How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost?

What you are paying for

A website price is mostly time, and the time goes into more than design. A typical project for a local business includes planning the pages, writing or editing the words, gathering photos, designing the layout, building the pages and forms, setting up the search basics, testing on phones, and launching without breaking what already works. The design is the part people see, but the planning and the writing are often what decide whether the site brings in calls.

That is why two quotes for “a five-page website” can be far apart. One may assume you will write every word and supply every photo. The other may include interviews, copywriting, redirects from your old pages and a few rounds of changes. Neither is wrong; they are different jobs.

The four common routes

Do it yourself on a website builder. Builders such as Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy charge a monthly or yearly subscription, and your time is the main cost. This can work well for a very small business with simple needs and an owner who enjoys the work. Check each builder’s current plans on its own site, because prices and features change often.

A small site built for you. A handful of pages (home, services, about, contact, maybe a service-area page), built by a freelancer or a small agency. You pay a one-time project fee, and the price moves mostly with the number of pages and how much writing and photography is included.

A larger service-business site. Many service pages, project galleries, location information, several forms, and connections to tools you already use, such as booking or a CRM. More pages means more planning and writing, so the price climbs with the scope.

Stores, booking systems and custom features. Selling online, taking appointments, member areas or custom calculators add their own setup, testing and ongoing fees. Ask for these to be priced separately so you can see what each one costs.

Costs that come back every year

The launch is not the last bill. Plan for the costs that repeat:

• Domain name. Usually a small yearly fee. Make sure it is registered in your name, not the developer’s.
• Hosting. Where the site lives. Sometimes bundled with a builder or a care plan, sometimes billed separately.
• Business email. Accounts at your own domain are usually billed per person per month.
• Care and updates. Software updates, backups, form tests and small edits. Skipping this is how sites quietly stop sending inquiries.
• Marketing on top. SEO work, content, or an advertising budget are separate decisions from the website itself.

Ask every provider to list these yearly and monthly costs in writing, with who pays each one.

What makes a quote go up

A few things reliably add time: a large number of pages, writing done for you rather than by you, custom illustration or photography, moving a lot of content from an old site, online payments or booking, connections to other software, and tight deadlines. A clear page list and your own photos of real work are the two simplest ways to keep a project focused.

One thing that should not add much: search basics. Page titles, descriptions, headings, a sitemap and redirects from old addresses are part of building a site properly. Be wary if they are sold as an expensive extra, and equally wary of anyone promising a first-place ranking. As Google puts it, no one can guarantee a #1 ranking.

How to compare two quotes

Put the quotes side by side and check that they describe the same job. Who writes the words? How many pages? How many rounds of changes? Are redirects from your old pages included? Who owns the domain, the site files and the accounts when it is done? What happens if you want to leave?

The worksheet below lists each item so you can fill in both quotes and spot the gaps. When we quote a project at MRM, we price it after a conversation about your business, in writing, with the yearly costs and ownership spelled out, so you can compare it fairly with anyone else’s.