Category: Website Building

Are you a web developer looking to showcase your skills and stand out in a competitive job market? What you need is a well-crafted portfolio. Indeed, whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your career, a portfolio can reflect your expertise, creativity, and personal brand in a way that leaves a real impression. But with countless portfolios out there, how do you make yours stand out?

A good place to start is with some thorough web developer portfolio inspiration. So in this blog post, we’ll explore some of the best web developer portfolio examples that not only highlight technical prowess but also creativity and individuality. From innovative designs to seamless user experiences, these portfolios will provide you with the vision you need to create a compelling showcase of your work. Plus we’ll tackle some quick tips and ideas on how to go about building your web developer portfolio site. 

Top 11 Web Developer Portfolio Examples

When it comes to crafting a standout web developer portfolio, seeing real-world examples can spark all sorts of inspiration. With that in mind, we’ve curated a list of the top 11 web developer portfolio examples* that exemplify creativity in design, functionality, and user engagement. Each portfolio has its own fresh and clever perspective, offering a glimpse into how successful developers present their skills and projects to the world.

1. Bipin MV

The screenshot above might seem a little underwhelming, but when you see the site in action, it really wows. That’s because Bipin MV’s portfolio sample has an interactive background that playfully aligns him specializing “in developing pixel-perfect user experiences.” The overall design—from colors to graphics—really creates a unique user experience.

The content is stellar as well. The portfolio includes all the necessary elements, listing his skills, projects, and a contact page. And while a section on skills could be boring, this is not the case here. The Skills section not only thoroughly lists all programming languages he works with as well as his level of command of these languages, but does so with a fresh design element that features a slider with all his certificates and diplomas.

It’s worth noting that the projects are nicely compiled—where each one includes a visual, the used programming languages, a short summary of the project, plus a link to the source code for more information. And the About Me page has an interesting and modern touch, as his short biography is incorporated on the homepage in an interactive infographic format.

2. John Clayton Blanc

John Clayton Blanc’s portfolio makes our list because it stands out as a good sample for its sleek, cohesive design and polished user experience. The dark background paired with lighter fonts gives it a modern, professional feel.

One unique touch is his blog, where he shares insights on the latest tech trends, demonstrating his expertise beyond just code. In the Projects section, he keeps things fresh by featuring only his most recent work, each project enhanced with interactive pop-ups for an engaging experience.

The About Me section is refreshingly concise, outlining his skills, preferred programming languages, and openness to new opportunities.

His Contact page gets prime real estate, with a standout CTA above the fold and a unique color in the navigation menu. The form is simple—just an email, subject, and message—making it easy for visitors to reach out while ensuring he gets all the details he needs at a glance.

3. Elliot Négrel-Jerzy

Elliot Négrel-Jerzy’s portfolio is a masterclass in creativity and interactivity. From the start, the dynamic background sets the tone, while the profile overview cleverly mimics a source code table—clickable, colorful where needed, and fully interactive.

His featured projects put the spotlight on the technologies used, with a strong CTA linking directly to each project. He takes it a step further by adding another CTA that encourages visitors to explore more of his work. These additional projects are housed in a repository-style page, complete with a search bar and filter options for a seamless browsing experience.

But the portfolio doesn’t stop at the usual Contact page. Instead, it extends into sections covering his workflow, software philosophy, and open-source contributions, offering deeper insight into his expertise.

A unifying theme ties everything together—space. From icons to graphics and illustrations, the cosmic aesthetic gives the entire site a cohesive, engaging, and easy-to-navigate experience.

4. Mees Verberne

Mees Verberne’s portfolio is a perfect blend of creativity and technical skill. Right away, the animated banner beneath her name grabs attention, while an interactive bird illustration adds a fun, engaging touch—both showing her talent as a designer and developer.

Another playful element is the animated barcode that cleverly displays her phone number. Every element of the site feels intentional, presenting her experience in a way that’s visually striking, cohesive, and memorable.

By combining design best practices with playful, interactive details, this portfolio makes a strong impression on both potential clients and employers.

5. Constance Souville Portfolio

Constance Souville’s portfolio is a great example of simplicity and efficiency. With just three sections—About, Projects, and Contact—it provides everything a client or employer needs to know, all neatly placed above the fold.

The About section is compact, outlining her experience and the technologies she works with in a straightforward way. The Projects section features select works from the past decade, presented in a creative and consistent design.

Her Contact page takes a minimalist approach, focusing entirely on the call to action. With no extra colors or details, the design keeps users focused on reaching out.

6. Robin Mastromarino

Robin Mastromarino’s portfolio stands out with its interactive design. As you scroll down, the page moves left to right, revealing featured projects that are designed to encourage clicks. Each project includes a brief description followed by a visual, inviting users to explore more.

The About page also features a gradual reveal, drawing users in to learn more about the developer’s biography and experience. The background enhances the overall user experience, adding to the site’s appeal without overwhelming it.

Contact information is conveniently available in a sticky footer, making it easy for visitors to get in touch instantly.

7. Dina TAKLIT Portfolio

Dina’s portfolio may seem like a simple web developer website at first, but a closer look reveals a unique, interactive CV. Nearly every section includes dynamic elements, such as moving details featuring her technical skills, certificates, and projects.

An interesting addition is the Social Activities section, where Dina highlights her roles as an event organizer, speaker, and facilitator. This not only increases her credibility but also shows her commitment to social responsibility.

The Keep in Touch section is located in the footer, offering multiple communication channels with Dina, though it doesn’t steal focus from the main content.

8. Tobias Meyhöfer

Tobias Meyhöfer’s portfolio is minimalistic yet highly structured and engaging. One standout feature is the Currently Cooking section, where he lays out his ongoing projects.

Then there’s his tech stack section, which is compact but expansive in content, displaying a variety of programming languages and technologies, demonstrating his versatility and technical expertise.

A unique addition is the “Buy me a coffee” button, which highlights his copywriting skills and offers a personal touch, underscoring the importance of how information is presented.

What’s more, his contact information is displayed in a sticky banner that stays visible as users scroll, allowing for easy communication at any moment.

9. Flavia Medici

Flavia Medici’s portfolio feels personal and inviting, transmitting her personal brand while also demonstrating her skills. It features a brief biography that highlights her expertise in software quality assurance, web development, and cloud architecture, emphasizing her versatility in computer science.

Her project section includes straightforward screenshots of her completed works, providing a clear view of her skills. Meanwhile, the Contact page is minimalist, with social media links for straightforward communication.

Additionally, her navigation menu includes a link to her blog, where she shares insights on cloud computing, security, and other relevant topics, adding credibility to her profile and demonstrating her knowledge in the field.

10. Boris Edison

Boris Edison’s portfolio exudes professionalism with a tech-savvy feel. The combination of sleek fonts, forms, and visual elements contributes to the modern vibe, while the gray background and clean layout add a smooth, organized user experience.

They use an interactive resume that highlights key details, allowing users to expand and explore more about his work and education.

In the Projects section, each project is paired with visuals and a breakdown of the programming languages used. Color-coded languages make them easy to spot, while users can also view live projects for added value.

Technical skills are smartly grouped by category—“backend,” “frontend,” “cloud,” and more—following industry best practices. Everything is carefully arranged above the fold for immediate access.

11. Pierre Nel

Last but not least, Pierre’s portfolio is another clever example that combines creativity, user engagement, and technical skills.

The Work section is content-rich but organized in a clear, user-friendly manner. Subheadings help users quickly navigate through projects, collaborations, and testimonials.

What’s most interesting is the Start a Project section. It features a short survey about the suggested project and includes a final “receipt” with the option to either receive a quote or book a meeting with the web developer.

How to Build Your Web Developer Portfolio

All of these web developer portfolios have surely stirred up some ideas and inspiration. So now what? It’s time to get down to business and put your own web developer portfolio together. Here are the steps you’ll want to take to get your site off the ground.

1. Choose a Web Platform & Host 

At this point in the website planning phase, you’ll not only need to decide on what platform you’ll build your website on, but also where that website will live. Now, as an experienced web developer, you probably already know exactly what you prefer here—that is, whether you plan to use a CMS like WordPress, or a coding framework like Next.js, React, or others.  

Then, of course, you’ll need to decide where said platform lives. Again, you probably have your preference, such as Github Pages or Vercel. Meanwhile, if you’re using WordPress, you might consider traditional web hosting providers, such as SiteGround web hosting, which offers exceptional performance, security, and service—so that you can focus more on what you do best: developing.

