Cost of a Website in Trinidad

The cost of a website in Trinidad typically varies between TT$2,500 and $10,000. Factors affecting price include the amount and complexity of features, number of pages, and general expertise of the developer(s).

There is no one-size-fits-all website as each business has its own specific website requirements. If you are looking for affordable website development in Trinidad and Tobago, we highly recommend you read on to learn more about what goes into a website.

Generally, most local small businesses in Trinidad and Tobago would be okay with a 1 to 5 page website with separate sections for ‘About Us’, ‘Products and Services’, ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ and others. The pages required would be dependent on what you’d want the website to do.

Before you accept the quotation from a local web developer to build your site, you must understand exactly what you are paying for and what direct benefit it will bring to your business. This will ensure you get the most out of your investment by not buying too much or too little of what features will work best to grow your business.

If you are looking for cost effective website design in Trinidad then you’ll be able to better negotiate with a prospective developer by first researching what typically goes into a website so you’ll have more bargaining power.

Most web designers are often fixated on the features of their product that they don’t know how to properly translate those features into actual benefits to you, the business owner.

On the lower end of the spectrum, local web designers advertise prices ranging from TT$2,000 all the way down to TT$800 in an apparent ongoing price war among Trinidad and Tobago’s low budget ‘Web Designers’.

On the high end of the scale, you’ll see websites advertised by local companies in Trinidad for upwards of TT$25,000 without even meeting you to discuss what your specific requirements might be.

Somewhere in the mix; you’ll find some web designers using a ‘call for pricing’ approach where you’d first have to call before receiving a quote. This is not unusual in the creative services industry where requirements for a particular project need to be discussed and calculated to help determine the ultimate price.

So where does that leave you? If you’re like most people in Trinidad and Tobago who haven’t pulled the trigger on a website yet, then you’ve probably settled for a Facebook Page instead. You may even be doubting if you need a website if you already have a Facebook Page.

How can you begin to make a choice on which website provider to work with when you can’t even trust if you’re actually getting value for money?

If you’re just looking for straight figures, then feel free to scroll all the way down to the end and see the cost summary provided.

We hope you chose to NOT simply scroll down to the summary as the more information you have about the cost of producing a website is the more power and control you’ll have in the negotiation process.

To help break this down, I am going to list each aspect that impacts on the cost of a website in Trinidad and also go into some detail to explain that cost so you’ll be able to tackle any web developer that comes your way with a sales pitch.

1. Website Domain Registration and Hosting Cost

A Domain is the actual URL you’d type in the browser e.g. ‘www.whateveryouwant.com’ and Domain Registration is the ‘deed’ to your ‘online’ property just the same as a deed to land that you’d own in T&T. This is usually at around US$15 per year for domain registration.

BE CAREFUL: Shady local ‘web developers’ may offer to register your domain on your behalf without mentioning to you that THEY OWN THE DOMAIN once purchased by them. This means they can tie you in to a lifelong relationship with them and there’s little you can do about it unless there was a clear contract signed at the beginning, outlining ownership of the online properties.

In any case, it is always better if you whip out your own credit card and pay for domain registration and hosting yourself to avoid these awkward situations in the future.

‘Hosting’ just means the actual website files that you’d want your visitors to see is being delivered by a special computer on the Internet called a ‘server’ usually residing somewhere in the United States. Hosting costs are usually at US$75 per year and includes free domain registration.

There’s local hosting in Trinidad and Tobago but it’s not worth the costs largely due to poor economies of scale in a small island.

Domain Registration and Hosting Cost Summary: US$75/TT$500 per year

Recommended Provider: Bluehost Web Hosting

2. Requirements Gathering and Business Analysis Cost

Going to someone and saying you want them to build you a website is about as vague as going to a building contractor and saying you want them to build you a house. In either case, they’ll need a lot more information. There’s so many different configurations it can take so it’s best to measure twice and cut once. For that reason, requirements gathering is one of the most important steps in the process of acquiring a meaningful website that does what you intend for it to do.

The process of collecting requirements is usually done by asking several important questions that guide the formation of a requirements document. More seasoned web developers will already know a suitable outcome for the web project and will usually guide the business owner to that end naturally with thoughtful questions that also serve to give the business owner a sense of ‘ownership’ of the web project.

Requirements will be analysed to provide a clear ‘blueprint’ of the website to be constructed. Every industry has different standards that web design must follow in order for sites to function effectively. E.g. a website for a retail company will have a link structure, copywriting and design elements completely different to that of a hotel booking website.

It is not as simple as merely taking an ‘online template’ and changing out the words and pictures each time to match the clients’ business.

Each business is unique to the landscape that it operates within and it is especially important to analyse all the competition websites and use that information to build a superior website capable of outperforming them. Again, the more experience a developer has, the more thorough this process will be.

The final ‘blueprint’ document is what any reputable company will then use to hold themselves and the client accountable throughout the rest of the project and not just on ‘verbal agreements’ which is the hallmark of an unseasoned web designer.

As you can guess, this entire step in the web development process is omitted by low budget ‘web designers’ who will argue that once it looks good, that’s all you need.

Of course you’ll save money on the cost of a website in Trinidad but what’s the point in spending even a small amount of money if you’re not going to get the ultimate results you need?

Requirements Gathering and Business Analysis Cost Summary: TT$1,000 – TT$50,000+ on complex projects. You get what you pay for here.

3. Website Development and Testing Cost

This is the part where an actual coder or team of coders come together to construct your website using various tools available to them. The technology to be used is decided in this step and NOT at the start of the project. Technology must never be presented as the end result but instead as an enabler of what you are trying to achieve.

Beware of independent contractors touting themselves as experts in a particular technology and using that as a selling point to build you a website; tunnel vision will be the demise of your project.

That being said, there are several things to consider including programming languages such as PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript; Content Management Systems including Joomla, Drupal, Magento and the most popular, WordPress. Once it’s all done, thorough testing must expose and fix any problems before the website is ready for launch. The cost of a website in Trinidad is heavily impacted by the workload in developing the actual system to be deployed.

Development and Testing Cost Summary: TT$2,000 – TT$100,000+ on complex projects.

4. Website Launch and Maintenance Cost

While there is technically no additional cost for an actual launch of a website, it may incur a marketing cost either via print or online ads being run to ensure that as many people as possible are aware of it being launched.

Maintenance of a website varies depending on what exactly needs to be maintained. For the most part, content can easily be updated for free by in-house staff and only when necessary, does a one-time or ongoing maintenance agreement need to be put in place.

Launch and Maintenance Cost Summary: $ Varies

Web Design Cost Summary

Let’s do the math: For the most basic website…
TT$500 + TT$1,000 + TT$2,000 = TT$3,500 for a basic website

As you would expect, more complex websites including e-commerce websites and heavy database driven websites like Real Estate, Car Sales or Directory websites will cost more, as more work is required to launch those websites.

In conclusion, the cost of a website in Trinidad really depends on multiple factors listed above. Always remember that web designers who have a ‘one size fits all’ approach with different package prices designed to fit square pegs in square holes will give you just that.

In the world of websites, if a company sends you a quote or pricing before you’ve actually had a meaningful conversation with them, then you can expect the website will not be tailored to your specific needs and will not give you specific results.

Things have come a long way for website design in Trinidad but to get the most out of your money, it is best handled by actual marketing professionals.

One important thing you should factor into the cost of the website is your marketing of the website. Just having the website up and running alone is not enough to actually get customers heading toward it. We employ proven strategies for getting the best social media marketing in Trinidad and Tobago to make sure you get maximum traffic and more sales from your website.