What web development is and what a real project includes

If you are about to order a website, this guide explains what sits behind the words “web development”: what gets done, in what order, what the price should include, and which signs tell you someone is selling you smoke.

Web development is the process of building a website that works: it looks right on a phone and a laptop, loads fast, can be found on Google and does the job you ordered it for. That job can be getting leads, presenting your services or selling products.

When people say “website development” they usually mean three layers of work:

• What the visitor sees. Design, copy, images and navigation. Developers call it the frontend.
• What makes the site work behind the scenes. Forms that notify you by email or WhatsApp, a shopping cart, an admin panel, connections to other services. That is the backend.
• What surrounds the site. Domain, hosting, the SSL certificate, backups and visitor analytics.

Even a very simple site has all three layers. The difference between a careful project and a rushed one is how many of these pieces are treated as part of the job and how many are left for “later”.

The two get mixed up, and it helps to separate them.

Web design decides how the site looks and how it is used: what goes on each page, in what order, with which colours and fonts, and where the button you want visitors to press sits. Good design starts with a simple question: what should this person do when they land here?

Web development turns that design into a working site. It writes the code, connects the forms, tunes the speed, builds the mobile version and publishes the result.

You can order both from one company or from two. What matters is that someone is responsible for the whole result. When a designer hands over a file and a developer has to guess how every element behaves, the outcome rarely looks like what was promised.

Projects differ, but almost all of them go through these phases. If your quote does not mention them, it does not mean they are not there: it means someone will do them without telling you, or will not do them at all.

A clear web development price answers at least these questions:

• Which pages are included? Number and type. “Company website” means nothing without a page count.
• Is the design custom or a template? Both are legitimate, but they cost differently and look like different things.
• Is the mobile version included? Today the answer should always be yes.
• What about technical SEO? Heading structure, speed, page tags, Google Search Console. It is the base for Google to understand your site. It does not guarantee rankings, and anyone who guarantees them is lying.
• What about hosting, domain and SSL? Some quotes include them for a while, some do not. Ask what they cost after the first period.
• What is the deadline and where is it written? A deadline that is only spoken binds nobody.
• Who owns the code? It should be you.
• How many changes are included? If changes are billed, know how much before you start.

Our packages answer all of this in writing. A landing page costs €200 and is delivered in 3 working days. A company website of up to 5 pages costs €500 and takes 7. An online store with up to 100 products costs €700 and takes at most 10 working days. All prices are plus VAT. See the details on the web development page and all prices together on pricing.

The type of site is the decision that affects the budget most, and the one most often made backwards: people pick “a website” and only later find out what they needed.

One page built for one action: request a quote, book an appointment, download a document. It fits when you have one service or offer and want every visitor to see the same message and reach the same button. It is the fastest and cheapest option. Its limit: it cannot explain ten different services.

Several pages: home, services, about, contact. It works when you need to be found for different services and want visitors to get to know you before they get in touch. A good rule is one page per main service, so each page can answer a specific search. Five services mean five reasons for someone to arrive from Google.

A site with a catalogue, cart, orders and online payment. It adds real complexity: products, orders, payments and, depending on the case, shipping. It is worth it when you sell products to people who cannot or will not buy them another way. If you only sell a few services, you may not need a store: a form and a call can be enough.

Ask yourself one question: what do I want the person who lands on my site to do? If it is one thing, probably a landing page. If it is to get to know you and contact you for several reasons, a company website. If it is to buy, a store. And if you are not sure, tell whoever quotes you: a good company will ask that question before giving you a price.

A template is a ready-made design where colours, copy and images are swapped. A custom site is designed for your business from scratch.

Templates have real advantages: they are cheaper and faster. If your site is simple, your budget is tight and you do not mind looking like others, a Wix, Squarespace or WordPress template may be the best option. If Wix or Shopify is enough for you, we will tell you.

Custom design makes sense when you want to stand out, when you need things a template does not cover, or when the site is central to how you win clients. Also when you want to own the code and not depend on a platform that can change its terms.

The key is knowing what you are buying. Some sites sold as “custom” are a template with a new logo. Ask whether the design starts from scratch and whether you can see a proposal before paying.

A website does not end on launch day. The domain needs renewing, hosting needs maintaining, the SSL certificate must not expire, backups need making, and now and then a text changes or a section gets added.

You have two options: do it yourself or pay for maintenance. We offer two plans: Basic at €29/month + VAT (hosting, domain, SSL, backups and small text changes) and Full at €79/month + VAT (everything in Basic plus design changes, new sections and basic monthly SEO). Both are optional, and the code is yours, so you can move the site to another provider whenever you want.

When you receive several quotes, do not compare them by price alone. Compare these things:

1. Scope. Do the proposals include the same pages and features?
2. Deadlines. Are they in writing? With dates, or with “a few weeks”?
3. What if you don’t like it. Are there clear terms for when the design does not convince you?
4. Ownership. Is the code yours, or does the site live on someone else’s platform?
5. What is left out. Lines missing from a cheap quote tend to reappear later as extras.
6. Who does the work. Can you talk to the people who will build the site?

A more expensive quote can be cheaper if it includes what the other leaves out. A cheap one can end up expensive if every change is billed separately.

Our packages are fixed: few pages, one method and short deadlines. Anything outside a package, such as a CRM, custom software or a mobile app, we quote separately, with a fixed price after a 15-minute call.

Want to know what your site would cost? See the web development packages or tell us what you need in a 15-minute call. If what you need is a CRM, we explain when it makes sense.