A small business website has two kinds of cost: building it once and keeping it online. Most confusion comes from mixing the two up.
The costs every website has
- Domain name (yourbusiness.com): a yearly fee paid to a registrar. For most common endings this is a modest yearly amount; premium names cost more.
- Hosting: where the site lives. Simple business sites need very little; many builders bundle hosting into a monthly plan.
- Business email (you@yourbusiness.com): usually a small monthly fee per mailbox.
- Building it: the design, the writing and the setup. This is where prices differ the most.
The three common routes
| Route | What you pay | What it costs you in time |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself with a builder | A monthly plan | Days to weeks of learning, writing and designing |
| Done-for-you studio (like us) | A fixed price, e.g. $499 for up to 5 pages | One kickoff call and a review |
| Full-service agency | Quoted per project, often several thousand dollars | Several meetings over weeks or months |
What pushes the price up
- Number of pages. Five pages cover most new businesses: home, about, services, contact and one more.
- Selling online. A store with products, payments and shipping is more work than a brochure site.
- Writing. If you write the text yourself it's cheaper — but most owners don't have the time.
- Custom features such as bookings, member areas or courses.
What to ask before you pay anyone
- Is the domain registered in my name?
- Can I take the website with me if I stop paying you?
- What exactly is included, and how many rounds of changes?
- What will I pay every month after launch?
Our answers: yes, yes, the list on each service page, and nothing required — optional hosting & care is $29 a month.