Why do website quotes vary so much?
Two providers can quote a "brochure website" with a tenfold price difference. That is not necessarily abuse: the same words hide very different scopes. A purchased template dressed up in two days has nothing in common with a site designed from scratch, written, optimised for search and tested on a low-end phone.
To compare quotes in Burkina Faso, you therefore need to break down what you are actually buying.
What are the types of sites and their orders of magnitude?
The ranges below are purely indicative, as orders of magnitude, and depend on the agency, the scope and the expected quality.
- Simple brochure site (3 to 6 pages, business presentation, contact form): typically from a few hundred thousand FCFA to a little over one million.
- Custom brochure site (visual identity, copywriting, blog, two languages, SEO): typically from one to several million FCFA.
- Catalogue or e-commerce site (products, cart, mobile money payment, order management): typically several million FCFA, more with logistics or ERP integrations.
- Business platform or web application (customer area, bookings, dashboard): a software-project budget, priced after scoping.
On top of these amounts come recurring costs: domain name, hosting, SSL certificate (often included), maintenance and any subscriptions to third-party services.
What pushes the price up or down?
Number of pages and content
A page costs little to build technically; what costs is writing it, translating it, finding or producing the visuals. If you provide finished copy and quality photos, the quote goes down. If the agency has to produce everything, it goes up, but the result is generally much better.
Design
A customised existing theme is quick and economical. A bespoke mock-up, approved before development, takes more work but delivers a site that looks like you and stands out from competitors.
Features
Contact form, map, gallery: standard. Online payment, member area, booking, multilingual, connection to management software: each building block adds development, testing and maintenance.
Search visibility and performance
A fast, well-structured site with crafted titles and descriptions, structured data and pages designed around your customers' queries is a separate investment from simply being "online". Yet it is what makes the site visible on Google and in search assistants.
Maintenance and hosting
A website is never "finished": security updates, backups, domain renewal, small changes. A monthly or annual maintenance plan is the norm. Check what it covers and what is billed extra.
Which questions should you ask before signing?
- Will the domain name be registered in my name, and will I own the code and the content?
- Will the site be mobile-friendly and tested on a slow connection?
- Who writes the copy, who provides the photos, and how many revision rounds are included?
- What is the delivery deadline and what happens if it slips?
- What does maintenance include, and what does an hour of extra work cost?
- Does the site comply with data-protection rules (legal notice, privacy policy, cookie consent)?
- Will I be able to edit everyday content myself (news, opening hours, products)?
Which pitfalls should you avoid?
- A teaser price with no scope: a one-line quote always hides extras.
- The domain in the agency's name: in a dispute, you lose your address and your rankings.
- Disguised subscriptions: a "free" site in exchange for a high monthly rent with no way to retrieve the files.
- No written contract with scope, deliverables, deadlines and payment terms.
- A site that is never updated, which becomes slow, vulnerable and downgraded.
How do you reduce cost without sacrificing quality?
Prepare your content before consulting agencies, limit the first version to essential pages, plan advanced features for a phase 2, and invest first in what your customers see: clear messages, speed on mobile and a simple way to get in touch (form, WhatsApp, phone).
Digital Station designs professional websites for businesses and institutions in Burkina Faso, from brochure sites to e-commerce platforms. Request a detailed quote for your scope.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you have to pay for the whole site up front?
- No. A two- or three-step schedule (deposit on order, payment on mock-up approval, balance at launch) is common and protects both parties.
- Is a .bf domain better than a .com?
- A .bf clearly signals a business in Burkina Faso and can reassure local customers; a .com is more international. Many companies register both and redirect one to the other.
- How long does it take to build a website?
- As an indication, from two to four weeks for a simple brochure site with content ready, to several months for an e-commerce site or a platform. The main cause of delay is late delivery of copy and visuals by the client.