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Which is worse, a bad website or no website?

Posted on February 23, 2021January 20, 2025 by Phil

With over 5.6 billion Google searches per day, this question seems like a no-brainer, right? Surely it’s better to have a website even if it is bad rather than having no website at all? If Google can find your website and shows it to the right people it should theoretically create leads. And therefore, generate revenue. But is that really the case if your website is “bad”?

Most people search Google for the answers to their common questions, online shopping, or research. But what happens when the information you’re looking for is on a website that looks like it was created in the early 2000s? What if it looks strange on your phone–or doesn’t even work at all? What if loads slower than “surfing” on dial-up internet? Are you going to stay on that site and trust/buy that product or service? Research tells us that no – you won’t! With around 83% of people expecting a website to load in 3 seconds or less, today’s consumers are impatient, demanding, and downright egotistical. We want it now – so give us what we need!

What makes a website bad?

There are many factors to consider when talking about what makes a website “bad”. Some of those key factors are:

the design of the site
user experience (how easy it is to navigate etc)
speed of the site
Fonts
colours,
images,
lack of information

We could go on and on.

But why does any of this matter? Well, when it comes to website design, studies show that 75% of your website’s credibility comes from the design which means you’ve got to make a great first impression!

There are a few key design fundamentals that you need to tick off the list to ensure you are building credibility from the get-go. For example, having a professional logo, clear-concise information, beautiful imagery and ease of use help ensure your visitors have a great experience while on your site. But there’s an elephant in the room that we haven’t mentioned yet; Google. Google can smell a bad website from a mile away. We’ve already mentioned some of the key things that Google looks at when ranking websites. Some of these key things are loading speed and user experience, but there is a lot more to it than that. In 2021, Google looks at images (and if they’re tagged correctly) if your site isn’t secure, if it isn’t updated regularly with high-quality content, and much more.

Huh, you’ve got no website?!

What about businesses that have no website? How do they have an online presence? Well, there are other options to get online. For example, your Facebook could be used as an interim solution until you feel that you require a website. Or you might link to your Instagram page in the short term. But how does this impact your credibility? If you don’t have a website you could be seen as a hobby business or one that hasn’t taken the next step to becoming fully professional. Depending on your industry, this could potentially cost your business leads and revenue.

Older, more established businesses that don’t have a website may do better because they have an existing customer base. And many continue to get business from regulars or from word-of-mouth referrals. But they could be missing out on a huge opportunity to get new people in the door. At a minimum, every business should have a listing on Google My Business. This will make it so that if someone searches for the business name directly the right business will pop up. Then at least customers can get directions or call from there directly.

My Verdict on bad vs no website

With everything taken into consideration, I think that no website is worse than having a bad website! This might surprise you as we are of course visual people here at Back9 Creative but the tipping point for this opinion is that trust factor. You need to build trust with your customers and how can they really, fully, wholeheartedly trust a business that doesn’t have a website! Customers want to read about your services, how you can help them, who you are as people and what your business believes in, and without a website to communicate this information, it can be very difficult to gain credibility over your competitors. If you have a website up with at least some of that information, you probably understand the value of being online already. Just keep in mind that if you have a bad website, it might not convert, and you can read our Content Specialist Dallen’s opinion on that here.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Websites come in all shapes and sizes and it’s best to talk to a web designer to work through your business needs and goals. If budget is a driving factor for not having a website, a growth-driven website could be a great option.

So how much does a website cost? Click the button below to learn more!

Is traditional web design broken?

Posted on February 2, 2021July 4, 2024 by Phil

For anyone who has experienced the website design process, they’ll know it’s quite the journey. Sometimes it feels like you’re hiking up a mountain or even travelling to a different country – sometimes in a rowboat! You need a budget, resources, time, and you have to make all kinds of preparations for this journey to be successful.

If you have been in this situation, think back to previous website design projects you’ve been involved in. What went well? What didn’t go well? Which emotions did you experience during those redesigns?

A recent survey to more than 100 marketers and business owners, suggested there are a lot of different emotions they experienced during a website redesign. There are some positive emotions: excitement, hope, pride. But the majority of responses were negative: frustration, stress, and overwhelmed. And even… holiday. These people are thinking, “I want sun and sand and anything to get me out of here…” Kidding aside… But it is kind of true. Traditional web design is complex, complicated, and hard to understand. But does it have to be that way?

