There are many factors that go into the mix for pricing a new website or a website redesign. The concept is very similar to what goes into determining the price of a new vehicle. The model, manufactures, accessories and place of purchase will significantly modify the price. And while a privately owned used compact might get you from point A to point B, that new sports car from the dealership will get you there in style.
Your site can be a basic page or two that does not change very often (often called a ’static’ website), or it can be thousands of pages connected to a database (a ‘dynamic’ site), or accept credit cards for online ordering (ecommerce), have interactive video, animation, or anything in-between. It’s the job of your developer or project manager to sit down with you, find out exactly what it is you want; what it is you need and come up with the best solution to achieve your business goals. And, if necessary, help you define your business goals.
In general, You can break the cost of a website into 3 parts: Design/Development, Hosting, and Marketing:
Design/Development
As of this writing, the average professionally designed site is going to be $2,000+. While some firms will bid less, this price is actually very low for a reputable company. More often a site will fall in the $5-15K range. This price is for the typical professional looking site that is easily expanded and has some sort of ability to log in to edit content (Known as a CMS).
If all you are looking for is a real basic looking page or two that you might change a couple times per year you can most likely have that done for a few hundred. That being said, I have never dealt with a company that had a basic site created that hasn’t upgraded their site to the type mentioned in the last paragraph within a year or two.
Hosting
Hosting charges are based on the amount of traffic you receive to your website and there are several different types of hosting. If you know how to manage things yourself you can get hosting for under $10 per month for a low traffic site. The common charge for a firm seems to be about $20 per month. This price is relatively static for most sites but can increase as your traffic increases.
For example, if your traffic climbs from 50-100 visitors a day to 2,000 – 20,000 visitors per hour your prices are going to go up. With that amount of traffic you will most likely need a dedicated server or two. Those run about $400 per month. As a side note, there are places out there that advertise ‘unlimited bandwidth’ but they are lying. They won’t charge you more but your site will just become unavailable to everyone when too many visitors try to visit at the same time.
Marketing
Online Marketing is similar in concept to Radio, Print or Television. If you have ever dealt with these forms of advertising you know that the more you pay the more exposure you get, so how much you spend is really determined by your budget. You can get minimal results with $50 - $150 per month. Larger organizations have been known to drop $50,000+ per month.
If you haven’t done so already you might want to start setting aside some of your advertising budget for online marketing and ask your web designer or marketing department how you can take advantage of this form of advertising.
So in conclusion…
The cost of a website can vary greatly and is determined by what you want and what you need. With all the possibilities your best bet for a solid price is to sit down with a rep from a design company or two and tell them your situation. If they want your business they’ll be sure to come back with a price 
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