How much does it cost to create a landing page in 2021?

The effectiveness of a landing page is undoubted. It was estimated that a highly targeted landing page can elevate the conversion rate up to 300%! However, not all landing pages (LPs) are equally effective. In today’s article, we’ll investigate the three most common approaches to creating landing pages, the pros and cons of these approaches, and landing page cost. With this information at hand, you can easily pick your path and get a page that delivers the most leads. Let’s dive in!

Option 1. Ready-made themes

A ready-made theme is a layout created for mass use by developers who sell it to everyone. This one-size-fits-all solution is specifically created to cover as many users' needs as possible, meaning it’s an easy to use solution applicable to almost any purpose.

Themes are created to be used in pairs with some popular CMS solutions like WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify, and others. Modern themes can be compatible with numerous platforms making them even more appropriate for a massive application.

Advantages of templated themes

There are some solid reasons why themes are so popular nowadays. Here are some of them:

• Themes are cheap. Themes are created once and are sold numerous times by their creators. Developers don’t need to constantly update or improve them. This is why they are very cheap in comparison with other development solutions.
• Time-efficient. If timing is critical for you, then themes could be a great solution. It literally takes a few mouse clicks to buy and install it.
• Beginner friendly. Themes are created specifically for beginners with little or no coding skills at all. They are very easy to adapt to your needs and business type without hiring specialists for this work.
• Wide choice range. Themes are comparatively easy to create and are great for making a profit (created once, sold thousands of times). This is why new themes appear every day. There are literally thousands of options you can choose from. More than that, you can easily change a theme if it doesn’t meet your needs anymore. Just choose the one that seems appealing to you.

Disadvantages of templated themes

Themes have a lot of benefits and are great for some projects. Nevertheless, they have a lot of limitations too. Let’s take a look:

• Not unique. If you are just starting your business or want to test your business hypotheses fast, then a templated design might work for you. However, the established companies or startups that want to build products that last choose unique solutions for their landing pages. Why? Because web pages with unique UI and UX are respectable. They reflect the credibility of an establishment and its general approach to business. The templated look of all themes will never create a “wow” effect.
• Very rigid. If you decide to change anything in your theme, you are more likely to face some issues. Any changes in its code can ruin the theme’s appearance. More than that, you can face issues with the theme during the installation stage due to its poor documentation.
• Poor support. If you choose the cheapest option, don’t expect to get great support services. Some themes are sold without support services offered.
• Influence website performance. There are some neat and light-weight themes that don’t have any negative impact on your website performance. However, there are a lot of themes with low code quality that makes your website slow.
• Not SEO friendly. Google ranks unique websites higher than templated ones. If you add the problem with the website speed, you can forget about being in the top 10.

Theme landing page development cost

If you opt for this design option, you can save a lot. The cost for themes varies from $9 to $99, depending on their interactivity.

Option 2. Website builders

Website builders are the platforms that offer a wide range of tools to create your own website. These platforms have a lot to offer.

Advantages of website builders

As for 2020, about 20% of all websites were powered by WordPress, one of the most established website builders. The number is established. It proved that such builders are very beneficial for businesses. Here’s why:

• Easy to use. Similar to themes, website builders are very straightforward and beginner-friendly.
• Resource effective. Both time and money could be saved when opting for this development path. It takes little time to create a landing page using a builder, and it’s much cheaper than the development from scratch.
• Little technician skills required. If you are familiar with such notions as CSS and HTML, you are good to go with the website builder. If these terms are new to you, you’ll need slightly more time to sort everything out.

Disadvantages of website builders

Despite all the pros builders can offer you, they also have disadvantages you need to know about.

• Not perfect for mobile. All landing page builders claim their websites are optimized for mobile users. That’s partly true. Yes, you can see all the content of your web page via a mobile device. Nevertheless, such a page is hardly user-friendly. The thing is, when developing your landing page from scratch, you can apply a mobile-first design approach that allows you to ensure flawless interaction between a mobile user and your website.
• Limited functionality. If it’s your first software project, you may suppose that LPs are static and don’t need any functionality. However, modern landing pages may require a lot of features in order to fulfill their primer purpose ‒ convert visitors. Website builders can’t offer you a wide functionality range.
• Customization issues. Similar to the previous option, it’s better not to touch the source code of your landing page created with a builder. Once you change even a line of code, you can expect unpredictable results.
• Disadvantageous terms. If you opt for a free builder, you’ll get a website packed with ad banners all over it. The thing is, such builders provide you a free website in exchange for advertising surface areas stuffing your neat website UI with colorful banners.
• May lack user-friendliness. The UI and UX design of a website should be created according to the buyer’s journey. Every element on a page should lead a visitor to make an action you want them to do. Once you start moving elements on your landing page, you tweak the way your users have to walk to convert, making it long and complicated. Thus, unintentionally, you can decrease the conversion rate of your website.

Cost of leadpages created with builders

The cost of such a landing page can vary drastically. Some builders offer their services for free (but don’t forget their terms). Other constructors will require payments for hostings, tools, and plugins you may want to use.

Option 3. Bespoke development

Bespoke development means you will create your LP from scratch. Unless you’re a full-stack developer with in-depth design skills, you’ll need a development team to create a landing page from scratch.

Advantages of bespoke development

If the cheapest options don’t appeal to you, you can opt for LP development and design from scratch. Here are the reasons why you would want it:

• Superb user experience. A landing page created from scratch by a talented design team provides visitors with a smooth, frictionless journey. A design team that works on a landing page starts its work with comprehensive research of your users (to give them everything they need) and your competitors’ sites (to see what best practices they apply and mistakes they make).
• Unique design. While out-of-the-box solutions make a good overall impression, a unique UX and UI design create a “wow” effect. One of a kind design tailored to your business needs and users’ expectations shows your serious attitude to the business and customers.
• Full project ownership. When choosing a design from scratch, you get a product that is 100% yours. When the design and development stages are over, you get the source code. It means you can easily tweak, modify, update your software product adding or reducing its functionality.
• Perfect for marketing. In terms of marketing, a tailored LP is the best option. When you start a pay-per-click (PPC) marketing campaign, you want to be sure that your money isn’t wasted. When you understand the cost of every visitor, obviously, you want these visitors to see your company’s representation in the best light. This is why a unique design, smooth navigation, and excellent website performance is exactly what you need.

Disadvantages of of bespoke development

For an established company that values its reputation, the bespoke landing page development is the most beneficial. The only drawbacks such development imposes is high resource consumption.

To create a page that can meet all your business objectives, you need time and money.

Bespoke landing page cost

The design and development cost of a website from scratch depends on the following aspects:

• Complexity of design layouts
• Web page functionality
• Hourly rate of your vendor

At Boston Unisoft Technologies, we’ve estimated the time necessary to create a beautiful landing page including hosting and support services and offer you a one of a kind landing page to help your business stand out from the competition for $999.

If you're ready to create a phenomenal landing page to introduce your company to users, contact us, and we’ll start working on it ASAP!