The traditional web design process is broken, and that can make it frustrating

Let’s think about what has to be done each time you embark on a website design or redesign journey in the traditional way.

Image-link-about-growth-driven-web-design-back9-creative

Before you get started

First, you need a team of experts that can join or lead you along the way. The assembled team may consist of people from your own company too, but ultimately you’ll need some outsourced marketing experts like a web design or marketing agency and/or web developers.

Next, you need a budget. You may not even know what this should be if you’ve never done this before, or you may have an idea of what you would like to spend. The average website for a small- to medium-sized business can cost between $5000 to $30,000 or even $80,000, and even more for an enterprise business. Yep, it’s a massive ball-park! You can find out more about the costs that go into a website in our article, How much does a website cost?

And just like a trip up Mount Everest or planning your dream holiday, building a decent website is a long journey. On average, it takes three to six months to build a new website. This is true even if you can plan every step of the timeline: when things are delivered, when things need to be approved, and when things are handed off to specific teams. Many times, a website project can go over budget or miss a deadline because there are so many variables.

Problems with traditional web design

Thinking about all of our previous web design projects: Were they launched on time? Did they stay in scope? Were they on budget? Often, but not always. Things happen and obstacles arise. Most web design companies have been approaching web design projects in the same way for the past twenty years. But if you take a step back, there are two systemic problems that shouldn’t be ignored.

First, traditional web design is risky for your business

Why? Because of the large upfront cost, the amount of dedicated time, energy, and resources. Then there’s also the chance the project can still go over budget and beyond its delivery date. After all of that, it’s still unclear how much the website is going to impact the bottom line of the business.

Eventually, the website goes live… And it’s time to rejoice! Finally, this long, grueling project is done and the team can return to all the other things that were set aside during the last six months while building the website. Things can go back to normal. But should they?

Now, on a scale of one to ten, how important is your website to your business? What would happen to the growth of your business if your website disappeared tomorrow? HubSpot found that marketers and business owners overwhelmingly agree that their websites are critical to the growth of their businesses.

But now, the real question…

How often do you make impactful improvements to your website?

“Impactful” is continually improving, optimizing, and building key parts of the site to drive business value. These are updates that bring in business and make things easier for customers. Blog posts and offers are good, but they aren’t necessarily “impactful”. These are changes like adding options to buy online, a reservation calendar, and so on. While all marketers and business owners agree that the website is critical to business growth, 42% make impactful improvements to their website only once or less each year.

Think about that for a second.

Your website is your company’s number one marketing asset

It’s the first place people go to get information and get a first impression of your business. It’s also your company’s number one salesperson, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to nurture people through the sales process. Instead of being neglected for years with minimal updates, shouldn’t this important asset get the resources and attention it needs to continue being a top performer?

If a website is like a team member, it too needs new goals to strive for. A staff member who never progresses and has the same skills 1 year in as they did on Day 1 is often seen as mediocre. Without updating or improving the website, it’s not performing as well as it could be. And like employees, your website might need some updated goals to strive for!

The second problem with traditional web design is that it produces poor results

There are lots of obstacles that arise during the traditional web design process. And then once it’s complete, it may not get updates to do better. It’s not uncommon to see websites that aren’t updated for months or even years–when they could be producing better results.

In considering these two conclusions–that traditional web design is one, risky, and two, produces poor results–it’s easy to see that the traditional web design process is broken. It’s not due to a lack of talent. Often there are talented people involved in a web project. It’s not due to a lack of budget, either. Even in projects that have an unlimited budget, these problems still arise.

These problems happen because of a broken playbook. The traditional way of doing web design is the problem.

As a business, the traditional web design model can leave you extremely vulnerable to project failure and often does not produce optimal results. So what are you supposed to do if this is always the way web design companies have built websites? Does this make you wonder What should you expect from a web design company?

There is a better way, and it’s called Growth-Driven Design

Growth-Driven Design is a smarter approach to web design that reduces the frustration and risk of traditional web design. Growth-Driven Design drives optimal results by learning about your visitors through data and continually improving the performance of the site. And Growth-Driven Design improves the entire company by sharing user learnings with other departments and helps users achieve their goals by using the website.

So what is growth-driven design?

Growth-driven design is a long-term website design strategy done through three main stages: Strategy, Launchpad, and Continuous Improvement. The long-term goals for the website are planned upfront, then a simple, workable website is built and launched and is continuously updated and refined. We go over the growth-driven design strategy in-depth in our article How Growth-Driven Website Design Works. Give it a read or if you’re keen to talk about how to update or improve your website now, get in touch with us and come in for a chat.

