Web design and development for German businesses

What a German website has to get right

German visitors are careful readers of legal details. They look for the Impressum, the Datenschutzerklärung and clear delivery and return terms, and they leave shops that hide them. A site that looks modern but misses these pages loses trust and may attract a warning letter (Abmahnung) from a competitor or consumer group.

Four items come first on every build: a complete Impressum under the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG), a consent banner that matches TDDDG, accessibility work toward the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), and a German-language version written by a native speaker. Wording and final legal text should be confirmed with your lawyer.

Which service fits

Domain, language and search basics

A .de domain, registered through DENIC members, tells German visitors and search engines who the site is for. If you also sell in Austria or Switzerland, plan separate language versions with hreflang de-AT and de-CH, since spelling, vocabulary and currency differ. We handle this with the technical SEO plan from the start, so a launch does not depend on a later fix. See international SEO for the wider picture.

Accessibility is now a build requirement for many sites

The BFSG puts the European Accessibility Act into German law, and it applies from 28 June 2025. It covers, among others, online shops and certain consumer services, and it contains an exemption for microenterprises that provide services. Whether your business is in scope is a question for your lawyer.

Our build target is WCAG 2.2 level AA: keyboard use, contrast, form labels, focus states and readable error messages. The WCAG 2.2 checklist lists what we test.

Payments and prices

German shoppers expect more than a card form. PayPal, Klarna, SEPA direct debit (Lastschrift) and purchase on invoice (Kauf auf Rechnung) are all common choices, and the mix should match your margins and fraud risk. Prices shown to consumers include VAT, which is 19% for most goods and 7% for a reduced category. The order button must say something like „zahlungspflichtig bestellen“, and consumers get a 14-day withdrawal right on most distance sales.

The legal page set we plan for

A German launch checklist is longer than a US one. These pages and elements are what we put in the build plan, so your lawyer reviews real pages rather than a wish list.

We also host fonts and scripts locally where we can. A 2022 decision of the Munich regional court on Google Fonts loaded from Google servers made this a common German request.

How a project runs, and what it costs

1. Short call and briefWe confirm goals, pages, integrations, languages and who edits the site afterwards.
2. Fixed quoteYou receive scope and price within one working day of the call.
3. Design and German contentLayouts are approved first. German copy goes to your native reviewer before build.
4. Build and weekly demosA single lead runs the project and shows working pages every week.
5. Launch and handoverRedirects, consent testing, legal pages and speed checks, then access to everything we built.

India is 4.5 hours ahead of Germany in winter and 3.5 hours ahead in summer, so a morning call in Munich or Hamburg lands in our afternoon. Projects start at $1,500 and the rate is $30 an hour. The website cost guide explains what moves a price.