For Life Marketing: Digital Marketing for Pregnancy Centers
How much does a pregnancy center website cost?
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A pregnancy center website is a critical marketing and communication tool. It’s the central place for women in your community to find you, feel heard, build trust, and connect with you online.
Because it’s so important, the process of choosing who to help you build your site, what features, how to attract visitors to it, how much to spend, and a thousand other questions can make the whole process feel a bit overwhelming.
You’re wise to start with the question, “how much does a pregnancy center website cost?” Here’s why.
We work with pregnancy center directors and build, host, manage, and market pregnancy center websites — and we created this guide because cost is a question that comes up. We want to help you find the path forward that works best for you.
But we also want you to know the hidden costs many people don’t consider until it’s too late – the amount of time you need to invest in the process and if the website will actually serve its intended purpose.
What to consider when hiring a web design company.
There are four common ways to go about building your pregnancy center website:
- Build it yourself.
- Hire a freelancer (this includes your niece in high school).
- Hire an agency that builds websites for anyone.
- Hire an agency that builds pregnancy center websites.
Each option impacts your cost, time, and the likelihood that your website will help your center connect with your local community.
Let’s go through each option.
Option 1:
Build it Yourself
Several website builders and website templates exist to help anyone build a website. While the primary drawback is using your time on this (over the other 300 things you have to do), a secondary disadvantage is that building a website in a vacuum without any experience or feedback leads to a website that doesn’t have the impact that it could.
Factors
- Best Use of Your Time 10%
- Best Use of Your Budget 30%
- Understanding of Needs 90%
- Understanding of Technology 30%
- Understanding of Marketing 30%
Costs
Website Design and Development
$200 – $2000
Website Hosting and Management
$10+ Month
Option 2:
Hire a Freelancer
Hiring a freelancer should add technical experience to your website project but will require your time to manage it and educate the freelancer on your center and its services, clients, and specific needs.
While their hourly rate may be less than an agency, remember that they will spend more time finding and building solutions to deliver the features you need – like handling appointments and donations. Also, remember that freelancers may require your time on nights and weekends – when they work most.
Factors
- Best Use of Your Time 30%
- Best Use of Your Budget 30%
- Understanding of Needs 20%
- Understanding of Technology 60%
- Understanding of Marketing 60%
Costs
Website Design and Development
$1000 – $5000
Website Hosting and Management
$20+ Month
Option 3:
Hire a General Web Agency
A general web agency is a business that builds websites for any business or nonprofit. An advantage of hiring an agency is that a team of experts will manage your website project, which means you’ll spend less time ensuring the project stays on schedule.
However, they will need hands-on assistance understanding your culture, services, products, clients, and community to do their best. This approach can provide a fresh perspective, but it will require your time, and the learning curve will increase the website’s development costs and could impact the results your website can offer.
Factors
- Best Use of Your Time 70%
- Best Use of Your Budget 50%
- Understanding of Needs 30%
- Understanding of Technology 80%
- Understanding of Marketing 80%
Costs
Website Design and Development
$7500 – $15000
Website Hosting and Management
$75+ Month
Option 4:
Hire a Specialized Web Agency
Partnering with a web agency focused on serving pregnancy centers, like For Life Marketing, provides your center with a dedicated team that already has a strong understanding of your culture, services, clients, needs, struggles, and wins.
Your time involvement is less because of their knowledge and experience. They work more efficiently and effectively because they have worked with other centers and already have insight into what tools, technology, and marketing work well.
Factors
- Best Use of Your Time 100%
- Best Use of Your Budget 100%
- Understanding of Needs 100%
- Understanding of Technology 100%
- Understanding of Marketing 100%
Costs
Website Design and Development
$7500 – $15000
Website Hosting and Management
$75+ Month
Other Cost-Impacting Factors of a Pregnancy Center Website
Brand & Design
Design and user experience are critical factors for how visitors receive and use your website. Research shows that people decide in less than 3 seconds to leave or stay on a website, and the clarity of its design and message are significant factors in that decision.
If you decide to save costs using a prebuilt template, be sure that it matches your center’s brand and personality – and keep the services you offer clear and easy to find.
The same principles apply if you decide on a custom design. The partner you select will be able to help you immensely in the area of design, clarity, and ensuring your website welcomes visitors.
Features & Function
The costs of developing needed features will vary based on what you need your website to do for you. Think about your end goals – what does your website need to do well? Get phone calls? Get donations? Educate your community?
Prebuilt solutions reduce initial costs but may require workarounds or operational changes. Custom feature development increases your initial investment but saves time and money in increased operational efficiency and automation.
Working with a professional design and marketing agency will help you think about and answer all the questions and topics to consider before you start your website project. That way, your website gives you a great return on your investment instead of just checking the “done” box.
Think about your end goals – what does your website need to do well?
Tip: What can you bring to the table?
Consider your strengths and what you can contribute if you work with a freelancer or agency.
For example, do you already have brand assets like your logo, photos, or video? Are there other websites you’ve seen that show design aesthetics or features you’d like to incorporate? Are you an excellent copywriter? Anything you bring to the project can reduce costs and improve the results.
Invest in a website that works for you.
Now that you have more information about the possible paths to build your pregnancy center website and the cost ranges for each, your next step is to take action.
Consider us if you decide that working with a specialized web agency is a good fit. We would be honored to partner with you and put our experience to work on your center’s website so you can reach and serve more women and young families in your community.
If you need help improving your website, we would be honored to partner with you. It’s an easy process. You can learn more about it, schedule a call to discuss questions and next steps, or get started online.
Get a Website
You can have a website that resonates with women in your community and is attractive to donors. This service delivers professional design, a proven content framework, and calls to action to engage your visitors—all with no hefty upfront fees.
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For Life Marketing is based in Birmingham, Alabama and would be honored to serve your pregnancy center anywhere in the United States.
We build and maintain pregnancy center websites and offer digital marketing services like: search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (like Google Ads), social posts, social marketing (like Facebook Ads), lead generation, and email marketing.