Book your FREE Initial Discovery Meeting

What to Expect from a Web Design Company

Posted on January 27, 2021April 22, 2025 by Phil

Hiring a website design company can be a daunting task. Where do you start? Who is the best company to use? Will you see results from a new website? How much will a website cost? Should you even hire a web designer should you try and build your own website?

These are all completely valid concerns. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you will have a better idea of what to expect when you engage a web design professional.

Before we go too far, it is important to understand what you are going to be getting. There are a lot of elements that go into web design. One of the most important is the platform your website will be built on. Ask prospective designers what platform they will be using to design your website. This is important to know as some predefined proprietary website platforms–like WIX and Squarespace for example–may be great for certain businesses. However, if you are looking to scale and expand your website down the track, it is not always possible without some extensive technical ability, if at all. Therefore, ask if your website will be customisable.

If you want your website to be truly awesome and be an Inbound sales tool, it needs to work for you. It should help you educate your customers, build trust, attract leads, and grow with you as your business grows. To get more than an online reference point, a custom website may be a great fit for you. However, if you’re looking to start smaller and scale as you go, then a growth-driven website is probably the best option for you.

What’s the difference between a Custom Website and a Template Website?

Before you can determine if a custom website or a template website is a better fit for you, it’s important to know the difference between the two.

Template websites

The simplest explanation of a template website is that basic framework is provided. The design and layout are set a certain way. Then you fill it in with your own content using the tools provided. Most are a drag and drop sort of a system so that essentially “anyone” can build a website. With a template, you need to fit your content (or information) into the boxes that are already there or already provided. These platforms or systems are designed with DIY in mind. So the good news is that you can get a website up and running at a relatively low cost. The pitfalls may be if you aren’t tech-savvy or don’t have at least a basic understanding of SEO and best practices. You may be throwing away your time and what little money you do spend if this is the case.

The point of a website is to help your business get found online and help you build trust and authority. It helps you Attract leads who may want to buy from you and ultimately educate these people about your industry. So if you make a website and no one can find it, it might not be of much use. Template sites are a good way to start. However, they tend to be very hard to grow long-term.

Custom website design

Custom web design on the other hand means the sky is the limit. It means your website will also be 100% custom to you and your business. No one else will have the same one! You are only limited by your imagination – and possibly your budget. Cost is often seen as the main downside of going custom. The other downside is that it tends to take a little longer to get online. This is because your design is unique, made for your needs to accomplish your goals. These two concerns can be mitigated, however, by implementing a growth-driven website philosophy.

Growth driven design is an iterative process. This means your website is built around a strategy with your business goals in mind. It’s a long-term plan that starts by getting a site launched quickly and improving it over time. A growth-driven website will not only get you online faster, but often, you will see returns faster too. Find out more about growth-driven web design here.

A good web design company will be upfront about their abilities

As mentioned earlier, there are so many options out there. Almost anyone with some technical nous can start a web design company using the likes of Shopify or Wix. There are also a bunch of WordPress templates for sale online too, which can be purchased for as little as $50 (sometimes free if you know where to look!)

So ask your potential website company what they use to build their websites. And make sure they will be able to scale with you if you plan to grow.

What can you expect for the overall web design process?

Whist the specifics may change from company to company in terms of how they operate and collaborate, we believe the key steps in the process of designing a website are:

Planning and Strategy
Research and Design
Content creation
Web Development
Optimisation, Testing, and Debugging
SEO
Launch

Planning and Strategy

At the beginning of your project, you should meet with a design and/or web development team to help them understand your company. This will help them know what your desired goals are for your website. At Back9, this is what we refer to as our discovery and strategy workshop.

This planning phase may also involve working through Wireframes. A basic sketch outlining the site architecture. This is to see what will fit where and what you want your website visitors to do once they get to the various pages of your website.

Content Development

Content is king when it comes to establishing trust and educating your buyers. It is imperative to understand the importance of getting content right. Content tells a story, whether it be copy (text), photos, graphics, or video. A good web design company will understand the importance of content and explain it to you.

If you’re lucky enough to find a full-service agency that fits your business, then you should expect they can also produce all of your content in-house.

The Design Phase

The research and design phase is the key part of any website design. This is where the design team takes the ideas and desired goals from the planning phase. Then, they figure out how they will work, what they will look like, and how users will interact with certain elements of the website.

