FAQs

Every website is unique, and there isn't a single answer to this question. We estimate on the needs of an individual project, and we consider design complexity, number of pages/sections, and other unique business requirements (if applicable).

As we design for specific business requirements, we can only answer this after asking a lot of questions and determining your small business needs.

Speaking generally, web designers/developers typically charge between $1000-$3000 for a standard 4 to 6 page website. Costs vary based on experience, the amount of content on each page, and amount of time spent on design and development. For complex websites, especially dynamic ones, the cost can be $10 000+ at a minimum. Development time for dynamic websites can vary widely, and developers are often hired to work on the project until it is complete. It's important to consider if a dynamic website is the best option or if there are more cost-effective alternatives that achieve the same goal without sacrificing viability.

At Mesmer Design, we prioritize static websites whenever appropriate. These websites have simpler pricing models and can be more easily estimated. With a fixed number of pages and sections, we can accurately determine the development time for each section. We are committed to providing a free estimate and being transparent with our pricing. We will break down how we determined your estimate and work with you to ensure you get the best value for your investment.

We calculate our prices based on a $75/hour baseline and take into consideration factors such as initial design and planning, the number of pages/components, project difficulty, and any additional factors that may arise. Our pricing structure directly reflects the time invested in design, development, and deployment from start to finish.

Our estimates are transparent, and we are happy to break down how we determined an estimate. Since the final quote depends on various factors, we encourage you to contact us with any questions you may have!

We require a 50% deposit at the start of the project, which is calculated based on the project estimate. The remaining payment is due within 30 days upon completion. If requested, we can discuss and create a payment schedule that suits your specific requirements. We understand that this is a significant investment, and we are here to assist you in budgeting for the expense in the most convenient way possible.

Currently, we send estimates and invoices using Square Invoices, but this is subject to change at any time. You can pay directly through Square Invoices or by sending an e-transfer to our email address.

There are so many factors that can affect the cost of a website, which is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that there are many ways we can work with you to determine the best value for your money. The curse is that it can be hard to determine the exact cost of a website without a lot of information. We are happy to work with you to determine the best value for your money, and we are committed to providing a free estimate and being transparent with our pricing. We will break down how we determined your estimate and work with you to help you understand what you are paying for.

Generally speaking, there are alway ways to meet a budget. Don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have a specific budget in mind, and we'll work with you to determine the best value for your money. If we are building a new website for you, it's important to note that there is a minimum amount of work that has to go into building and setting up every new website.

No matter your budget, one thing we will never compromise is the quality of our work and delivering a complete, working website. Your website will be fully functional, usable by your customers, and implemented using the same best practices and standards as any other website we create.

While many web agencies rely on WordPress and website builders for quick deployment, these tools often come with hidden costs: slower load times, reduced and hard-to-maintain SEO, and ongoing maintenance fees. Traditional approaches can lead to businesses paying $3000+ upfront and $500+ annually for relatively simple websites. We believe small businesses deserve better value and performance from their digital investment.

The industry standard has (unfortunately) devolved to prioritize rapid deployment using no-code solutions and page builders. Agencies do this because they can get websites online faster, but this benefits them, not their customers. While this approach may produce visually appealing websites quickly, it often compromises on crucial technical aspects like performance, security, and long-term maintainability. The result? Websites that look good, but may not serve your business goals effectively over time.

Our approach leverages modern static site generators - powerful frameworks that create fast, secure websites. For most small businesses, static websites are the best option. They provide the perfect balance of functionality and simplicity. While content management systems like WordPress have their place, we believe in choosing the right tool for each specific situation. This technology-first approach allows us to build high-performance websites that truly serve your business needs.

We're committed to making your website an asset, not a burden. With static website architecture, most of our clients can take advantage of free or low-cost hosting, typically paying only for their domain name ($10-25 annually). Compare this to traditional WordPress hosting at $50+ per month and the long-term savings become clear. Additionally, agency maintenance fees for managing dynamic websites can quickly add up, and is often not necessary. Our approach prioritizes efficiency and value, ensuring your website supports your business goals without unnecessary expenses.

