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    What does a small business website cost?

    By Joshua at SunMatch Advisors · Updated · 3 min read

    Your three options

    1. Build it yourself

    A website builder gives you templates, hosting and an editor for a monthly fee. Squarespace's plans run $12, $17 and $25 a month when billed yearly ($19, $27 and $36 month to month), and yearly plans include a free domain for the first year. It's the least cash and the most of your time: you write the words, pick the photos and set up the forms.

    2. Hire a freelancer

    Upwork puts typical web designer rates at $15 to $30 an hour. Quality and scope vary a lot, so look at sites they have built, and ask who handles hosting and changes after launch.

    3. Hire an agency

    Clutch says web design agencies typically charge $2,000 to $100,000 depending on the project, that most projects reviewed on its site cost less than $10,000, and that agencies it shortlists charge around $100 to $149 an hour. You're paying for a team to plan, design and build it.

    What changes the price

    • How many pages you need.
    • A template versus a custom design.
    • Who writes the words and supplies the photos.
    • Forms, booking, quote requests, and anything that connects to other tools.
    • An online store.
    • Speed and search setup: titles, a sitemap, and pages that load fast on phones.
    • How many rounds of changes are included.

    Costs after launch

    Budget for hosting (included in a builder's monthly fee), renewing your domain each year, and someone to make changes when your services or prices change. Ask about all three before you pay for the build.

    Questions to ask before you pay

    1. Who owns the domain and the site, and can I move it later?
    2. What's included: how many pages, the words, photos, forms?
    3. What will it cost each month after launch, and who makes changes?
    4. How fast is it on a phone? Ask for a Google Lighthouse score on a site they built. This one scores 100 for SEO and accessibility.
    5. Can I see a design before I commit?

    How we price

    We don't publish a price, because a three-page site for a plumber and a twenty-page site for a distributor are different jobs. We sketch your homepage for free first, walk you through it on a Google Meet, and quote from there. See how we build websites.