Web Development

Web Development is the construction period. You will have likely signed off on a prototype design before this process begins. If you haven’t seen designs at this point this should be a red flag. You should be asking some questions of the company.

The development phase of the process is very technical so there is often not much opportunity for client input. You should still expect your web development team to check-in periodically and update you on the status of your project.

These meeting times, even after the planning period is over, are important. They allow you to notify your team about any features that you may want to change. It also helps iron out any questions that you might have.

You should have enough access to your project that, if there are ever any issues, you’ll be able to spot them. It may be the case that you would rather check-in on your project when your approval is needed. You might not want to have to follow the project day-by-day. While that’s entirely up to you, you should still be able to see how your project is progressing. This is opposed to a “big reveal” at the end.

Optimisation, Testing and Debugging

A lot of the optimization required is part of the coding and construction process. However, testing is something you should expect to be involved in. The idea of testing the website is to find any issues or bugs before it goes live. The last thing you want is for a potential customer to find them. Given you know your business best, it is important you take time to be a part of this process. You should understand what you are looking for and the errors you are trying to detect. A good web design company will explain this at the start and give you plenty of direction to carry out testing.

Debugging is fixing anything that crops up and issues or errors. Many of these can be found during testing. But some you may not notice until the website has been live for a while. If you or a customer notices one of these bugs, you should have your developer sort them quickly.

SEO

A good web design company will offer basic SEO optimisation as a standard. SEO is basically all the technical stuff that helps your site tell Google that it has the answers people are looking for. There are a lot of factors when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation. A good web design company will explain this from the start. Great SEO is not a one-off silver bullet. It should be seen as an ongoing standard practice. Whilst it will come at an ongoing cost, it is an investment. You should expect this is something your web design company should offer.

Post-Launch

After your website has launched, your team should be available for crucial issues or bug fixes. There is always a chance we have missed something.. What happens post-launch often depends on the specific nature of the project. For many, the launch is the first step in a series of ongoing updates and improvements made to a site.

Assessing what kind of post-launch support you’ll need is something that should happen during the planning process. For example, your website may require ongoing support one week out of each month to continue down your roadmap. This is for performing ad-hoc updates and so on. A website is never finished and is a business tool, so this should be an option you can expect to discuss with any good web design company.

So what to expect and how to choose a website design company

Business – whether online or bricks and mortar is about one key currency. TRUST. So in saying that, the main thing you should expect from any web design company (or arguably any company you deal with) is transparency.

As mentioned above, a website is a business tool, a sales and marketing tool, an asset, and an investment. If you expect that is the case, then a custom website is probably the way to go for you. If you don’t agree with that, then that’s fine too. In which case, a template option could be just fine for you too.

To clearly know what to expect from a web design company, you need to know what you want to achieve. Ultimately, you should expect the company you choose to know and understand that. They should also have the abilities to deliver that too. If you are in the market for a new website, I wish you the best of luck with your journey. And I hope you get just the results you are looking for.

How Much Does a Website Cost? [VIDEO]

Posted on October 31, 2020April 2, 2025 by Phil

Along with how much does a logo cost, we get asked all the time how much a website costs. And similarly, there are a lot of factors that go into a web design. The enormous price range depends on a plethora of factors. You can talk to all the website designers in Invercargill and the prices will range from very little to a lot.

Some of the factors that affect website cost are:

The technology being used to build the website
How many pages are needed
What kind of customer interaction there will be
The number of images and videos
The way that data is collected
If the website is an eCommerce site where customers can buy products online
Amount of time and urgency to complete the site
Design of the website
If professional copywriting, photos, or videos are included
Whether or not there is an existing site with content that can be imported
And much more!

However, you can get a website for as little as $0. That’s right; free. Free moneywise at least. That amount increases depending on the list above and what features you need your website to do. A simple custom, professional website can start at around $3600. When done right, a website can be your best sales and marketing tool, built for you and your specific needs, goals, and style will pay for themselves multiple times over, especially when adopting a Growth-Driven Methodology. These days a website is only as good as the content that is on it. And the website cost itself should be indicative of that. A results-focused Inbound website including content creation and SEO optimisation, will cost you anywhere from $8000 + GST. However, if you choose the right people to collaborate with and maintain the website regularly, you’ll start seeing results.

Free, Cheap or Custom Websites

So what’s the difference between a free website, a cheap website, and a professionally built and custom-made website like we do here at Back9 Creative?