2. Establish Your Personal Brand

If there’s one thing that really stands out in the above examples, it’s the implementation of a strong personal brand. Indeed, it’s your personal brand that makes you stand out from other web developers. It reflects your unique skills, style, and personality. So here are some tips for how to define it effectively:

• Determine Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP): Identify what sets you apart from other developers, whether it’s your specialization in frontend, backend, full-stack development, or a particular technology. If you focus on a niche like ecommerce sites, SaaS platforms, or creative web experiences, make that clear so potential clients or employers immediately understand your expertise.
• Define Your Tone and Personality: Decide on the overall tone of your website, whether it’s formal, friendly, or playful, and ensure it aligns with how you want to be perceived. Incorporate storytelling, humor, or unique design elements to make your personality shine through and create a more engaging experience.
• Choose a Consistent Visual Identity: Select a color palette, typography, and design style that align with your brand and maintain consistency throughout your site. A professional headshot or logo can add a personal touch, while a uniform approach to project thumbnails, icons, and layouts will make your portfolio feel polished and cohesive.
• Create a Memorable Tagline or Mission Statement: Craft a succinct and impactful one-liner that summarizes your skills and what you offer. A tagline like “Crafting sleek, high-performance web apps with modern technologies” or “Turning creative ideas into interactive digital experiences” helps visitors immediately understand your expertise.
• Highlight Your Social Proof: Include testimonials, client feedback, or endorsements to reinforce your credibility and expertise. If you have certifications, awards, or other recognitions, display them prominently to further establish trust with potential clients or employers.
• Be Authentic and Consistent: Ensure your personal brand reflects your actual skills, interests, and career goals so that your website presents an accurate and compelling version of yourself. Keep your messaging, visuals, and portfolio projects aligned with your brand identity to create a seamless and professional impression.

3. Define Your Site Structure and Content

Perhaps you are wondering what to include in your web developer portfolio. To start, it’s important to think about what a web developer portfolio should look like in order to demonstrate your skills and attract potential clients or employers. A well-rounded portfolio should have the following elements:

• About Me or Introduction: Start with a brief introduction that highlights your background, skills, and career objectives. This section should convey your passion for web development and give a glimpse into your personality, keeping in mind the branding that you’ve identified above.
• Projects and case studies: Highlight a selection of your best work, focusing on projects and ideas that demonstrate a range of skills and technologies. For each project, provide a detailed case study that outlines your role, the challenges faced, and the solutions implemented.
• Technical skills: List the programming languages, frameworks, and tools you are proficient in. Consider grouping them by categories such as front-end, back-end, and other relevant technologies.
• Testimonials or client feedback: If available, you may wish to include a whole section on testimonials from clients or colleagues (as opposed to, for example, just highlighting blurbs on your homepage or else). 
• Contact information: Make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you by providing contact details, such as an email address or a contact form.
• Resume or CV: Incorporate a downloadable version of your resume or CV for those who want a more comprehensive view of your professional history. And consider linking out to your LinkedIn profile for added credibility.

4. Build & Launch Your Web Developer Portfolio Site

Listen, you’re the expert here—that’s why you need a portfolio! So put all of these ideas and planning to work, and build a website that really shows your skills. You’ve got this. 

Get Started with Your Web Developer Portfolio

Alright, with all of these examples, inspiration, and tips at your disposal, it’s time to finally put your creative energy into building a portfolio that’s uniquely yours. From your personal brand to the projects you choose to share, every element of your site should work together to tell your story and highlight your strengths.

Don’t be afraid to experiment, iterate, and most importantly, have fun with it. Your portfolio is your opportunity to show the world what you can do and, just like your work as a developer, it’s never truly “done.” Keep refining, improving, and adding to it as you grow in your career. The best web developer portfolios are the ones that evolve over time – just like the skills they represent. 

This article was originally published in June 2025 and then updated in May 2026.

A website checklist is a structured list of everything you need to review, test, and confirm before—and just after—launching your site. It covers the areas that are easiest to overlook when you’re close to the work: SEO, security, speed, design, legal compliance, and more.

If you’re about to hit publish and that nagging feeling has set in that something isn’t quite right, this guide walks you through a comprehensive rundown of 17 steps. We’ve also put together a free downloadable checklist to keep you on track every step of the way.

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Website Pre-Launch Checklist

Perfecting everything from cybersecurity to design can feel overwhelming, especially when learning how to launch a new website. But don’t worry—by following these steps, you’ll be able to handle it all:

1. Review Your Site Look, Feel and Architecture

Before anything else, make sure the foundations are solid. This step covers the core decisions that everything else builds on: your goals, your target audience, your branding, your hosting, and your site structure.

• Have You Defined Your Goals and Objectives?
• Have You Identified Your Audience?
• Have You Established Your Branding Basics?
• Have You Chosen a Website Building Method?
• Have You Selected Hosting and a Domain Name?
• Have You Shaped Your Web Design?
• Have You Created a Sitemap? 
• Have You Gathered Your Content Planning Assets?

2. Back Up Your Site

Now, let’s check off-site backups—a crucial part of maintenance and something to consider before launch. Think of it as your site’s safety net! Whether it’s a cyber attack, server crash, or just an oops moment, a reliable backup system means you can restore your site to its former glory without losing all your hard work.

It’s wise to think ahead and opt for a web host or website builder that offers daily and on-demand backups, giving you the flexibility to dance through your day with peace of mind. Some hosts and builders even take care of plugin updates automatically, freeing up your time and keeping your site secure. 

For instance, SiteGround hosting provides daily backups stored securely for 30 days. And if you’re looking for that extra dash of assurance, our Premium Backup Service offers even more advanced features so that you’ll always have a recent, secure copy of your website to rely on.

3. Fine-Tune Your Pages

Go through every page, section, and heading with fresh eyes before launch. Typos, broken links, placeholder text, and unlicensed images are all easy to miss when you’re close to the work, and all easy to fix before anyone else sees them.

It’s a good idea to copy and paste all your text into a proofreading tool like Grammarlyto make sure nothing’s been missed. Better yet, consider sharing it with a friend, as another pair of eyes is always a bonus.

Additionally, if you’ve leaned on stock videos or photos for your site’s creative flair, double-check that you have the rights to use all images and assets. You can verify this by using tools like Google Reverse Image Search or by reviewing the licensing terms on your stock image website.

4. Optimize On-Page SEO

On-page search engine optimization (SEO) is how you tell search engines what your site is about and help the right people find it. Before launch, make sure the basics are in place across every page: titles, descriptions, keywords, headings, and site structure.

• Start With the Basics

While your logo is important, also ensure you have a site title under 60 characters, as it’s the first thing browsers will see. Similarly, include a site description between 50-300 characters to give a preview of what your site is about. Additionally, adding SEO descriptions to each page, within the same character range as the site description, can improve your site’s SEO ranking in comparison to your competitors.

• Master Keyword Use

Keyword research is crucial, especially for bloggers, but it’s a game-changer for any new website aiming for a first-page search engine spot. Sprinkle keywords into title tags, headings, and URLs for maximum impact. Consider using free tools like Google Keyword Planner or paid ones like SEMrush and Ahrefs. For WordPress sites, you can leverage an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO to help select and position keywords effectively,

• Enhance User Experience

Make your pages easy to navigate by using headings and bullet points to create scannable, reader-friendly content. Incorporating high-quality images is essential, as they not only make your site visually appealing but also help convey your message more effectively. Additionally, don’t fear adding clear calls to action (CTAs) whenever needed—whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, exploring more of your website’s content, or making a purchase.

• Optimize Structure and Navigation

If you skipped the sitemap in the first step of this checklist, now’s the time to prioritize website navigation. Think of it as your website’s treasure map, guiding users and search engines through your pages. Begin by pinpointing core pages like the homepage, about, contact, and any business-specific sections, such as services or products. Organize related pages into intuitive categories like “Services” or “Blog.” We’ll cover sitemap submission in a later step!

• Perform Ongoing Maintenance

Keep your keywords in tune with what users are searching for—be it information, products, or solutions. Dive into content gap analyses to uncover topics your competitors cover that you might be missing. This detective work can help you craft content that not only fills those gaps but also attracts new clients like a magnet.

5. Test All Forms 

Your new website is your digital handshake, and email sign-up forms are a great way to connect with visitors and gather valuable data. Whether it’s an email signup, contact form, or payment form, the type will depend on your business needs—but having at least one is essential.

Now is the perfect time to make sure all your forms function properly and that the data is stored correctly. Here’s what to look for when doing so:

• Optimized number of fields: As a rule of thumb, the more fields you have, the less likely people are to complete them—so keep it simple and essential.
• Field validation: Make sure that the data entered meets specific criteria before submission. This process might involve checking for the correct data type (like numbers only in a phone number field) or verifying the proper format (such as a valid email address structure).
• Notifications: Check that any emails or notifications triggered by form submissions are being sent and received as expected.

