The scope that fits your business is the one that covers the job your website has to do, and that job is set by what a visitor must be able to do when they arrive. Reading about you and sending an enquiry is one job. Keeping up with what you publish over time is a different one. Paying for something without messaging you first is a different one again. Organisations that need memberships, restricted areas or connections to other systems are quoted on the scope they need rather than given a starting price. Decide the visitor’s task first and the scope follows from it. Decide from the price instead and the choice is a guess.
Sobiaonline offers four scopes. A Starter website starts from GHS 2,300, a Business website starts from GHS 3,500, an Ecommerce website starts from GHS 6,500, and corporate, membership and specialised work is quoted on scope. What each one covers is set out on our pricing page.
Start with the task a visitor has to complete
Before pages, features or prices, write down the one thing a visitor must be able to do when they land on the site. Most businesses need one of these four.
- Read and enquire — the visitor is looking for what you do, checking whether you can do it for them, and sending a message.
- Read and return — the visitor is looking for a service, and also expects to keep up with what you publish: news, articles, updates or work examples.
- Browse and buy — the visitor is looking at products or services with prices, and needs to complete a purchase without exchanging messages first.
- Sign in and belong — the visitor is a member, a registered user or a member of staff, and needs an account, a restricted area, or a connection to a system they already use.
One of those is the reason the site exists. The others may be wanted as well, but they are additions to a main job, and it is worth naming the main one before anything else is discussed.
The page count is not what decides it
A page count is easy to compare and easy to misread. Up to ten pages could describe ten pages sharing one simple layout, or ten pages where four need a gallery, one needs a price list and one needs an application form. A final quotation depends on the number of pages, the functionality required, and how ready the content is. So let the visitor task choose the scope, and count the pages inside it afterwards.
What each scope covers, and the question that points to it
The four scopes are published in full on our pricing page. The table pairs each one with the question that points to it.
| Scope | Starting price | What it covers | The question that points to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter website | From GHS 2,300 | One to five structured pages; a design that works across devices; a contact or enquiry form; basic on-page search setup; six months of technical maintenance | Is the visitor’s task to read about you and send an enquiry? |
| Business website | From GHS 3,500 | Up to ten structured pages; sections shaped around business goals; blog or news capability; a lead-generation enquiry form; six months of technical maintenance | Does the visitor also need to keep up with what you publish, and does the enquiry need to capture more than a name and a message? |
| Ecommerce website | From GHS 6,500 | Online store setup; product catalogue structure; cart and secure checkout; payment gateway configuration; six months of technical maintenance | Does a visitor need to pay for something on the site without messaging you first? |
| Corporate or custom | Quoted on scope | Corporate or membership structures; advanced functionality and integrations; scope, deliverables and timelines confirmed in writing; six months of technical maintenance | Do you need memberships, restricted areas, or connections to systems you already use? |
These are starting prices for a defined scope, not final quotations. A final quotation depends on the number of pages, the functionality required, and how ready the content is.
Starter or Business: the closest call
These two sit nearest to each other, and the difference is not the page count. It is what the enquiry has to capture, and whether the site has anything new to say after launch.
Two of the Business items do the deciding. If you expect to publish, the blog or news capability gives the site somewhere to put it from the start. If the enquiry needs to capture the service a visitor is interested in, or a budget range, rather than a name and a message, that is also pointing at Business.
For a business whose website exists to explain what it does and receive enquiries, the Starter scope covers the job described.
Two things the package descriptions do not state are worth putting in writing. They do not say how many rounds of design changes are included, or what counts as a round. They do not say who writes the copy and who enters the content. Neither is confirmed, which means neither included nor excluded. Ask both in writing and leave them unpriced until they are answered.
When the answer is ecommerce
The deciding question is whether a visitor has to pay for something on the site without messaging you first. If the answer is yes, that is the ecommerce scope listed in the table above.