Can you own a website for free?

Technically, yes. Although “Free” might be a tad misleading. As is “website”. Some of the major website builders like Wix and Weebly have a free option with severe limitations and branding. Your site will be full of company branding, have minimal storage, and have the company name in the site address, like username.wixsite.com/mywebsitename. But as the price goes, that’s hard to beat. For something like a personal blog or brief info page, these sites can be a good option, but for a business, that “free” price will eat at your sales as you won’t be able to do SEO to get found in Google, you’ll be limited on personal branding, and you won’t be able to actually process payments on the site.

Free Google Business Listing

If you really don’t have the cash to spare and need a free website for a business, your best option would probably be Google. By creating a Google My Business account and connecting your business listing to it, you have the option to make a “website” that’s a single page.

The benefit of Google over the competition is that it connects to your business listing, so when somebody searches for you and your business pops up, you can have something for them to look at when they click the website field. Again, this type of website is extremely limited but could be a good option if all you wanted to do is show something like a single menu for a new cafe or want to display a list of services and get people to call you. This is an easy way to get yourself online and Google makes it work well on phones too.

When is a free website a good option?

If you have very little capital and need some way to get yourself online, a free website might be a good option. An optimised Facebook page tends to do better than a free website and reach more people. However, if you don’t put in money, you’ll have to put in a lot more time. This means more frequent posting, and the best possible content you create. For someone who’s money-poor but has plenty of time, a Facebook Business Page combined with a free Google My Business website is a great start.

These articles can help you get started with that combination:

Once you start to gain a following and get more customers interested, that’s a good time to consider upgrading your website too–hopefully getting more customers means you’ll have more to invest to help your business grow even more!

Can I create a website myself?

The next step up from getting a free website is to build your own website with a website builder. These sites don’t cost much to run, but you’ll have to invest a lot of time adding content yourself. You’ll also be very limited on the design. This is because it’s not built specifically for you. So you have to adapt to the design. Most low-cost options don’t let you change much if anything on the design. But you may be able to purchase a theme if you don’t find one you like out of the normal options.

If you aren’t tech-savvy, you’ll probably run into some roadblocks when building your site. Even with drag and drop editors–where you can pull content into the page and that’s the same thing visitors will see–there’s a lot to consider. At minimum, the design will need to work on 3 screen sizes; phone, tablet, and desktop. Images and videos also should be optimised so that the page loads fast.

There’s a lot of things to consider, but if you’re up for the challenge, you can find some options on our article, What is the best platform to build my website on? Building your own website costs about $10-50 per month depending on the platform and what tier you choose.

How much does it cost to have a website built for you?

For any established business or business looking to grow, sell online, or rise in a competitive industry, the lowest cost options won’t have the same kinds of benefits to your customer as having a fully-functioning website. If you want your website to work for you and be more than a simple reference point online, you’ll want a website that’s designed and built with your specific needs and goals in mind. This is when it’s ideal to have a professional design and marketing team create your website.

By having your website built and then marketed under one roof, your website will be built with your current and future needs in mind. A major advantage of having the professionals build your site is that they can suggest features you didn’t anticipate or didn’t know existed.

But perhaps the biggest benefit is having a custom design. There is a lot of work that goes into professional website design. It’s a lot more than making it look pretty! Take a look at the image below.

Did you read it in the order they predicted? Even if you didn’t, most people do. Website and Graphic Design is complicated and not something that can be learned in a half day’s training. Professional graphic design involves learning how to use the latest software, colour theory and science, print vs digital renditions, using imagery to convey ideas and messages, and much more.

How much does a basic website cost?

At the beginning of this article, we said that the cost of a professional website starts from $3000. So what does a $3000 website look like exactly?

On the low end, you can get a professionally-designed, basic website that includes a home page, about page, and contact page at a minimum. If you have content for a services and blog/articles page, you can probably get those added in as well. But you’ll have to write the articles yourself. Your basic website might include professional copywriting for these few pages however, and that will vary depending on which agency you use and the specifics of your project. The more information you can provide–imagery, existing articles, etc–the more you can get for your dollar, as your existing content can be optimised instead of made new.

If you have a service-based business with a couple of core services, a basic website might be a good option.

What are the features of a good website?