If you’re using WordPress, plugins like WPForms give you the ability to test the functionality of your form before going live. That said, if you’ve used another site building method, check what other apps or plugins are available. 

6. Polish Your Design 

Consistency is what separates a professional site from one that feels unfinished. But that doesn’t mean you need a website designer. Check that your typography, colors, and layout hold up across every page and every screen size, and that everything aligns with your brand.

With that in mind, aim for a homepage design with captivating content and easy-to-follow navigation. Try to extend this approach to all your pages, making sure that:

• Headers use the same font
• Subheadings are consistently presented
• Paragraph text is legible and easy to read
• Fonts and background colors offer high contrast
• Web pages look good on all screen sizes and web browsers
• Mobile web design is optimal—that is, test your design and functionality on mobile devices to make sure it flows from start to finish.

7. Scan for Accessibility

And while talking about design and responsiveness, next up on the checklist for launching a site with accessible web design. This allows everyone, including people with disabilities, to use your site effectively. It isn’t just good practice; it’s often a legal requirement and a vital component of creating an inclusive online experience.

So, what does accessibility mean in practice? It involves designing your site so that all users can navigate and interact with it easily. This includes:

• Providing text alternatives for images
• Making your site keyboard accessible
• Choosing a high-contrast color scheme
• Providing transcripts or closed captions for files with audio
• Opting for on-page content rather than PDFs

To ensure your site meets all of the standards, we recommend consulting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and making any necessary changes accordingly.

8. Ensure Legal Compliance

Though it may not be the most exciting task, legal compliance is essential for protecting both you and your visitors, especially if you are running any kind of retail activity. Fortunately, many tools and AI solutions can assist you in creating these documents.

To check this off your website launch checklist, consider the following:

• Implement a cookie consent banner: This informs visitors about your data collection practices and obtains their consent, as required by many privacy laws like GDPR.
• Have a privacy policy in place: This text informs your users about what data you collect, how it’s used, and how you protect it. It’s not just good practice, it’s a legal requirement in many jurisdictions.
• Include legal notices and terms of service: These outline the rules and guidelines for using your website and help limit your liability. They should clearly explain what users can and cannot do on your site.

While the cookie consent typically appears as a pop-up window on a visitor’s first visit, other legal documents should also be easily accessible. These are usually found in your website’s footer and often linked at the bottom of email newsletters. 

9. Fortify Against Cyber Threats

Security is non-negotiable before launch. Your site needs to be safe for visitors from day one, and a few foundational steps make a significant difference.

Start with an SSL certificate to encrypt data between your site and its visitors. Most hosting providers include these for free, and the SiteGround Website Builder has SSL built in along with security handled out of the box, so the basics are already covered.

If you’re running a WordPress site, there are a few extra steps worth taking on top of that:

• Change your default login URL from “wp-admin” to something unique.
• Install a security plugin like SiteGround’s Security Optimizer, which offers two-factor authentication and limits login attempts, and is completely free.
• Keep everything up to date, from your WordPress version to themes and plugins, as outdated software can be an open invitation for trouble.

10. Optimize For Speed and Performance

A slow site loses visitors before they even see your content. Speed optimization reduces load times, improves user experience, and directly affects your search rankings, so it belongs on every pre-launch checklist.

Fine tune key elements of your website by:

• Compressing images: Reduce file sizes while maintaining quality and improving loading time.
• Leveraging browser caching: Decrease data transfer by storing files locally on users’ browsers.
• Minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML: Strip unnecessary characters and spaces to improve loading times.
• Using a content delivery network (CDN): Distribute content across global servers to enhance load times and help mitigate DDoS attacks.

These optimizations might sound small, but they add up to a big difference when it comes to your site performance. Luckily, SiteGround’s Speed Optimizer allows you to optimize your website in a few clicks, and it’s free for all WordPress users!  

11. Ensure Your Domain Directs to Your Actual Site

Now let’s talk about your domain name, which you may have already purchased by now. 

Whether you’ve chosen to use a web-hosted sitebuilder, or to buy your own hosting and create a site with a content management system (CMS), you’ll need to make sure that your domain directs to your actual website. This step is a crucial part of your website requirements checklist.

If you’ve purchased your domain and hosting from the same provider, this might already be set up for you. However, if you’ve bought your domain from one provider and your hosting from another, you’ll need to point your domain to your hosting provider. To do this, you will need to consult your domain and hosting providers for exact instructions, but the process is generally straightforward. 

12. Conduct Usability Testing

Usability testing means watching real people use your site before it goes live. It surfaces friction points and confusion that are impossible to spot when you already know how everything works.

You can do it in two ways:

• By sharing your website with friends, family, and potential users, and asking for their candid overall experience—frustrations they’ve experienced, ideas you might not have considered. 
• By using paid platforms like UserTesting or Trymata to observe users as they navigate your site and complete tasks. 

In any case, testing your user experience can reveal usability hiccups or bottlenecks, allowing you to address them before the big day.

13. Use Social Media to Build Anticipation

Building anticipation through social media is an ongoing process to weave into your website launch preparations. It’s an effective way to engage potential visitors and drive traffic to your site once it goes live, especially if you already have engaged followers.

Here’s how to make it happen:

• Share sneak peeks, countdowns, and behind-the-scenes content to spark interest and excitement.
• Use hashtags relevant to your niche to broaden your reach.
• Encourage followers to share your content and join the conversation.

And there you have it! It’s time to hit that much-anticipated “Publish” button and watch the magic unfold as the results start rolling in.

14. Crawl Your Website

Once your site is live, you need to make sure search engines can find and index your pages. Submitting a sitemap and setting up a robots.txt file are the two steps that make that happen. Let’s break it down.

Here’s how to make your site visible to search engines:

• Submit an XML sitemap: This is a document of all the links on your website and how they relate to one another. Once it’s ready, you can submit it via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Create a robots.txt file: Consider this as your site’s bouncer, guiding Google’s search engine crawlers on which pages to bypass. While smaller sites may not necessarily need it, larger sites can benefit significantly from this to manage server resources effectively. You can use Google Search Console’s tester to ensure it’s properly configured and not blocking essential pages.

15. Integrate Analytics Tools 

To better serve your users and grow your business, analytics tools are critical. They act as your website’s secret agents, offering insights into visitor interactions and helping optimize your site for search engines. Based on these insights, you can adjust your content, expand or refine your offerings, and make other strategic improvements.

The three most important tools that you’ll need are:

• Google Search Console: Helps you understand your site’s performance on Google Search and get insights to improve visibility with the right keywords.

• Google Analytics: Helps you track website traffic and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns by identifying website visitor sources such as organic search, social media, and paid ads.
• Bing Analytics: Offers similar functionalities, optimized for the Bing search engine.

16. Check Site Speed 

Now, let’s tick off the speed box on our website checklist. Tools like PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix are fantastic for getting a snapshot of your site’s performance. They’ll show you website metrics like load time, time to first byte, and even give you a performance score. It’s like having a performance dashboard for your website.

Once you have the data, what’s next? One of the biggest factors is your hosting provider. A reliable host with fast server response times can make a world of difference. Look for one that offers solid uptime guarantees and good customer support – because when things go wrong, you’ll want help, and you’ll want it fast.

17. Map Out a Maintenance Plan

Launching your site is not the finish line. A maintenance plan keeps your site secure, fast, and up to date over time, and prevents small issues from becoming costly ones. Be sure to schedule regular reviews for tasks such as:

• Updating plugins 
• Checking security 
• Renewing content 
• Refreshing design

These should be part of your routine and addressed whenever issues pop up.

Final Thoughts on Your Website Checklist

Launching a website is exciting, but ensuring its success requires careful preparation and ongoing maintenance. By following a comprehensive website checklist that details the steps to launching a website, you can confidently address key areas such as SEO, security, speed, design, and usability. This proactive approach not only helps you avoid common pitfalls but also ensures that your site performs optimally from day one. 

Remember, the launch is just the beginning—post-launch efforts like monitoring site performance, integrating analytics, and maintaining regular backups are crucial for long-term success. With the right tools and strategies in place, your website will not only meet expectations but exceed them, providing a seamless experience for your visitors and supporting your business goals.

Website Checklist FAQs

This article was originally published in June 2025 and then updated in May 2026.

This article was originally published in October 2024, and then updated in April 2026.

Planning a new website successfully comes down to 9 key steps: from defining your goals and audience, to choosing hosting, shaping your design, and finally launching your site. This guide walks you through each one—plus includes a free checklist so that you have a website planning template to follow in real time.

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What is Website Planning and Why Does it Matter?

The website planning process entails defining the purpose, goals, and structure of a website before any design or development work begins. It involves understanding the needs of your audience, deciding on the content, determining the website layout, and considering the technical aspects such as domains and hosting.

