I built a super simple calculator for my web design business and it really took off, being one of my now **highest engagement time pages on my site**. I think interactive tools might be OP.
I want to share with you a project that not only increased the traffic to my website but also helped me land a new client. It’s a Free Website Development Cost Calculator. Interestingly, this project started when a client wanted a similar calculator for their office cleaning business in South New Jersey. This tool isn’t just limited to web development costs—it can be adapted to various service industries.
If you’re running an agency or if you have clients who could benefit from such a tool, feel free to take my code and adapt it for your own or your clients’ websites. Here’s how I built it, step by step.
# Step 1. Planning the Features
Before writing any code, I thought about what questions are essential to determine the cost of a website. These included whether the client needs a logo, domain name, custom email, etc. Each choice impacts the cost, so I listed all possible services.
# Step 2. Designing the HTML Structure
I designed a simple web page layout using HTML. This includes titles, forms where users can select services they need, and a section to display the estimated cost. Here’s a snippet of what the HTML code looks like: https://i.imgur.com/VuCbuRp.png
# Step 3. Writing the JavaScript for Calculations
The calculator needs to calculate costs as users select options. I used JavaScript to add up the costs based on the user’s selections. Here’s a basic idea of how the JavaScript looks:
This script checks what options the user has selected, adds up the costs, and then updates the webpage to show the total estimated cost.
BTW if you want to just copy + paste the HTML and JS code, then you can find it here: https://cherryhillwebdesign.com/articles/i-built-a-free-website-development-cost-calculator-that-got-me-a-client-and-heres-the-code-so-you-can-use-it-for-yourself-or-your-clients/ I would appreciate if you do use it, you credit me, but if you don’t, no big deal.
# Step 4. Making It Interactive
The calculator works by listening for clicks and changes on the form’s options. Whenever a user makes a selection, the JavaScript function calculateCost() is triggered, which updates the total cost automatically.
# Step 5. Testing and Launching
After everything was set up, I tested the calculator by trying different combinations of services to see if the total cost calculated correctly. Once everything worked fine, I published it on my website.
# TLDR
It attracted a lot of visitors who were curious about how much their website might cost. Plus, it was straightforward enough that even people without much technical knowledge could use it. Feel free to adapt this tool to fit your or your client’s needs. I hope this inspires you to create something simple for your website that can increase your page engagement, because to me this was really OP for my web design company.