Looking for more than a basic website? Adding more features and functionality will add to your website cost, but they can make the difference between getting customers or getting people to go elsewhere. Here’s a quick list of some of the extra features you can get on your site:

Professional photographyand videos
Copywritingto fill your website pages with options for regular blogging
Booking and reservation calendars
Animations and illustrations
Customer logins and members-only area
Forums and discussion boards
Chatbots to answer frequently asked questions automatically in real-time
Accept and review job applications
Ability to sell products and services online

And there’s many, many more. If you can think it, a good website developercan build it! A website that is designed and built by a website designer and developer. And in addition includes professional photography, videos, and copywriting realistically starts at about $7000.

Is it profitable to sell online?

Online sales have steadily been on the rise, but after COVID-19 changed the way we shop. In fact, there was an enormous spike in online sales. Many people simply didn’t have the option to go in person, and a lot of those people found that the experience online was good or even better than going in-person. Retail giant Wal-Mart in the US saw online sales double since early 2020. Of course, they were harder hit than other countries, but they’re planning on focusing much more effort into streamlining the website experience.

Even with the relatively tame experience we had in NZ, online sales are still up massively. In-store retails sales in June dropped for the first time in over a decade. And at a sharp 15 percent too. At the same time, online sales rose 20 per cent in NZ. While we hopefully won’t have another lockdown situation, being able to sell online keeps you going in case there’s a disruption to normal business practices. If you have set prices and can sort out shipping, we highly recommend selling online!

How can I start selling online?

eCommerce websites are websites that have the functionality to sell online. They’re quite a bit more complicated to build as it’s very important payment is effective, secure, and goes where it’s supposed to! Products also have to be added and organised, with descriptions and imagery to accompany them. Getting a professionally-built basic eCommerce site starts at around $5000.

For the next level up, a custom-built eCommerce site gives you a unique design, any features that you can think of. And detailed measurement reports using platforms like eCommerce reports on Google Analytics. A custom-built eCommerce is ideal for larger inventories or businesses that sell several thousand dollars worth of product online each month. Because of all of the extra work and testing, custom-built eCommerce sites start at around $8000.

Make your Website work for you

We recommend going with a custom eCommerce site if it makes sense for your business. A custom eCommerce site can far more flexibility. Especially with things like;

Payment method
Customised Sales process
Integration with in-store stock.

Everything can be automated except for packing the item up and getting it off for shipping. Not only is this a huge time-saver, it works to sell for you night and day. Yep that’s right… And 365 days a year!

A custom eCommerce site is ideal for larger stores or established businesses looking to sell online. If you only have a few products and need a store immediately, maybe custom is not right for you. Read about the different eCommerce platforms in our article, Which eCommerce platform is the best for me?

How much does a website cost per month?

Unless you’re going with a fully free website, websites have ongoing costs to pay for as well. At a minimum, you’ll have to pay for a domain–the actual website address e.g. www.mywebsite.co.nz–and for hosting. Hosting is basically reserved space on a web server so that your website can be shown on the internet. Combined, this is typically around $40-80 per month. But can be more if you have a lot of content on your website.

One of the benefits of a custom site is that you only pay for the domain and hosting. That $0 monthly fee can certainly save you in the long run! However, we do recommend including website maintenance with your custom site. Website maintenance covers anything from quick updates and additions to speeding up the website to protecting it from security threats. There’s a lot of benefits you can get from website maintenance. It typically costs around $50-100 a month for website maintenance.

So what’s the total cost of getting a website?

As you can see, website costs can vary quite a bit! Here’s a quick summary of some of the different costs:

Building a website yourself

A free website can be made on Google and some other platforms, with limitations, branding, and restrictions.
You can build your own website for around $10-50 per month. You’ll have to design and update it on your own.
In most cases, you’ll need to pay for a domain and hosting too, about $100-450 per year.
- This amount varies so much because it depends on the specific domain name, required server space, and other factors. For example, Internet.co.nz is valued at $11,400 USD as of this writing; back9.co.nz is under $100 per year. Most business names will be at the low end, while popular terms cost more.

Professionally built websites

A very basic professional website can start at around $1800 in total, plus hosting and domain.
A more complex website without any content creation will start at around $3000. However, you’ll have to supply all of the content yourself like videos, writing, and images. It’s important that these things are optimised for the web, or you could have a lot of problems!
Adding more pages, some customisation, copywriting, photography, and videos starts at about $7000.
A basic professional eCommerce website typically starts around $5000.
A custom-built eCommerce site with a unique design and advanced functionality start at approximately $8000.