A proper website planning process is vital because it:

• Ensures clarity of purpose: It helps you understand why you are planning a new website and what you hope to achieve.
• Saves time and money: Avoids redoing work by eliminating confusion about site objectives, features, and functions.
• Improves user experience: A successful website aligns with the needs of its audience and provides them with a seamless user experience.
• Optimizes SEO and performance: Helps organize content and site structure in a way that is favorable to search engines and AI, making it easier to rank higher and get cited.

Planning a website becomes much more manageable when you break it down into clear steps. Here’s how to plan a website in 9 stages—from defining your goals and audience all the way through to building and launching—with everything you need to tackle each one.

What Does Planning a Website Actually Involve?

Now that we know why planning your website is critical, let’s dive into a step-by-step guide for how to plan a new website. Follow these 9 steps to ensure you have all the essential website planning tools.

1. Define Goals & Objectives

Your website goals should answer three things: what you want the site to achieve, what actions you want visitors to take, and how you’ll measure success. This will help you determine what messages to focus on, how to structure your pages, what calls to action to include, and more. So start with answering these simple questions:

• What are the short- and long-term goals for your website? Your short-term goals might be to sell products and generate leads, while your long-term goals could be building brand awareness and customer satisfaction.
• What actions do you want visitors to take? Such as making a purchase, signing up for an email newsletter, requesting a quote, etc.
• How will you measure the success of the website? Options could include web traffic, conversions, email sign-ups and other email marketing metrics.

Having these important details clear and front of mind will help guide you as you continue with the following steps for how to plan a website. Note your answers down and refer to them regularly to make sure you’re staying on track.

2. Identify Your Audience

If you wish to reach the right people, you’ll need to define four things about your audience: who they are, what problems they’re trying to solve, what they want from your site, and how they consume content online. To define this, answer the following questions: 

Who are your target users?

Identify key demographic details, such as age range, location, and occupation. For example, your audience might be young professionals aged 25-40, living in urban areas across the United States, working in the tech industry. Understanding these factors helps you focus your website content planning around appealing directly to their preferences and needs.

What are their pain points or challenges, particularly as they relate to what you’re offering?

Consider the specific problems your target audience is trying to solve. Are they looking for efficient solutions to improve productivity, struggling to find reliable services, or seeking advice on complex topics? By pinpointing their challenges, you can position your products or content as the solution they’re seeking.

What are their goals when visiting your website?

Think about what actions they want to take or what problems they are trying to solve when they arrive on your site.  What will their user journey be? They may be searching for a product that addresses their specific needs, looking for expert advice on a topic, or gathering information before making a purchase decision. Knowing their goals will help you create relevant content and clear calls to action that guide them to the next step.

How do they consume information online?

Understanding how your audience interacts with content can influence both the design and layout of your site. For example, are they primarily accessing your site via mobile devices, or do they prefer a desktop experience? Are they active on social media, and if so, which platforms? Knowing this helps you determine the best way to present your content so that it’s accessible, engaging, and easy to navigate. Plus, understanding their online behavior can help you strategize how to drive traffic to your site, whether through social media, email marketing, or search engines.

Once you’ve clearly identified your audience, you can customize your website’s content, design, and user experience to meet their expectations. It will also help as you think about products, marketing copy, email newsletters, social media marketing, and so on. 

Just as when planning your website objectives, regularly refer back to your answers above to make sure you’re staying focused on your audience.

3. Establish Your Branding

There’s a good chance you’ve already developed at least some branding as part of your marketing strategy—even if that only includes a logo. Now’s the time, though, to really get your branding ducks in a row and define your brand clearly so that you can execute it on your website. Consistent branding helps build recognition and trust with your audience—and ultimately conversions.

Branding Elements to Consider:

• Logo: When deciding on a logo design, focus on creating something that reflects your brand’s identity and values while being simple, memorable, and versatile. Consider your target audience, industry trends, and how the logo will work across various mediums and sizes.
• Color scheme: Define the primary and secondary colors that should be used across your website. Primary colors are ones that you’ll use most of the time; secondary ones complement the primary, and are typically used as accent colors.

• Typography: Decide on the font or fonts that you would like to use for your brand. These may all be the same font, but it is often a good idea to choose one font for your headings, and a complementary one for your body copy. Google Fonts, for example, can help you find ideal pairings for this kind of execution. It also offers a large selection of free fonts that you can download and use however you’d like. 
• Tone of voice: Whether you adopt a casual, formal, or playful tone, it should be consistent across the website, and of course align with your brand and what you wish to transmit.
• Visual style: Decide on the overall visual tone of the site, from minimalist and clean to bold and dynamic. This will help steer your vision as you explore and decide on layout, color usage, imagery and more.

Take note of these elements for your reference as you plan your website. Not only will it be handy for you to refer back to this information, but it will be helpful if and when you decide to work with outside designers.

4. Decide How to Build Your Website

After identifying your goals, audience, and branding, the next step is to decide how you will build your website. For most people, it comes down to three options: a website builder, a CMS like WordPress, or a custom-built site. Here’s how to know which is right for you.

Website Builder — Best for Most People

A website builder is the fastest and most accessible way to get online, and for the majority of small businesses and personal brands, it’s all you’ll ever need. With drag-and-drop functionality, built-in hosting, and no coding required, you can go from planning to live site in a fraction of the time. The SiteGround Website Builder takes this a step further—with professionally designed templates, built-in ecommerce, and hosting all included, much of the heavy lifting is already done for you.

The trade-off is customization. If your site needs highly specific functionality or a truly bespoke design, you may eventually hit a ceiling.

CMS—Best for More Complex Sites

A content management system (CMS) is a platform that lets you build and manage a website without writing code from scratch. WordPress is the most widely used CMS, and a popular choice for sites that need more flexibility—a content-heavy blog, an online store via WooCommerce, or greater control over design and functionality. It’s open-source and highly customizable, with a wide range of themes and plugins to suit most needs.

That said, it has a steeper learning curve than a website builder, and more complex customizations may require hiring a developer. It can be a cost-effective option, but that depends heavily on how much you need to customize.

CMS—Best for More Complex Sites

If your website needs functionality or design that no off-the-shelf platform can deliver, a custom build is the answer. Whether coded from scratch or built on top of an existing site or CMS, a custom site offers complete creative and technical freedom.

The downside is cost—both upfront and ongoing. Any changes typically require a developer, which makes keeping the site fresh more expensive and time-consuming than the other two options.

5. Choose Hosting and a Domain

Selecting a hosting provider and choosing a domain name are two of the most consequential decisions you’ll make—the first determines your site’s speed, security, and reliability; the second is how customers will find and remember you. Both choices can significantly impact how users experience and interact with your business online.

Choose Your Hosting

Every successful website needs hosting, and the same criteria apply regardless of how you build: speed, security, reliability, and customer support all matter. The difference is that with a website builder, hosting is built in—so those qualities are baked in too, which is why it’s worth looking beyond templates and ease of use when choosing a builder. With a CMS like WordPress or a custom-built site, you’ll need to select a hosting provider separately.

For WordPress in particular, it’s worth choosing a host that offers WordPress-specific support and services. SiteGround offers Managed Hosting for WordPress, which includes automated setup, migration, and updates, along with top-notch security and expert 24/7 support. If you’re running WooCommerce, SiteGround’s WordPress Hosting for WooCommerce is worth a look too.

Choose Your Domain

When it comes to selecting a good domain name, there are several factors to keep in mind such as keeping it simple and memorable, using relevant keywords, and avoiding numbers and hyphens. 

If you have a great idea for a website name, start by checking if your domain name is available. Then you’ll need to purchase your domain name—a cost typically paid annually, or for multiple years in a row. That said, keep in mind that sometimes your domain is actually free for the first year when you buy a new hosting plan, as is the case with SiteGround Web Hosting. So when it comes time to select a hosting service, this is something to keep in mind. 

6. Shape Your Web Design

You’ve established your brand, and how you’ll build your site—now it’s time to bring them together and determine your website needs, by either communicating that to a designer, or by choosing a template.

But first, start by exploring other sites for inspiration, focusing on businesses that align with your offerings and target audience. Competitor websites can be especially helpful in identifying effective layouts, features, and designs within your industry, as well as opportunities to stand out.

For example, if you’re a creative professional, a portfolio might be essential, while a wedding planning service might benefit from featuring client testimonials. Note common design trends—whether sites in your field are sleek and modern or colorful and content-rich – and consider how you’ll adapt these patterns for your own site.

If you’re using a designer, this research will also help you provide more specific guidance so that they create a website that matches your expectations. Even if you’re building the site yourself, analyzing websites you admire can help you identify website functionality and layouts that work best for your needs.

