Understanding the Real Cost of Web Design: The 6 Types of Website Designers Business Owners Should Know

A few years ago, in my MBA class, I got into a debate with a classmate who confidently claimed he built websites for 400 GHS – around 37$. At the time, my minimum project fee was 250$, with many SMEs paying 400$ to 600$ for a full-featured business website.

I took this personally because I’d just succeeded in signing a couple of my mates, now see how Chairman dey spoil market ne.

Anyway, that moment revealed something important: many business owners don’t actually understand the different kinds of web designers that exist, especially within the WordPress space. They compare prices without comparing skill sets, experience levels, business structures or even long-term value.

The truth is that “Web designer” is not one category; it’s an entire spectrum. And understanding that spectrum is the key to knowing what you’re truly paying for.

At EnspireFX Websites, we’ve worked across all stages of this spectrum, from beginners to full professional agencies. This gives us a clear view of the real landscape.

This article breaks this down for you as business owners. Here’s the breakdown;

1. Student Web Designers

Student designers are usually Computer Science or IT majors who were introduced to WordPress in school. They understand the basics of installing themes, adding plugins and building simple pages. But they’re often unaware of the full power of the platform. Many of these guys still view WordPress as a basic blogging tool, not a robust system used by multinational corporations, global NGOs, top universities and government institutions.

Student-built sites are usually inexpensive, but they lack depth: no proper optimisation, no performance enhancements, no conversion planning, and no long-term maintenance. The site may look acceptable at first glance, but it won’t carry a growing business very far.

Ive built an SME site for a client, even back in the day at KNUST. Up to this day, I still wonder what made this guy trust me with his import-export business website. We’ve rebuilt that site, by the way.

2. Hobby Web Designers

Hobby designers build websites for fun or as a side interest. They are not committed to the profession, so they rarely invest in premium tools, quality hosting environments, proper security frameworks or reliable update systems. Most rely entirely on free themes and plugins—not because the project requires it, but because it costs them nothing.

The biggest risk is inconsistency. Today they’re building websites; tomorrow, they’re a banker, nurse or accountant. Many businesses come to us for rescue jobs because their former “designer” has moved on to another career and can no longer help with updates, fixes or asset retrieval.

If your website is important to your business, you cannot rely on a hobbyist.

3. New Entrant Freelancers

New entrants are serious about building a career in web design, but they’re still early in the journey. They are eager to gain experience, build their portfolio and improve their skills. Because of this, they charge very little – or even work for free – to attract clients. Ready to sacrifice for the experience and the reviews.

How else can you get clients when you won website shows up on Google on the 10th page of Google when potential customers search for a web designer in your city?

Their main limitation is the design process. Many typical lack a structured workflow. There’s often no onboarding system, no SLA, no formal agreement, no long-term maintenance plan and no proper asset management.

This lack of structure leads to sites built with too many plugins, unnecessary themes and inconsistent layouts. They lack an understanding of the web hosting environment, and so beyond the website itself, they can diagnose problems relating to web hosting, email deliverability or server constraints.

At EnspireFX, we look back at some of our earliest websites and recognise how far we’ve come. I remember how I read that this Hostgator hosting plan can take unlimited websites, and hosted a law firm client’s website on it as an Addon domain, on the same cPanel as our own website, enspirefx.com.

The client loved the site and wrote a glowing review for me, and why wouldn’t she? I charged barely 100$ for that site, including hosting and domain.

Anyway, everything was fine until the client started complaining of not receiving her emails. I didn’t even know that I could just give her access via herdomain/webmail. What I did was log in to the inbox and forward her emails to her Gmail inbox.

Yeah, I know, it’s crazy. Clearly, I couldn’t give her the cPanel access, since the same access is shared by my other websites.

So she brought in this other guy who was a more experienced web developer. Chriaman took one look at my hosting setup and immediately recommended that she migrate the site. I was surprised, because I naively expected him to just fix the email issue.

And that is how I lost my first law firm client. Interestingly, she paid 500$ to this guy just to host and manage her site, the site I built.

And I learned a lesson that day. Since then, I don’t know what would make me host multiple sites on one cPanel, even if they belong to the same client; we’re not doing it. I later found out that a messy DNS configuration is another big reason to never do this.

It might surprise you to know that many of these cheap website pricing plans are offering hosting in the form of add-on domains and sub-domains.

Many of those early sites later had to be rebuilt, redesigned or optimised as our skills matured.

4. Programmers & Developers

This group includes full-stack developers and programmers who specialise in HTML, CSS, PHP, React, Next.js, .NET and similar frameworks. They have strong technical abilities and understand code deeply. However, many are not designers.

Their websites are functional, but visually weak. They lack modern UI/UX design principles, meaning the sites may look outdated despite being technically advanced. Because they hand-code, they charge significantly higher fees and typically target enterprise clients or government contracts.

Interestingly, many programmers eventually switch to building client sites with WordPress – because it is faster, scalable and more efficient. But some still charge full hand-coded pricing for WordPress projects.

By the way, when our clients require a custom web application or full-stack development, we use PHP/Laravel for all such projects

5. Experienced WordPress Professionals

These are designers who have mastered WordPress not as a hobby, but as a development environment. They understand modern design systems, dynamic content structures, UI/UX strategy, performance optimisation, security hardening and advanced workflow tools.

Experienced designers rarely rely on premade layouts. Instead, they use a clean base theme as a framework and build the site’s structure from scratch. For instance, at EnspireFX, we create dynamic templates for pages, blog posts, case studies, job listings, directories and any custom content the business needs.

We choose premium tools wisely, use a small number of high-quality plugins and optimise our client websites for speed, security and scalability.

This approach creates websites that are modern, branded, unique, high-performing and built to grow with the business. For SMEs, this offers premium quality at long-term value.

6. Full-Service Web Design Agencies

This is where EnspireFX Websites operates today. In the age of AI, any tech-savvy business owner can create a basic website with a drag-and-drop builder or some AI code generator. That’s why serious web agencies now go far beyond building websites. They function as digital strategy partners.

Modern agencies offer end-to-end digital growth services like conversion-focused design, technical SEO, content strategy, lead generation systems, social media management, digital PR, brand positioning, automation tools, online reputation management and long-term website management.

The idea is to make the company’s website become one part of a broader digital plan designed to attract customers, build trust and drive revenue. It’s now not just about web design, but business growth.

Why This Matters for SMEs

The next time you receive a website quote, the first question shouldn’t be “Why is this expensive?”
The real question is: “Which category does this designer fall into?”

A GHS 400 website and a 600$ website may both be “built with WordPress,” but they are not the same product. One is a basic template installation. The other is a carefully engineered digital asset built to support your brand, convert visitors and grow your business.

Incidentally, at EnspireFX Websites, our mission is to help SMEs understand these differences so they can make informed decisions and invest where the value truly lies.

If you want a site that is modern, high-performing and built to grow with your business, we’re here to help you build it the right way, once.