How do I get a quote for my specific website?

The easiest way to get an accurate quote for your website is by doing an in-person meeting. Depending on your budget, business size, and goals, the total cost of your website will vary slightly. And if you aren’t sure what you need in a website, the team at Back9 Creative are happy to help. For tighter budgets, we also offer payment plans and packages starting at just $350+GST per month.

Book a meeting by clicking the link below. And we’ll meet with you and discuss what might be the best fit for you. This will be based on your industry, products and services, size, and objectives.

Colour me Impressed! Why Colour in Design Matters

Posted on August 7, 2019January 6, 2023 by Allison Robinson

Everybody has a favourite colour, something that stands out and brings positive feelings. One theory is that individual humans perceive colour differently; so really, everyone’s favourite colour looks the same, but they call it something different (So everyone’s favourite colour is teal of course). But if we agree that most people see colour roughly the same way, we can agree that certain colours mesh while others clash. So how is colour used in design?

There’s a lot more to colour than simply matching well. Have you noticed that brands aiming to be high-end use colours like black and dark purple, while brands that want to show nature and health use greens and browns in their branding and logo? When choosing what colours to use for your brand, there’s a reason our designers don’t simply ask what your favourite colour is and translate it into hexadecimal colour code. Like font choice, colour also has meaning. And while the subconscious feelings behind colour might not be exactly the same for everyone, in general, colours give off specific feelings and meanings that are all considered when designing your brand.

Colour Coding

Colour science is a field of science that studies colours, how to apply colours through technology, and the effect of colour on thoughts and behaviour, and is even a Master’s Degree in the EU. While the correlation between colour and its effect on moods, imagery, and behaviours isn’t concrete or the same for everyone, in general, certain colours suggest certain features for many people, and colour choice is much more involved than simply what looks cool. So what do these colours typically represent and when is a good time to use them?

Red

Red is a colour of action. It represents passion and excitement, and creates a sense of urgency. The colour red has the potential to trigger more raw, powerful emotions–but can do so for both negative and positive ones, so should be used with caution.

Orange

A colour that ranks high for making products seem less expensive is orange. A bit more on the playful side, orange typically is suited for more fun or adventurous brands. It’s typically not ideal for formal, corporate ones. If used poorly, it can instead make a brand appear childish and immature.

Brown

Brown is earthy, the colour of tree bark in the forest and the ground beneath. It’s a solid choice for companies that want to look natural or organic. This feel is emphasised when combined with other earthy colours such as green. It’s often seen as an honest, trustworthy colour, but used badly can look dirty or unrefined.

Yellow

The colour of happiness and sunshine, yellow is youthful and vibrant. While it tends to have a lot of positive effects such as optimism and increasing sales, it’s difficult to use well due to contrast issues and being hard to read. Using a wrong shade in the wrong contest can also look unclean or smudgy.

Green

Choose green when going for something healthy and fresh. As the colour of grass and leaves, green has gained traction as being the colour of environmental friendliness. When used properly with food, it can show vitality and healthiness… And when done wrong, make people think of unpleasantness such as mould.

Blue

Blue is on the opposite end of the colour wheel to red, and has a calming, cool, feel. It’s often used as the colour of logic, reason, and wisdom. While it’s usually a safe choice, the conveyance of reason can make it feel cold, unfriendly, and emotionless.

Purple

For much of history, purple has been the colour of royalty, and thus still has an air of luxury to it. And, since royalty is “more elite” than non-royal, purple brings about feeling of sophistication and superiority. But, that can also become a negative if used improperly and can be seen as over-extravagant or elitist.

Pink

Pink is a great choice to show caring and gentleness. It exhibits youthfulness and represents hope and is a bold choice to help a brand stand out. But when used poorly, it’s more likely to look childish or needlessly rebellious.

Black

Used somewhere in a good portion fo designs, black shows power and luxury. Many high-end brands use black and white palettes to show sophistication and simplicity, that the product or service is good, plain and simple. Like blue, black can also show coldness or even heaviness and seem domineering when used poorly.

White

Often representing cleanliness and purity, white is used often by modern brands. Usually, white is the best colour for the background of a website so that attention isn’t drawn away from other elements. This means using white for branding requires using an offsetting background colour like white, and using it wrong can look boring, empty, and plain.

So remember that colour is complicated, and the meanings behind colour is just one of the many things our designers think about when designing your brand, website, and logo!