Meanwhile, if you’re using a website builder or CMS like WordPress, you likely have access to a wide range of predesigned templates to meet your website planning goals. These templates serve as a foundation for your site’s design, offering a quick and easy way to get started. The key is to choose a template that looks professional and includes the functionalities you need, so you can focus more on content and less on design tweaks. Just keep in mind: the less you edit the template, the better it will look! 

7. Create a Sitemap for Effective Website Architecture Planning

A sitemap is your website’s blueprint, and building one is more straightforward than it sounds once you break it into a few logical steps. Creating a clear and logical website architecture plan not only improves the user experience but also plays a key role in optimizing your site for search engines. Here’s how to approach it:

1. Identify Core Pages: Start by listing the essential pages that your website needs. This might include a homepage, an about page, a contact page, and any specific pages related to your business such as services, products, or portfolio pages. Think about your site’s primary goals and what website content planning is necessary to fulfill those objectives.
2. Group Related Pages into Categories: Next, organize your pages into categories or sections to make the site easy to navigate. For example, if you offer multiple services, group them under a “Services” section. Similarly, blog posts can be placed under a “Blog” or “Resources” section. Categorizing your content ensures that visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for and enhances the overall flow of your site.
3. Determine the Hierarchy: Establish a clear page hierarchy for your sitemap. Your homepage should sit at the top, with main sections (like “About,” “Services,” or “Contact”) branching off from it. Subpages should be nested under the appropriate parent pages. This hierarchy will dictate how users and search engines interpret the importance of each page. The more organized and logical this site structure is, the easier it will be to navigate.

1. Prioritize Key Pages: Not all pages on your site will have the same level of importance. Determine which pages are critical for conversions or user engagement and make sure they are easily accessible. For instance, if your contact page is a key point of interaction, it should be prominently linked from the homepage or main menu.
2. Plan for Future Growth: Consider how your sitemap might evolve as your site grows. You may want to add additional sections, subpages, or even integrate features like an ecommerce store or a member login area in the future. Building flexibility into your sitemap now can save you the trouble of major restructuring later.
3. Optimize for User Experience: As you finalize your sitemap, think about your customer’s journey through your site. Make certain that important website pages are no more than a few clicks away from the homepage, and provide clear pathways for users to move between related content. Use intuitive navigation menus, calls to action, and internal links to guide visitors through your content seamlessly—and ultimately to conversion.

When it comes to how to plan website structure, a well-organized sitemap will set the foundation for a successful website that is both user-friendly and optimized for search engines. It acts as a roadmap for both you (and your designer, if you use one), ensuring your site’s content is logically structured and easily accessible to your audience.

8. Gather Your Website Content Planning Assets

Before building your web project, let’s take a minute to set aside all the content we’ve covered so far—plus a few extra tidbits. This will be an especially important step if you’re working with a designer, but it’ll also be helpful if you’re building your site yourself, allowing you to have all your content in one place. Website assets that you’ll want to round up include: 

Copy

Write and compile copy for all the pages you’ve identified in your sitemap. These will likely include the following pages and content:

• Homepage: Summarize your brand’s unique selling proposition, services, benefits, and features.
• About page: Provide background information, your company’s history, and your team.
• Service or product pages: Detail your offerings, benefits, and how they address customer needs.
• Blog posts or articles: Aim to have at least a few articles published so that your blog already adds value. You may also wish to leverage this content to help educate your users, so don’t be shy about using calls to action on your website in order to send users to your blog to learn more about different products, features, product uses, and more. Just be sure to include further calls to action in your blog post so that you keep users moving to the next step.

Branding Elements

Now it’s time to put together all those brand elements we discussed, and make them ready for use. Items you’ll want to have on hand for your web design include: 

• Logo: Ensure it’s in a high-resolution format. Depending on your site color, you may want your logo to have a transparent background. Of course, always make sure you are following whatever branding guidelines you or your designer have established for your business.
• Color scheme: Note the primary and secondary colors that should be used across the website. Have the pantone and/or hex codes accessible so that you can easily provide them to your designer, or access them as you customize your site.
• Typography: List the fonts you’ll use for headings, subheadings, and body text. If you’ve purchased and/or downloaded your fonts, be sure to have those available as well.

Media

Finally, pull together all of the media for your website, such as: 

• General site imagery: You’ll likely need visuals for your homepage hero section (the header image), as well as sprinkled throughout your site to add interest. Make sure these images—and all your media—consistently fit the visual style you’ve defined. (Good news here: if you’re using the SiteGround Website Builder, you can use the built-in AI image creator or the gallery of free stock images to fill any of your photography gaps.)
• Product photos: If you’re running an ecommerce site, high-quality, cohesively styled product images are essential. 
• Team photos: Personalize your website with professional photos of your team.
• Icons and other brand elements: If you have other branding elements, such as icons, be sure to include these as well. They can be used to support text, or simply to infuse branding into your design.

File size is one last thing worth keeping in mind as you gather your assets. Large files can slow down your site speed, negatively impacting both user experience and Google search rankings. Ideally, your images should be compressed and served in optimized versions for different screen sizes—so a visitor on a phone isn’t downloading the same heavy file as someone on a desktop. If you’re building with SiteGround, this happens automatically: the Website Builder handles it the moment you upload an image, while WordPress users can rely on the SiteGround Speed Optimizer Plugin to do the same.

Bonus tip: To make all your assets extra handy, consider creating a shared drive, such as a DropBox folder, so that your files are easily accessible for all collaborators.

9. Bring Your Website Planning to Life 

How you build your site comes down to two paths: doing it yourself using a website builder or CMS, or handing it off to a designer—and what you do next depends entirely on which route you’ve chosen. Let’s explore next steps. 

If You’re Building Your Own Site

While building your site is a bit more hands on, you’ve already done a lot of the legwork, and you have mapped everything out on your checklist. So it’s just time to put it all in action.

Website Builder and/or CMS

If you’re using a website builder or a CMS such as WordPress, you’ll want to start off by adjusting the template to match your branding, colors and fonts. Usually this can be done easily by adjusting the template settings allowing color and font changes to take effect across your site.

From there, you’ll want to upload and start organizing all your content, including copy, images (including your logo), and any additional media. 

Lastly, you’ll want to set up any extra site functionality. In the case of a CMS like WordPress, this could include installing plugins for SEO or ecommerce, as well as adding any contact or email sign-up forms. (New to the world of email marketing? We’ve got you. Read our guide on email marketing and how to get started.)

Custom Coding 

Meanwhile, if you’re personally building your site from scratch, you’ll need to start designing and coding, and, in doing so, leveraging and implementing your gathered content as discussed above. Designing and coding a website from zero is obviously a much larger undertaking that requires more than a simple article. So enter into these waters only if you are well acquainted with how to custom-build a site. 

If You’re Working With a Designer

If building or customizing a website isn’t in your wheelhouse, but you want a custom site, then you will have chosen to hire a designer. In this case, plan to share all the information you’ve gathered thus far, including:

• Goals and objectives of your site
• The target audience
• Content documents (copy, branding guidelines)
• Branding elements (logo, font files)
• Media files (images, videos, animations)
• Detailed instructions for the sitemap, layout, design preferences, and functionality requirements. This should also include any sites you’ve found for inspiration. Many designers may even provide you with a design brief so that you can clearly address all their questions and needs up front.

Ultimately, whether you build your site on your own or with help, once it’s built, be sure to test all elements thoroughly before launch. Consider asking users in your target audience to interact with your test site so that you can gather valuable and relevant feedback. You’ll also want to test site responsiveness on mobile devices, any interactive elements, and page load times. Need to speed up your website? Check out these website speed optimization tips.

What Should You Do Once Your Site Goes Live?

The website planning process is ongoing. After your site goes live, you’ll need to monitor its performance, update content, and optimize it for better user engagement and SEO. Make sure to:

• Track your metrics: Use tools like Google Analytics to measure traffic, conversions, and user behavior—and, if you’re using a website builder, check whether built-in analytics are available, as many include their own dashboard to get you started.
• Optimize SEO: Continuously update your SEO strategy to improve rankings. If you’re using WordPress, for example, you can install plugins, such as Yoast, which will do the heavy lifting when it comes to SEO.
• Update content regularly: Keep your website fresh by adding new blog posts, products, or case studies.
• Maintain the site: Do regular backups, update plugins, perform security checks, and make sure your site speed is adequate, and stay on top of other web performance metrics. 

Beyond Website Planning

Successful website planning is the cornerstone of a successful online presence. Work through it step by step—define your goals, know your audience, build a strong brand, choose the right tools—and you’ll have a site that not only looks great but actually works for your business.

