around asking, we did a quick survey asking for quotes from over 30 different agencies in Singapore to come up with a general cost for designing a website in Singapore

1. One-time cost

Here are some examples of the cost of designing different types of websites in Singapore, excluding cost of domain, hosting and email services.

• Basic one-page website: SGD 1,200 – 2,350. A straightforward website with essential information and contact details to establish your online presence on one web page.
• WordPress website: SGD 3,230 – 5,050. A more comprehensive site showcasing your services, portfolio, and potentially a contact form to generate leads.
  
• Fully customised website: SGD 5,000 – 75,000. Highly unique websites with extensive functionalities like membership areas, booking systems, or custom user interfaces, requiring significant development work.
• eCommerce website cost: SGD 10,000 – 250,000 - An online store with product listings, shopping cart functionality, secure payment gateways, and features to manage inventory and sales.
  

Yes, we have seen agencies quote SGD 250,000+ for designing an e-commerce website. In fact, we know of companies who have paid up to SGD 275,000 to design an eCommerce website.

2. Monthly maintenance costs

Apart from the above one-time costs, what we have seen is that once the website is live, agencies usually also provide maintenance services which include minor changes, bug fixes, which are yearly retainer contracts anywhere between SGD 5,000 - 15,000, with SGD 8,000 being a sweet spot.

Do note, while such contracts do include minor changes and improvements to the website any major new feature would usually require additional payment. In fact, we have seen businesses tell us that just to add a chat button on the website, an agency quoted them over SGD 3000.

3. Additional costs

We have also seen additional recurring costs such as

1. Hosting fees
2. Domain Renewal Costs
3. SSL Costs ( cost of serving your website on https )
4. Image storage and resizing API costs
5. CDN costs
6. Form API
7. CRM integration
8. Plugin costs
9. Analytics Software costs
10. Other Software library costs

We have seen all of the above add up to SGD 210 per month

A Website Alone Does Not Get You Sales

Just because you have a website for your business, does not mean you would get visitors on your website and eventually sales. For a website to get relevant traffic and sales, the website should be able to show up for relevant searches on various search engines, especially Google and now recently Bing.

Paid Marketing

One way to rank for searches is to create landing pages and run paid advertisements against those landing pages. Agencies typically charge a percentage of your ad spent and in Singapore agencies typically work with a business willing to spend at least SGD 10,000 in paid ads every month, while good agencies typically work with those willing to spend SGD 50,000+ on a monthly basis.

SEO

The most profitable way to rank for searches is to apply a data-driven approach to your website, which we at Konigle have used for ourselves and our customers.

Which is to figure out your ideal customer profile, find relevant keywords and content ideas that your ideal customer profile would like to read, and regularly publish content on a technically sound website to capture this traffic. This approach leads to organic traffic, which eventually converts to leads and sales.

One example of such a customer is the highest-rated Hindu priest in Singapore on Google My Business - Pandit Manoj Kumar, who captures demand for Hindu priest services via his website panditji.sg, which he runs on the Konigle and uses the Konigle's AI website builder to build his website faster.

Using this website, he regularly publishes answers to frequently asked questions, offers his deep insights on topics of religious significance, and more.

One key feature that really helps him is the ChatGPT integration and the automatic keyword extractor in the Konigle CMS, which helps him publish content in English to capture demand in Singapore, though Hindi is his native language, apart from the content idea suggestions that he gets to publish on his blog. All of this without bothering about the technicalities of SEO and website architecture.

Build Your Website Fast with Konigle AI Website Builder. Check it out today!

Making a Smart Investment: Aligning Your Website

Now that you understand website costs, let's ensure you invest wisely:

• Define your objectives: What do you want your website to achieve? Attract new customers, showcase your expertise, or sell products online.
• Choose the right platform: Popular platforms like WordPress or Wix offer user-friendly website building, but may limit customization compared to custom coding. Consider your needs and technical expertise when making this decision. Konigle is the best option for you, why? Because You can easily create fast websites without any coding using Konigle. With Konigle's AI website builder, you can quickly build a professional website in no time. Moreover, as an “AI-powered CMS”, you can create your content in just a few minutes and deliver it to people. Also, it has lots of features click here to see them.

Bottom line

This blog post equips you with the knowledge to make an informed decision, not pinpoint a specific designer. If you want to get a website fast or migrate your old website to a modern and high-ROI platform, you can consider chatting with us to find a quick fit with reasonable pricing. Chat with Konigle's AI website builder.