If the answer is no, ecommerce is an addition rather than the scope. Showing a price list and taking orders by enquiry is a different job from running a checkout, and it belongs in whichever scope matches what you actually need. Our ecommerce service covers product catalogues, secure checkout, payment options and order management, which is set out on our web design services page.
A retailer whose orders currently arrive through a messaging app such as WhatsApp and whose catalogue is updated by hand already has a route that works. A checkout changes what the site does at that moment: it records the order, calculates the total, takes payment and issues a confirmation without a person replying first. Whether that change is worth what it adds is a decision about control, records and scale, not a requirement, so it belongs in the scope only once the answer to the deciding question above is yes.
Payment gateway configuration sits inside the build price, so it does not need to be priced as a separate line when you compare scopes.
When the answer is corporate or custom
Corporate, membership and specialised work is quoted on scope rather than sold at a starting price. The published scope covers corporate or membership structures, advanced functionality and integrations, with scope, deliverables and timelines confirmed in writing.
Two situations point this way. The first is access: if different kinds of visitor need different parts of the site, such as members, registered users or staff, that structure has to be designed and then built. The second is connection: if the site has to send or receive information from a system you already use, such as a membership database, a booking record or a customer relationship system, that work is specific to your situation and is quoted on it.
No figure can be put on that without reading the brief, and it is better left open than invented. What can be done now is to write down the structures and the connections you need, so that there is something for the quotation to be written against.
If you are not sure yet
Plenty of businesses know what their website must do but cannot yet say how many pages that needs, or how ready their content is. That is not a reason to postpone the decision. It is a reason to be precise about which part is known.
- Confirmed — you can name the visitor’s task and the pages it needs
- Open — you know it is needed but cannot yet describe it in detail
- Not applicable — you have decided against it
Choose the scope that covers the confirmed part. Keep the open items written down and unpriced, and ask about them before the work is agreed. Our guide to what a website costs in Ghana explains what moves a final figure once a scope is chosen.
A short checklist before you decide
- The visitor’s main task is written in one sentence
- The pages that task needs are named, not counted
- The enquiry is described by what it has to capture
- Taking payments on the site is either in scope or deliberately outside it
- Open items are listed as questions rather than assumed
- Scope, deliverables and timeline will be confirmed in writing before work begins
How a Sobiaonline scope is confirmed
At Sobiaonline the scope, the deliverables and the timelines are confirmed in writing before work begins, and clients work directly with the person responsible for understanding and delivering the website. The four scopes are listed on our pricing page, and the wider service detail is on our web design services page.
A few terms apply whichever scope you choose. Every website is designed to work across phones, tablets and computers, and every website includes basic on-page search setup, a contact or enquiry form that reaches you directly, a page structure agreed with you before the build starts, and six months of technical maintenance after launch. That maintenance covers software updates within the agreed scope, routine backups, security monitoring and the correction of technical faults within the agreed scope. It is not unlimited redesign, and it is not entering content on your behalf.
Domain and hosting are guided and set up as part of the work, and registered in your name so that you keep ownership and control. They are not sold to you as a separate package, and renewal dates and recurring costs are explained before work begins.
Timeline follows scope. A Starter website generally takes about one to two weeks once content is available, while Business, Ecommerce and custom projects take longer, and the schedule is agreed in writing before work begins.
One point on search. Where a site appears in search results is decided by the search engine, not by whoever builds it. What is within reach is sensible on-page setup, which is part of every Sobiaonline website.
Frequently asked questions
Can I start with a smaller scope and add the shop later?
Adding a checkout later is additional work rather than a change to a scope you already have, so it is worth putting the question in writing before you agree the first scope. What the selected scope covers is what is listed for it on the pricing page. Before you accept any quotation, read our guide to what a website costs in Ghana and ask what an addition of that kind involves and what it costs.
If you would like the scope written down before any work begins, tell us what your business does, what a visitor must be able to do on the site, and which pages and functions you already know you need. Check each scope against what it actually covers on our pricing page first, then send your answer through our contact page. Our portfolio page shows a range of Ghanaian business and organisation websites if you would rather look at finished work before deciding.
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