The work doesn’t stop once you go live, either. Regular updates, performance monitoring, and ongoing SEO are what keep a site relevant and effective as your business grows.If you’re still figuring out how to build, the SiteGround Website Builder is worth serious consideration for anyone who wants to get online quickly without sacrificing quality. Fast, secure hosting is built in, image optimization happens automatically, ecommerce functionality, professionally designed templates mean you’re not starting from scratch, and expert 24/7 support is there whenever you need it. It’s a solid foundation—and with this guide and our planning checklist in hand, you’re well set up to make the most of it.

Website Planning FAQs

This article was originally published in October 2024, and then updated in April 2026.

If you’re asking, “How much does a website cost?” you’ve come to the right place.

The cost of a website can vary widely depending on several factors, including the platform you choose, whether you need web hosting, your approach to website design, the additional features or extensions you require, and how you plan to maintain it.

In this guide, we’ll break down the main factors that influence website costs, helping you understand what works best for your needs and budget.

How Much Does a Website Cost on Average?

In 2024, the average cost of starting a website ranges from $0 to $30. You can expect to pay at least another $40 per month for maintenance and extra features. As a result, you should plan for a total minimum yearly budget of around $600.

Here’s a detailed breakdown table of average website costs, covering all the key factors to consider.

Take a look, and keep reading for an in-depth exploration of each website component.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Website?

Building a website typically costs between $0 and $100 per month on average.

But when it comes to website planning, the choices can seem endless. From ecommerce platforms and CMS to open-source software or even writing custom code, there’s a wide range of possibilities. And since many of these options can overlap, it’s easy to get them confused.

To simplify things, let’s say there are generally three methods to consider – whether you’re going to use a website builder, an open-source software (usually used for content management systems like WordPress), or custom website development.

Let’s explore each of these options in depth, along with their advantages or disadvantages, and their respective average costs.

Website Builder

If you’re just starting out and you’re not that tech-savvy, you might want to choose a website builder.

Some of the most popular website builders include the SiteGround Website Builder, WIX, Weebly, Shopify, and Squarespace. There are two main advantages to using a website builder:

• Drag-and-drop editor

Website builders often provide drag-and-drop editors for website creation, which are super easy to use. They are also very intuitive when it comes to customizing and making changes to your website design.

• Subscription-based charges

If you choose this option, you’ll likely need to subscribe to a plan, giving you more control over your costs. You’ll just need to factor in the cost of additional apps or tools to provide the extra functionalities your site may require.

The main disadvantage, though, is that website builders are not that scalable – if you need something more from them, such as more web traffic, or space, or ad-free website, or anything else, you’ll need to upgrade your plan and pay more. They are also limited in functionality, so if you need some extra features, you’ll have to pay for apps, or for custom coding.

Website builders are an excellent choice if you’re looking for a simple way to experiment with website creation and are willing to trade some level of personalization and flexibility for ease of use.

Total cost: With website builders, basic website creation will usually cost anywhere between $10 and $30 per month.

Open-Source Software

Open-source software is a software whose source code can be inspected, modified, and enhanced by anyone. This option is often the preferred choice for many, as it provides greater freedom and more options for personalization when building websites.

For instance, one of the most popular open-source software out there is WordPress. In fact, more than 43% of all websites are built with WordPress.

Here are the main advantages of using an open-source software:

• Free to use

Open-source software is entirely free to use. For example, you can use WordPress at no cost to build your own website.

• Community and control

Most open-source software has large communities of users and developers, offering valuable technical support and shared knowledge. Additionally, open-source software gives you greater control over its code, allowing for more customization and flexibility.

If you go for this option, keep in mind that you will still have to pay some additional costs, such as hosting, or extra fees for performance and security tools.

That said, an open-source software like WordPress is a great option for pretty much anyone – from beginners and small businesses to medium-sized businesses and larger companies. It gives you the flexibility to start for free and scale as your site grows.

Total cost for software: Free to start using, extra charges may apply as your brand grows.

Custom-Built Website

If you need a custom-built, unique, or more complex website, you may want to consider hiring a professional web developer.

But how much does it cost to develop a website from scratch? The answer will depend on the complexity and functionalities of the website you need, its backend requirements, and security or performance extensions. A webmaster will usually charge their hourly rate to develop all these for your website.

Total cost: You can expect an average web page development cost between $100 and $180 per hour for the web developer’s hourly rates.

How Much Does It Cost to Host a Website

Whether you choose an open-source software website or a custom-built one, be sure to factor in web hosting costs when calculating your total website expenses.

Here’s what you need to consider:

Web Hosting Provider

There are different types of web hosting, such as shared, cloud, VPS, or dedicated, from which you can choose the best option for your website needs.

Shared hosting is the most popular and appropriate option for starting a blog, portfolio, or small-business website. With shared hosting, your website uses a server’s resources, such as storage, bandwidth, and processing power, alongside many other websites. This makes it not only the most affordable option, but also powerful and robust enough to cover your website needs. 

Additionally, if you’re looking for a hassle-free hosting experience, opting for shared managed hosting is your best choice, as it allows you to focus on your website without worrying about the technical details. Unlike unmanaged solutions, managed hosting providers offer extra convenience for website owners, because the web host takes care of updates and offers additional perks, such as speed and security boosts.

If you decide to use WordPress, it’s especially important to select a managed hosting service that is specifically designed for WordPress. The price of this hosting is almost the same as other alternatives, yet some hosts may charge extra for the additional software support.

Total cost: The average cost of a shared web hosting plan ranges from $2.99 to $15.00 per month.

Domain Name Registration

A domain name is not only your website’s address on the internet, but it also establishes your brand identity. For example, a domain name looks something like: www.mybrand.com.

Choosing and registering your website’s domain name is another important step when starting a new website. You’ll want a name that’s easy to remember and type, aligns with your brand, and looks professional. Next, consider the domain extension (such as .com, .org, .info, etc.), which also plays a role in your site’s credibility and appeal.

Depending on what extension you choose, your domain name registration costs will vary. For example, top-level domains like .com or .org, including your brand name, could be more expensive.

With that said, how much does a website domain cost? 

Domain name registration can range anywhere between $12 and $60 per year, depending on the above-mentioned factors. Some web hosting providers and website builder services include this domain subscription as a free bonus for the first year.

Total cost: The average cost of registering a domain name is between $12 and $60, on a yearly subscription basis.

SSL Certificate

One more thing that’s a must-have nowadays is installing an SSL certificate. It’s a security technology that encrypts all traffic that goes through your website and ensures that sensitive information, such as login credentials and credit card details remain protected.

This certificate will appear in the user’s browser as an HTTPS prefix instead of HTTP, signaling that your site is secure and safe to visit.

Most often, web hosting providers offer SSL certificates for free with their hosting plans. If your hosting provider or website builder service does not provide a free SSL certificate, you need to purchase an SSL certificate from a third-party provider. It will cost anywhere between $6 and $250 per year.

Total cost: For an SSL certificate, you need to plan to spend between $0 and $250 per year.

How Much Does It Cost to Design a Website

Next comes your website design cost. This cost can range from $0 to $350 per year, depending on different factors. Here are the factors to consider, depending on the type of website you initially built.

Templates and Themes

If you’re using a popular website builder, they typically offer ready-to-use templates as part of your subscription plan. These templates are included in the price you’re paying and can be customized with the builder’s drag-and-drop editor, allowing you to enhance the design and user experience of your website.

If you’re looking for a more unique look, you might need to purchase a premium template, which isn’t included in your subscription. For instance, Wix offers templates ranging from free to $70 or more, while Shopify templates can cost up to $400 or more.

On the other hand, WordPress websites use a similar feature called themes, which control your website’s appearance. Like website builders, WordPress themes come in a variety of designs and can be either free or paid. There are over 12,000 free themes available for WordPress, while paid themes offer additional customization options to improve your site’s design and user experience.

Total cost: Premium templates for website builders range from $0 to $400, while WordPress themes typically cost between $0 and $200.

Customized Design

If you want a completely unique and customized website, you’ll need to hire a professional designer to bring your vision to life. They’ll create a design that matches exactly what you imagine.

To estimate the cost of website design, start by determining the hourly rate of a designer and then calculate the number of hours required to complete your project. In some cases, designers may offer a flat rate for the entire project instead.

When choosing a freelance designer, it’s important to review their portfolio to ensure their style aligns with your vision. Be prepared with examples of websites you like, your preferred color palette, and your logo to provide a solid foundation for the designer to work from.

Total cost: A professional website designer can cost you anywhere from $35 to $100 or more per hour, depending on their experience and the project’s complexity.

How Much Does It Cost to Manage a Website?

Regardless of which CMS, site builder, or ecommerce platform you use, you’ll likely need additional features that come with extra costs.