Warning: Technical jargon ahead.

We specialize in static site generators (SSGs). SSGs allow you to build websites in a dynamic way, but have two huge advantages: they have significantly better developer experience compared to site builders like Wordpress or Wix, and they emphasize performance more than anything. Instead of serving content dynamically, they compile your website code into optimized static files. Some SSGs are 100% static, while some create a cache that can later update when content changes. This results in extremely fast and optimized static websites that don't require any (or minimal) server-side processing, and deliver your website files directly from the hosting server.

Our favorite SSG frameworks include:

• Astro (the fastest SSG that still provides developer flexibility)
• Next.js (when you need additional flexibility and content updates without rebuilding the website)

If you want to include dynamically generated areas on your website, such as a blog, news section, or portfolio, you'll need an additional tool to generate these webpages as static files. This is where Headless Content Management System (CMS) software comes in. A Headless CMS is completely separate from your website code, allowing for easy updates, maintainability, the ability to easily transfer to a different headless CMS if you choose to do so.

Our preferred Headless CMSs are:

• Sanity Studio (current favourite. Very extensible with minimal setup)
• Payload CMS (also extensible with minimal setup. Integrates well with a Next.js front-end)
• DecapCMS (Also extensible with minimal setup, but is designed to work best with only one host: Netlify)

We've had the best developer experience with Sanity Studio, and from our experience, you'll have the best experience with it too. It's easy to set up, it's very extensible, and it's easy to write content with.

It's important to note that the choice of technology depends on the specific business needs. These tools are well-suited for sites that don't change often or don't require a back-end. For example, an e-commerce store requires a back-end server to handle stock, payments, etc. Yes, e-commerce websites can be hand-coded and often perform better, but due to the complexity of inventory management and payments, using a solution with decades of development and security updates is typically the best option.

If you don't understand any of this, don't worry. We'll handle all of the technical aspects. What matters is the end result: Your website will help you generate business, address your customer's questions/needs, and build your business' brand and image.

We offer the flexibility to handle domain registration for you or guide you through the process of registering it yourself. If you prefer, we're happy to assist with setup and ensure everything runs smoothly either way.

If we register your domain name, it means we are listed as the legal owner of the domain. Registering the domain under your name ensures you retain full legal ownership and control, linking it directly to your contact information. This safeguards your ability to manage, transfer, or update the domain as needed, giving you complete independence.

No matter the decision, it doesn't benefit us to own your domain name and we will ALWAYS transfer it to you. The only reason we would register it is to help you launch your website and configure the technical side of things.

When it comes to registering a domain name, first and foremost, use a reputable registrar. We won't name and shame the bad registrars, but just know that the shady registrars will "buy" domains as you search for their availability, and "sell" it back to you at a higher price. This is unfortunately a common scam, and it's best to avoid these registrars. This is just one of the shady practices you'd encounter, but let's leave it there for now.

In order to avoid these headaches, we recommend searching if your ideal domain name is available directly on ICANN, a non-profit that maintains databases of domains and accredits registrars, and is not affiliated with any specific registrar.

There are many different registrars, but there are only a few we recommend and trust:

• Porkbun
• Cloudflare
• Namecheap

These registrars offer free WHOIS privacy protection, which is a must-have for any domain name. They also provide free SSL certificates, allowing your website to be accessed through the secure, HTTPS protocol for no extra cost. These registrars are also the most reputable that we have worked with, and we regularly communicate with other developers for any potential issues surrounding registrars.

All registrars offer add-ons for a cost, and most are not necessary. The only one we typically recommend is a domain name email, e.g. [email protected]. While many businesses operate perfectly fine with a free email, like Gmail, some individuals will consider an email domain that matches your website to be more authentic and/or reputable.

If you already have a domain name, we can help you transfer it to a new registrar. This is a simple process that requires a few steps, and we'll guide you through it. Depending on your existing registrar, you might not even need to transfer anything.

