Startup Website Design: Custom Services

Affordable Custom Website Design for Startups

A customized website and high-quality landing page make your startup company feel more legit to customers, which makes people more willing to trust you and considering purchasing what you're selling.

This is especially true if your company and/or website offers a unique feature or operates in a niche. Being the first to market and delivering a top-tier experience will keep customers coming back again and again.

Despite these benefits, many startups are unequipped to invest in an overly expensive site or lack the resources to do the programming themselves.

Fortunately, at Clarity Ventures, we work with startups and creative entrepreneurs using a payment plan and web design development that works for your organization. From choosing an eCommerce platform to final web design, we can help walk you through it.

We find that the most convenient option for many of our clients is to go with one of our less powerful—and therefore less expensive—options, then building from there as needs arise or funds become available.

When clients come to us with a concern over short-term liquidity, we offer solutions for your startup website that takes some of the "gold-plating" elements out of it, getting you to market faster and beating the competition. We can offer a basic platform for you at a much lower cost up front that includes a fully functioning website, one that delivers amazing results out of the gate while still having the flexibility to grow as your business grows.

Then, when the time comes and you are ready to add additional features and improve your startup website, Clarity will already be familiar with the workings of your site's platform and web design to create a smooth transition to a higher-quality customer experience. In short, the site will deliver now and later.

How to Design a Website for a Startup

Depending on what you need your site to do, there are a variety of options during startup website development. A small marketing website with only a few pages or so is inexpensive and could even be done with Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress. Using just a few drag-and-drop elements, you could be up on the web within hours and have a rudimentary website with acceptable navigation.  If you install backup plugins, it’s relatively easy to restore pages if something disastrous happens.

These sites can be slightly customized and built by a developer or you could give it a go yourself. Some hosting companies provide a website installer or builder when you host with them. It’s a little more expensive, but if you go that route, our advice is to go with WPEngine. They’re the largest WordPress hosting company and have stellar customer support.

Unfortunately, the most well-known platforms are not very secure; a vulnerability found on one WordPress site could prove dangerous to thousands of websites built on that platform. Pages on such sites can be at risk whether they're home pages, landing pages, and product pages. When customer data—including home addresses and credit card information—are at stake, it's best to choose a more secure platform.

Another downside to choosing a platform like Wix or WordPress is that they can’t be adjusted or scaled much from their base, so while they may work well at first, you may find yourself struggling with limited functionality as your business grows. You don't want to build your startup website only to have switch platform in the next few years. It's better to have the ability to easily add and scale with minimal effort.

We recommend a more secure, stable, and robust platform for you startup website design. One of our favorites is DNN, especially if you’re planning on adding custom functionality and want to adjust the website as your business grows. 

DNN has a free, open-source version, so the cost between these options can be basically the same. Plus, DNN is more secure and scalable (we’ve built and launched more than 1000 websites on this free version). You can even upgrade it years later when your business takes off!

How Much Does Startup Website Design Cost?

The answer depends on what you need your startup website to do and how big it is. A small, five-page WordPress website usually runs $2-6K if you hire a developer. The price depends upon the answers to several questions, including:

• Who writes the content?
• Is a pre-built template used?
• How many custom plugins are needed?
• How many forms are built?
• Does the hosting company give a free SSL certificate?
• How much SEO work is needed?
• Are there custom graphics and CTAs?

A more robust website with 20-40 pages and features built in normally runs $10-30K. These types of websites will normally come with some SEO and CRO work, possibly an eCommerce store, and are designed to help drive and convert traffic to help grow your business.

These more expensive—but more secure and flexible—startup websites are normally built on a platform like DNN or Sitefinity. They are designed to grow with your company, giving you a solid platform now and being easy to upgrade later. These platforms often serve you from startup mode all the way to enterprise success. Invest for success, they say...that certainly holds true for purpose-built websites.

Before you start spending money on startup website development, take us up on our free consultation. We'll discuss all your options, give you estimates for your budget, and set you on the right path from the start.

Web Design, eCommerce Platform...or Both?

To put it simply, Clarity has the team in place to handle your startup website no matter what status your business is at. If you're a startup that launched with an announcement site before you started selling products, we can fold that into your eCommerce, marketplace, or auction platform. Similarly, we could start planning for your eCommerce website if you just incorporated your startup last week.

But maybe you're already working with a marketing company or web design firm, and you chose them before deciding which eCommerce platform to use. Conversely, maybe you decided on your platform but are now looking for high-end web design to draw customers in.

That's okay. Either way, Clarity is happy to offer our services for your startup website. We'd be happy to give you a free quote or demo.

Clarity Client Website Portfolio

To see some of the sites we’ve designed for startup companies on a budget, check out the custom-designed websites displayed on our Project Portfolio.

Get more information on how startup and small business website design options from Clarity Ventures can help get your company on the right foot today!

Still have questions? Chat with Jeremy on the bottom right corner of your screen #NotARobot