There is a certain uncertainty in regards to the question “how much do legal websites cost?” And it’s not just websites either. Website design, SEO, domain names, hosting, updates – because they are intangible by their nature – it is hard to pin down the exact figure that these digital marketing services should cost.
The truth is, it’s often harder than it seems at first glance. The digital marketing industry takes multiple factors into account to calculate the prices for the services they offer, and they include what specific niche your business falls under. There is no way we could justifiably answer the question “how much do websites cost?”
Instead, in this article, we will answer the question “how much do law websites cost?” and relevant questions like the cost of SEO for lawyers, cost of domain name and cost of web hosting for legal practices. We will look at both industry averages and the prices we charge here at RankToday, where we strive to provide you industry-leading quality at affordable prices.
Table of Contents
Type of Expense: One-time
Industry Average Price: $3,000 to $15,000
RankToday Price: $3,000 to $5,000
The cost of website design and subsequent development is something that will vary depending on a number of factors. The volume of content, how complex your site is, what features you want, customization options and more factors play a large part in deciding the exact cost of your legal website design.
If it’s your first website, prices will be on the lower end of the spectrum. However, if it is a complete redesign and thousands of pages of content are being remade for your new site, in addition to the design of the new site, you will find that the prices will grow higher.
Type of Expense: Monthly
Industry Average Price: $5 to $50+ per month
RankToday Price: Free (Part of RankToday’s SEO Package)
Your website’s host is basically your website’s host. It is where all of your website’s content lives, ready to be displayed when someone visits your site. Hosting should not be an overly expensive thing.
There are many services that provide hosting services, so you can find not-bad, not-great hosting for as cheap as $5, maybe even lesser. GoDaddy, one of the most popular hosting services, provides hosting for around $5. WP Engine, one of the most high-end but affordable services, provides services starting at $35.
At RankToday, your website’s hosting will be provided as part of our comprehensive Search Engine Optimization package.
Type of Expense: Yearly
Industry Average Price: $20 to $100+ per year
RankToday Price: Free (Part of RankToday’s SEO Package)
The domain name is your website’s address – it’s what you type into the address bar on your web browser. It looks like ranktoday.com or google.com. You will generally find multiple payment options for your domain name, monthly, yearly, multi-yearly or even in groups of 3 months or 6 months. It is also generally a good idea to just go for a whole year, when you’re buying your domain name.
There are, of course, domains that cost in the millions, but your law firms domain name shouldn’t cost anywhere near that much. Basically, the more shorter and the more special it is, the more it will cost.
Be prepared to spend above $50 if you want a good domain name for your law firm, however, with RankToday’s SEO Packages, you will find that your ideal domain name for your legal website is yours without any additional cost.
Type of Expense: Monthly
Industry Average Price: $1,000 to $10,000 per month
RankToday Price: $2,000 to $5,000 per month
SEO is one of the most important things for any website, and for your legal website SEO, you will find that in addition to the costs for the technical know-how and implementation, many other things will, again, factor into the cost.
The factors that play the biggest part, however, are your location, the size of your site and your specialized area of practice.
First, what is your location and how competitive? If you are trying to start a legal practice or make yourself known in a popular city where many lawyers are all battling each other, you will find that your SEO costs will be on the higher end. New York, for instance, will result in a very hefty bill for you. If, say, you are an attorney in a relatively small town trying to make a name for yourself, you will find that your costs are significantly lower. This is because depending on how competitive a location is, SEO experts have to put in additional work to make sure that your website ranks high.
Obviously, your site’s size will also play a large part. A bigger site with more content means that more work is required to optimize all of it to perform. A lot of work goes into Search Engine Optimization and the work will increase as your site’s size increases – so, if you’ve got a big site with a fair amount of content, be prepared to spend a bit more.
Next is what area of law you specialize in. Much like the location, you will find that some areas of law have less lawyers practicing it, which will mean that there will be lower costs to optimize your site to rank high for relevant searches. Personal Injury, Divorce, DUI… These are areas with a lot of lawyers practicing them, which means they will cost higher than if your practicing Intellectual Property Law or Bankruptcy Law.
Type of Expense: Depends
Industry Average Price: Depends
RankToday Price: Free (Part of RankToday’s SEO Package)
Updating your site, making additions and fixing any issues that pop-up should be relatively cheap, however, the exact pricing depends on the nature of the work.
If you are hiring consultants to do this, you will probably be charged by the hour. Costs could run anywhere between $100 to $500. The actual work may be easy and quick – something like uploading new page of content should take five minutes, if it is already written or fixing a typo will take less than a minute. Something like updating plugins, testing forms, checking your site will take about an hour or so. So, the work varies in effort and time, but consultants will most likely still charge you by the hour.
At RankToday, any all content updates, additions and fixes are provided as part of our complete and comprehensive Law Firm SEO packages tailor-made to suit your needs.
Schedule a free consultation: Give us a Call at 1 (800) 967-9526
Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important things you need to do as part of expanding your presence into the digital medium. For your law firm, the right search engine optimization process can make or break the success you achieve. RankToday offers free SEO consultation for your law firm. Start the path to increasing your success now – Contact RankToday.