These features are typically referred to as apps, plugins, or add-ons, depending on the software. Essentially, they enhance the functionality of your site.

There are thousands of apps available, offering countless possibilities, but here, we’ll focus on the essential ones we believe every website needs:

Speed and Security Extensions

Whether you’re using a website builder service, WordPress, or a custom-built website, you’re most likely going to need speed and security extensions. These are critical to any website, no matter what purpose it serves.

WordPress offers more than 59,000 free plugins in its official directory. Many of these plugins function as speed boosters and security enhancements. For example, with the free Speed Optimizer and Security Optimizer plugins, WordPress users get all the speed and security features their website needs, no matter where it’s hosted.

Other popular CMS platforms like Joomla and Magento provide a few thousand extensions each, too, some of which are dedicated to website speed and security.

However, not all speed and security extensions are free. For instance, for a paid security plugin on WordPress you might need to pay anywhere between $20 per month and $200 per year. Similarly, for a paid WordPress speed plugin, the cost may vary between $25 and $60 per year.

Total cost: Speed and security enhancements can cost you anywhere between $0 up to $200 per year.

SEO and Analytics Tools

You will need to install an SEO tool to make sure your website is optimized for Google Search results. 

There are free tools like Google Analytics or Google Search Console that provide crucial information on website traffic and user behavior. 

For more advanced data, there are paid tools like Ahrefs, but prices start from $120 per month and go up to $400 per month. Such tools are a game changer, but also not for every budget.

Email Marketing Tool

Email marketing is a must if you want to engage with your target audience, drive more traffic to your website, and collect new leads. To optimize and automate your email marketing campaigns, you need an email marketing tool.

The monthly subscription cost for an email marketing tool will depend on several factors, including number of subscribers, amount of emails sent out, frequency of campaigns, and additional features like automation, or analytics. 

The starting monthly prices for email marketing services typically range from $9 to $50.

Social Media Integration

To drive even more engagement and sales, you might consider promoting your products or services on social media as well. You can do this yourself, or use the help of third-party tools to save time. Some popular tools include Hootsuite (from $100 per month) and Buffer (from $5 to $100 per month, or a free version is available, too), which help you schedule your posts and manage social media content.

For WordPress, you can also use a free or paid plugin that integrates with your website and allows your visitors to share your content on social media. Paid plugins can cost anywhere from $20 to $200 per year.

Total cost: The total cost will depend on the number of extensions that you install and whether they are free or paid – anywhere from $0 to $1000 or more per month.

How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Website?

Your website maintenance costs will largely depend on the renewal fees for some of the features mentioned earlier.

Start by considering your web hosting renewal or website builder service, whether you’re paying monthly or annually. Some providers offer discounts if you choose to pay annually.

For WordPress users, there are also ongoing costs related to keeping your site updated and maintained. You can reduce this burden by opting for a Managed WordPress hosting provider like SiteGround. Otherwise, you may need to hire someone to handle maintenance, which can become expensive.

Next, factor in the annual renewals for your domain name and SSL certificate. Finally, add up the costs for any additional extensions and calculate their monthly or annual renewal fees.

Total cost: Your website maintenance can cost anywhere between $500 and $60,000 per year.

The Bottom Line on Website Expenses

The cost of a small business website will vary based on the factors mentioned above. These represent the key monthly expenses every small business owner should consider when budgeting for their website.

To calculate your total costs, you need to choose a website building option first, then go for a web hosting provider (if needed), add up the fees for design and extensions, plus the maintenance costs.

The average cost to build a website will range from $0 to $30 per month, and when you add the extra costs after creating the website, you can expect to pay around $500 per year.

We’d love to hear about your experience – let us know in the comments below how much you ended up spending on your website.

Slow loading times, unresponsive elements, or unexpected page shifts can frustrate users. This is why Core Web Vitals have become essential for optimizing your site and your chances of ranking higher in searches.

By improving your website performance on these metrics, you can provide a smoother experience for your audience. This results in better search engine rankings, increased engagement, and more conversions.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals is a set of metrics from Google that measure real-world user experience for loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability of a webpage. Achieving good Core Web Vitals is recommended for success in Google Search, as it helps ensure a fast, responsive, and visually stable user experience.

The three Core Web Vitals are: 

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – Measures how long it takes for the largest visible element (like an image, video, or block of text) to load and become visible to the user.
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) – Measures the time it takes for a website to respond visually after a user interaction, such as clicking a button or typing.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Measures how much visible content shifts unexpectedly during loading. 

Google uses these quality signals as part of its ranking algorithm, and improving them can boost your search rankings.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the largest visible content element on a page to fully render. This could be an image, video, or a block of text that occupies the most space on the screen. This metric is important because it gives an accurate view of how fast a web page loads from the user’s perspective.

Here’s how Google defines LCP scores:

• Good: 2.5 seconds or less
• Needs improvement: Between 2.5 and 4 seconds. 
• Poor: More than 4.0 seconds

For your website to pass the Core Web Vitals, you need an LCP score of 2.5 seconds or less for 75% of all your page views.

A high LCP means your users are waiting too much time to load the largest piece of content on your page. For website owners, this means long render times, leading to big bounce rates and low conversion rates.

The three most common factors that negatively affect LCP are:

• Large, unoptimized media
• Render-blocking JavaScript
• Slow resource load time

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) 

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a real-user web performance metric that measures the responsiveness of a web page. It evaluates the time it takes for the browser to respond to user interactions, such as clicks or taps after the page has finished loading.

INP is designed to capture the user’s experience of how quickly and smoothly a site reacts to their inputs. It is a key indicator of the page’s interactivity and responsiveness. 

Unlike FID, which only measures the delay for the first input, INP considers the responsiveness of the entire page throughout the user’s session.

Here’s how Google defines INP scores:

• Good: Less than or equal to 200 milliseconds
• Needs Improvement: Between 200 milliseconds and 500 milliseconds
• Poor: More than 500 milliseconds

A common reason for a bad INP score is unoptimized JavaScript and CSS files. We’ll show you how to measure and improve INP later on.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures the visual stability of a page by tracking unexpected layout shifts. These shifts often occur when new content loads, like images without specified dimensions or dynamically inserted ads. A high CLS score indicates a page is unstable, leading to a frustrating experience for users.

Here’s how Google defines CLS scores:

• Good – Less than or equal to 0.1 seconds
• Needs Improvement – Less than or equal to 0.25 seconds
• Poor – More than 0.25 seconds

A score less or equal to 0.1 seconds means the page’s contents are fully static during their lifecycle. A higher score means the contents are moving.

Usually, layout shifts are commonly caused by:

• images, 
• ads, 
• embeds, 
• iframes without dimensions, 
• dynamically injected content,
• web fonts, causing a flash of invisible text and a flash of unstyled text.

How to measure Core Web Vitals? 

There are several tools available to measure Core Web Vitals, both using real-world data from users and lab metrics (simulated tests). These tools help site owners track their Core Web Vitals performance and identify areas for improvement.

Field tools

Field data, also known as real user monitoring (RUM), reflects real users’ browsing experience. It takes into account real users, various devices, different network connections, and historical data. The result is aggregated for the entire domain or per URL.

Keep in mind that Google is using field data to rank your site. Therefore, if you want to inspect your real user experience, you should use field tools.

Google Search Console (GSC)

Google Search Console offers a Core Web Vitals report that shows how your site performs on desktop and mobile devices. It highlights affected pages and groups them by performance – Good, Needs Improvement, or Poor.

PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights analyzes individual web pages and provides detailed insights into their Core Web Vitals performance. It offers suggestions for improving page speed and site performance. 

You should look into both desktop and mobile scores, as they might differ. At the top of the report, PageSpeed Insights clearly indicates whether your page meets the thresholds for a good experience based on the site’s Core Web Vitals. 

Chrome UX Report (CrUX) 

The Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) provides real-world performance data from Chrome users. It shows how users experience your site on both mobile and desktop devices. The Chrome UX Report focuses on website loading performance. It measures Core Web Vitals, metrics like Time to First Byte (TTFB), and more.

Web Vitals Chrome Еxtension 

The Web Vitals extension allows you to track Core Web Vitals directly in your Chrome browser as you browse your site. It’s a free tool that provides instant feedback on Core Web Vitals metrics. 

Web.dev 

Web.dev offers a free measurement tool to run a performance audit on your site. Moreover, you can check your site’s performance across different areas and get tips on improving metrics like the site’s performance, progressive web app status, accessibility, use of best practices, and SEO. It also supports the Core Web Vitals metrics.