Typically, this depends on: How often your website content changes, if content needs to be dynamically generated (e.g. an e-commerce store), if there are products being sold on your site, if data needs to be stored, if this data is used to dynamically generate content, how customers interact with your site, and so much more.

We will ask a lot of questions to determine all of the features that your website should have. Our focus is to build websites that only have what they need without any unnecessary bloat, which will save you costs in the long run.

For a typical small business site, this is the sum of three things: domain name, website maintenance, and hosting. A domain name is mandatory (e.g. mesmerdesign.ca), and standard domains start at $15-25 per year. Website maintenance is when there are updates to your site, such as adding/removing pages or content, and varies depending on the amount of changes. Hosting costs vary greatly, and for small businesses, range from $0-50 per month. A static site (e.g. no back-end or database) that doesn't change a lot can be hosted for free on several platforms, as long as your site remains within the free-tier quota. A dynamic site with an out-of-the-box back-end (e.g. WordPress blog, Shopify online store) must be hosted on a paid server, and these range from $5-$100 depending on the quality of the server or type of service (you get what you pay for).

Additional costs may arise for certain online services like e-commerce stores. For example, fees per transaction.

We'll work with you to ensure that this is all set up properly, so that you aren't paying needless costs!

You own everything that we, Mesmer Design, create or set up for you, except for certain third-party resources (see below). This includes the code we wrote and your selected domain name (if you registered it yourself). If you send any assets to us that you own, such as images, you will retain ownership of these assets.

There are several important considerations when it comes to asset ownership:

• Images, icons, and other visual assets: Usage/rights is subject to the original author of these assets. At Mesmer Design, we only use assets with commercial usage, and we try to use free no-attribution commercial assets when possible. It's important to read the individual usage guidelines for these assets(s) before choosing them. In certain situations, using paid assets can be beneficial, like premium stock images.
• Code: Code ownership is a tricky topic. Any code we write is by default considered intellectual property per Canadian law. Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce. When one writes code, one is creating a form of literary work protected under copyright law. However, per our standard project contract, this does not affect cost, functionality, or your website in any way. In effect, you are freely permitted to use our code as long as this agreement isn't abused. We simply state that our code cannot be redistributed as your own for profit. This really only refers to reselling our code, for example, selling our code as a paid HTML theme. Using the code on your website is 100% allowed of course, and does not require any extra hoops to jump through.
• Code frameworks: We use a variety of frameworks when building websites, primarily static site generators (SSGs) such as Astro, Hugo, and Next.js. Each open-source framework has a specific license that governs how it can be used by developers. Most popular frameworks are distributed under permissive licenses, such as the MIT license, which allows free use without requiring attribution. However, it's essential to understand these licenses to ensure compliance. As developers, we always review and adhere to the licensing terms of any framework or library we use. For you, this is only a concern if you request the use of a specific framework or library that has a more restrictive license. Additionally, it's worth noting that code not distributed publicly is generally exempt from licensing restrictions, with some exceptions.

For any third-party resources, usage/ownership is defined by the third-party's individual usage guidelines.

We ask that you register your own domain name (if needed, we'll show you how) so that you legally own it, and if we set up any hosting under our name, it will eventually be transferred to you. After the final invoice is settled, we'll provide you with the source code.

We encourage keeping your long-term costs low. However, we use static site generator frameworks, which can be harder to learn than builders like WordPress. While we can enable text content editing without coding, structural changes require coding knowledge. We can provide resources and guides, but coding is time-consuming and bug fixes can be difficult. Often, hiring a developer is more cost-effective.

We can discuss this early on to find the best solution for you. Static site generators may not be ideal if you plan large updates yourself. We are always an email away for any updates.

Remember, any code edits made by you after the site is live are not covered by our warranty, as outlined in our standard project contract. This applies only to code changes; text edits in the CMS are fine. Our warranty covers bug fixes missed during development for up to one year after delivery.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions!