Website development in Amsterdam Bespoke, engineered for conversion

If you are having a website built in Amsterdam, the first choice is not between agencies but between two ways of building. With a template or website builder, you fill an existing design with your own logo, colours and copy. With a custom build, the design, structure and editing environment grow out of your brand and your visitors. Here is how they differ:

A template is not the wrong choice. For a compact site with a standard layout, it is often the sensible route. A custom build pays off once the site has to do more than inform: serve several audiences, work in several languages or connect to systems you already use.

IDTV is a good example. The production house serves international broadcasters and producers, makers who want to work there and viewers signing up for a show. Each group got its own entrance within the same site, built on Framer Enterprise with a dedicated design system. We build custom sites on Next.js, Astro and Framer Enterprise, among others. If you need a webshop, we build it on Shopify.

The cost of a website depends less on the number of pages than on the number of different pages. Twenty vacancies on one template need one design; a homepage, a case page and a vacancy page need three. Content, integrations and languages then set the size of the job. These are the items every quote should account for:

• 01Design: the number of unique page types and the components in the design system.
• 02Content: who writes the copy and where the imagery comes from, your own archive or a new shoot.
• 03Integrations: with your CRM, email marketing, payments or accounting software such as Exact.
• 04Languages: every additional language needs its own copy, metadata and hreflang.
• 05Migration: for an existing site, a redirect for every URL so the visibility you built up carries over.
• 06After launch: hosting, CMS or platform licences and maintenance.

Starting prices per type of project are in the frequently asked questions below. If you are comparing quotes from several web developers in Amsterdam, hold them against this list. A quote that comes in lower sometimes leaves out copy, imagery or the migration, and those costs arrive later anyway.

Ask about the yearly running costs as well. A site on a headless CMS, a site in Webflow or Framer and a Shopify webshop each come with their own licence model, and over a few years that carries real weight in the comparison.

Nothing needs to be finished by the first meeting. The quote does get sharper, and less shifts during the project, when you have these points in order:

• 01The purpose of the site, expressed as an action: an enquiry, a job application, a sign-up or a purchase.
• 02Your audiences, and what each group needs to find or do on the site.
• 03Your brand: logo, visual identity and imagery, or the decision to develop those first.
• 04The content that already exists, and who will write new copy.
• 05Access to your domain and DNS, current hosting, Google Analytics and Search Console.
• 06For an existing site: the pages that currently bring in visitors and enquiries.
• 07One decision-maker on your side who bundles feedback and makes the calls.

That last point is often underestimated. With five reviewers and nobody ultimately responsible, every design turns into a compromise. One point of contact who gathers feedback and decides keeps the project focused.

If something is missing, it does not have to hold up the start. Copy and brand identity can become part of the project, so design and content take shape together from the first sketch.

• Website copywritingCopy in your tone of voice, grounded in keyword research.
• Branding agencyBrand strategy, positioning and visual identity, before the design starts.

Who works with the site after launch matters as much as the design. We set up the CMS around the content your team updates itself, so a new page or vacancy does not need a developer.

At Pharming, the editorial team publishes in Sanity on its own, with patient stories, the clinical pipeline and investor relations side by side. TalentCare manages its own vacancies, job profiles and stories in Sanity. And at IDTV, the team runs formats, makers and vacancies itself, with components from its own design system that editors can combine.

Hosting, monitoring and maintenance can stay with us. For Pharming we manage hosting and monitoring ourselves. For Canon Medical Systems Europe we took over an outdated European web portfolio on WordPress, modernised it and have managed it ever since. An existing website can move over too, without starting from scratch.

New campaigns land within the same design system, as landing pages that fit the rest of the site.

• Landing page designCampaign pages with a single goal, built within your existing site.

Look for a web designer in Amsterdam and you will find freelancers, small studios and agencies. A freelancer often suits a compact site with a clear brief. An agency makes more sense when strategy, design, development and management come together in one project, or when the site has to connect to other systems.

Whichever route you take, a few questions make the differences visible. Who does the work, and is it the same team that stays available after launch? Can you see sites built on the platform being proposed? What happens to your current Google rankings during the switch? Who manages hosting and updates, and what does that cost per year? And can you meet the people who will build your site?

With us, that last one happens at Weteringschans 94, in the centre of Amsterdam. Since 2015 we have built brands, websites and Shopify webshops from Amsterdam, for local businesses and for brands well beyond the city. For projects in the United States we work from our studio in New York.

• Web agencyAll our web services in one place, from design and development to hosting and optimisation.