Lab Tools

This refers to conducting tests in a controlled environment and seeing how a potential user will experience your website. Unlike field tools, lab tools work with simulated data, with predefined device and network specifications. They are useful in reproducing and debugging possible website performance issues, but don’t give you real user experience information.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse is an open-source, automated website auditing tool that helps developers diagnose issues and improve the quality of web pages. 

A lab tool like Lighthouse can’t measure Interaction to Next Paint (INP), because it requires real user interaction. However, you can monitor Total Blocking Time (TBT), which measures the total amount of time between First Contentful Paint and Time To Interactive. By improving your TBT, you’ll most likely improve your INP as well.

WebPageTest.org 

This is a free, open-source tool that measures your site speed performance. It loads your page in a real browser, helping you identify specific site sections that need more time to load.

Chrome DevTools Performance Panel

With the Chrome DevTools, you have the Performance option, which includes Core Web Vitals. The Performance panel also has an Experience section where you can detect unexpected layout shifts. Therefore, you can identify and fix any visual instability and improve your Cumulative Layout Shift metric.

In order to access the Chrome DevTools Performance Panel, Open Google Chrome (use incognito mode so there’s no browser cache) and press Command+Option+I (Mac) or Control+Shift+I (Windows, Linux) to open DevTools. 

Select the Layout Shift to view its details in the Summary tab.

Keep in mind that depending on which tool you use (based on field or lab data), the Core Web Vitals metrics might show different results.

How to Improve Core Web Vitals

The good news is that most of the tips for improving your Core Web Vitals are already part of the good practices for optimizing website performance. 

How to Improve Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Enable full-page caching

When you enable full-page caching, your site’s pages will be stored on the server after the first time they are loaded. Only the first visitor will load the entire page content from the database. All the rest will get the page output directly from the server’s memory, making your site much faster, and ultimately improving your LCP metric.

SiteGround users take advantage of our unique full-page caching solution, called Dynamic caching, enabled for all sites by default. Depending on the type of site, we see up to 5 times faster page loading.

Choose Fast and Reliable Web Hosting 

One of the most common reasons for a bad LCP is a slow server response time. First, check your Time to First Byte (TTFB) – how long it takes for the browser to receive the first byte of content from the server. The faster your server responds, the better your website will perform. 

Use a CDN

Besides the server that hosts your site, you can use a content delivery network (CDN) to speed up all your visitors’ loading time. The CDN will cache your content across a global network of servers and load your website from the one closest to the visitor, thus enhancing their experience with your page.

SiteGround has developed its own CDN infrastructure to increase website performance and security for all of its users. 

Optimize images

Optimizing images will improve your Largest Contentful Paint score since they are often the largest page element.

Always compress your images and scale them correctly. It is recommended to serve images in next-gen formats such as WebP, to improve performance.

Optimize JavaScript and CSS

Reducing CSS and JavaScript that slow down the page load can improve your overall Core Web Vital score and user interaction.

• Defer JavaScript

While the browser is loading JavaScript, users cannot interact with the web page. That’s why sometimes you can see the term “Render-blocking JavaScript.” Deferring your JavaScrips means the browser will process and load JS files only after parsing the HTML document. 

In other words, rendering your website will be much faster because there won’t be anything to block the process. 

• Minify CSS and JS files

For easier readability, developers often leave characters such as spacing, indentation, or comments in CSS and JS files. However, all these characters in the code are not essential for the browser. 

Minification optimizes your code by removing any unnecessary characters, resulting in improved render time and faster websites. 

How to Improve Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

Remove large page elements and long tasks

Reducing long tasks prevents delays in responding to user interactions. A long task refers to any piece of JavaScript code that takes more than 50 milliseconds to execute. Large page elements like videos or background images can slow down code execution and impact INP.

Instead of using a high-resolution image for the background (e.g., a 4MB JPEG), consider using an optimized WebP image that reduces the file size significantly (e.g., 400KB). Similarly, videos can be lazy-loaded or replaced with static images for initial load, deferring the heavy media until after user interaction. 

Use Web Workers

Using Web Workers allows heavy tasks to run in the background, preventing them from blocking the main thread. This reduces delays in user input and page load, optimizing the INP score and overall performance.

Instead of having large tasks run directly in the browser’s main thread (causing the page to freeze), the processing can be offloaded to a Web Worker. This lets the user continue interacting with the site without any noticeable lag, while the background task completes.

Optimize Event Handlers 

Optimized event handlers reduce input delay and improve site speed, contributing to better Core Web Vitals metrics.

For example, when a user clicks a button, the event handler first logs the button click and defers the calculation to a less critical time when the browser’s main thread is idle. This ensures the interaction is smooth and the user doesn’t experience delays. 

Reduce third-party scripts 

It is strongly recommended to remove any third-party scripts which don’t bring any clear value. If your site includes multiple third-party scripts for analytics, ads, or social media widgets, evaluate whether they are necessary. Removing non-essential scripts, such as a redundant chat widget or ad tracker that isn’t used for your core audience, can significantly improve both your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Interaction to Next Paint (INP) score.

How to Improve Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) 

Set size attributes

Setting size attribute dimensions will tell the user’s browser exactly how much space that element needs. Let’s use an image element as an example.

If you don’t set the width and height attributes for an image, the browser won’t know the exact size this image will occupy until it fully loads, which can cause a layout shift. 

<img src="image.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="A scenic view of mountains">

By specifying the width and height, you allow the browser to calculate the aspect ratio of the image and reserve appropriate space for it. This will minimize Cumulative Layout Shifts. 

Preload fonts

Fonts improve the readability of your page, and convey your brand image.  However, each font you use is an additional resource that may slow down your website. Preloading fonts is recommended to prevent layout shifts and flashes of invisible text.

To preload fonts, you use the <link rel=”preload”> tag in the <head> of your HTML document. You need to specify the as=”font” attribute and include crossorigin if the font is being loaded from an external source (like a CDN). 

By doing this, you’ll improve your CLS metric score.

Reserve Space for Ads

Ads have a dynamic nature which can lead to unexpected layout shifts. This can have a negative effect on your CLS score. If you don’t reserve sufficient space for the ads on your site, they can pop up unexpectedly and ruin user experience.

Use CSS transform for Animations

Layout shifts during animations often disrupt the user’s experience and can significantly impact your Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) score. By using the CSS transform property for animations, you can avoid causing elements on the page to move unpredictably. 

Transform animations, such as scale or translate, help maintain the position of other content on the page. This leads to a more stable experience on your site.

Minimize Dynamically Injected Content: 

Dynamically injected content, such as ads, images, or videos that load after the initial webpage, often causes layout shifts. These shifts can negatively affect the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) score. 

To improve visual stability, it’s important to pre-allocate space for dynamically loaded content. There are multiple techniques for that, like setting size dimensions in your CSS, JavaScript, or using Aspect Ratio boxes or Placeholders. You can see an example of setting size dimensions before injecting content dynamically with JavaScript below:

<div id="dynamic-content" class="ad-container"></div>

<script>
    const adContainer = document.getElementById('dynamic-content');
    adContainer.style.width = '300px';  // Fixed width
    adContainer.style.height = '250px'; // Fixed height

    // Dynamically inject content
    adContainer.innerHTML = '<p>Ad will appear here</p>';
</script>

This minimizes the impact on the user experience while also improving performance metrics related to your layout shift score.   

Why are Core Web Vitals important?

The tips above are both recommended best practices for website optimization and also positively affect the page experience signals measured by Google’s Core Web Vitals.

As a website owner, it is important to understand these metrics. This can help you offer a positive user experience, and improve your search engine rankings and overall web page performance. 

It’s important to note that Google’s ranking algorithm is continuously updated. Regularly monitoring your Core Web Vitals with tools like PageSpeed Insights or Search Console can help you make necessary adjustments, even as user expectations and Google’s ranking algorithms evolve. This way, you’re setting your site up for long-term success. 

For more expert tips on website optimization, you can download our WordPress Speed Optimization ebook or watch our video guide and learn how to build a high-performance website. 

Updated: October 2024

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Fast website performance is a crucial element of your online success. It affects the experience of your website users, your SEO rankings, user engagement and conversions, your reputation – pretty much every element of your online presence. To get you on the fast track to a faster site for better online results, here is a short infographic with some quick tips that you can easily apply to any website.

Explore our shortcuts to a faster website and get on your way to a more successful online presence and business.

Learn more about each website performance tip in our infographic. Here are some useful resources about each website speed feature we recommend and how you can use them on the SiteGround hosting platform:

• Explore SiteGround Datacenter network;
• Get SiteGround CDN, included free in each hosting plan;
• Learn more about our Ultrafast PHP setup;
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• Handle more visitor requests faster with our custom MySQL setup;
• Get free SiteGround Optimizer Plugin for faster WordPress sites on any hosting platform;
• Enjoy faster Brotli compression by default.

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