How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website For A Small Business?

By Mark Brinker 
Updated: February 6, 2024

By Mark Brinker  /  Updated: February 6, 2024

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website For A Small Business?
How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website For A Small Business?

It all boils down to how much work is involved.

Specifically, the 2 factors determining how much work is involved are the size and complexity of your site.

That means a high-quality, professional 10-page informational website with standard customization is going to cost less than a highly customized 50-page site with all the bells and whistles.

In terms of actual dollars, the cost to build a website for a small business could be less than $1,000 or more than $10,000.

Thatโ€™s a big price range. So letโ€™s break things down so you can get a realistic estimate for what it will cost to design and develop your website.

NOTE: The information below is for small/medium-sized businesses. Itโ€™s not meant for large corporations with deep pockets that have full-time employees designing, developing and managing their websites in-house getting paid $80k-$120k/yr.

The 2 Options (With Pricing) For Designing And Developing A Small Business Website

OPTION 1: Hire A Professional

If youโ€™re super busy running your business and/or tech just isnโ€™t your thing, then you need to hire someone to build your site for you. Itโ€™s that simple.

However, if youโ€™ve searched online and visited sites of website designers/developers, youโ€™ve probably encountered:

  • No prices listed at all.
  • Prices all over the map, from ridiculously cheap to crazy expensive.

The good news is we rolled up our sleeves and did the research for you regarding what it costs to build (or redesign) a small business website in 2024.

For competent, experienced web designers that did list their prices, we found the going rate in 2024 to build (or redesign) a modern, professional small business website was typically $5,000 - $10,000 but could be as much as $20,000 (or more) depending on the number of pages on the site and the amount of customization required.

Here at Mark Brinker & Associates, our rates are right in line with these estimates.

Website Design vs. Website Development.

Website design and website development are often used interchangeably, but theyโ€™re two very different things.

  • Website design is like working with an architect to create the  blueprint  for your house.
  • Website development is like working with a contractor to actually  build  your house.

The 2024 pricing estimates listed above are for website design *as well as* website development (i.e. the complete, all-inclusive cost).

Now that you have a ballpark idea of what things cost, hereโ€™s a closer look at the specific factors affecting the price of building a small business website:

  • Page volume. Letโ€™s say a web development firm offers a 15-page business website package for $7,500, but your site needs 35 pages โ€” how much extra will that cost? A good rule of thumb is to add about $100/page for each page over and above whatโ€™s included in the standard website package. In this example, adding 20 pages (to the 15 pages included in the standard website package) would cost $2,000. Add this amount to the original base price of $7,500 and the revised total is $9,500. Every situation will vary, obviously, but at least this gives you a reasonable cost estimate based on common pricing in the industry in 2024.
  • Custom site layout. Every website starts with a theme or template. Nobody codes a website totally from scratch anymore. Thatโ€™s way too time-consuming and expensive. A template or theme often gets you 50-60% of the way to the finish line, but thereโ€™s still tons of customization and coding needed to get your site looking and functioning how you want it. The more customization and coding required, the greater the cost. Templates and themes are a major reason you can often build a professional small business website in the $5,000-$10,000 range instead of $15,000-$20,000 or more.
  • Custom images & graphics. Fancy images and graphics can give your site a one-of-a-kind look, but it comes at a price. Sophisticated visual effects often require special editing software, not to mention the talent of a custom graphic design specialist.
  • Custom logo. Although not required, a custom logo is a nice addition to any website. A custom logo kicks up the trust/credibility factor a notch. To get a decent-looking, professionally designed logo in 2024, expect to pay somewhere in the $500-$1,000 range.
  • Custom programming. Sometimes you can find a WordPress plugin providing the exact functionality you want right out of the box (i.e. image carousel, membership portal, payment calculator, etc). Other times, getting your site to do what you want requires significant trial/error and testing. In a perfect world, everything would be plug-and-play and work perfectly the first time โ€” but thatโ€™s rarely the case. A fair amount of tinkering and testing is usually required to get everything working as intended.
  • Number of design revisions. Most website projects start with an initial concept design (kind of like a rough draft), then itโ€™s common to have 1 or 2 rounds of design revisions to get everything just right. Some website designers offer as many as 3-5 rounds of design revisions. Technically, a website designer can offer as many rounds of design revisions as they want. But keep in mind, every design iteration adds to the overall cost of the project. In my experience, 2 rounds of design revisions are more than sufficient 99% of the time.
  • Website content development (i.e. copywriting). Solid, thoughtful, persuasive content is the foundation of any great website. If youโ€™re launching a new site but donโ€™t have any content yet, it needs to be developed. If you have an existing site but the content is weak, stale or outdated, itโ€™ll need to be refined, enhanced โ€ฆ maybe even overhauled. Over the years Iโ€™ve discovered the # 1 obstacle to launching a website is content development. Our clients struggle with this because itโ€™s time-consuming and difficult to do. Thatโ€™s why a few years ago we began offering professional copywriting services to our website design and development offerings. Yes, you want your website to look modern and stylish, but itโ€™s your websiteโ€™s content that moves the needle.

Two Website Pricing Tips ...

  • TIP # 1: If you want professional help with your website, but you can't afford to pay one lump sum upfront, see if they offer financing. That way you can get a really nice website *right now* so you can grow your business, then just make affordable monthly payments on your site.
  • TIP # 2: Be careful with budget pricing. Unusually low prices often translate to shoddy workmanship, an unpleasant experience or nickel and diming you for every little thing. As they say, you usually get what you pay for.

OPTION 2: Attempt To Do It Yourself (DIY)

If you have a basic understanding of web technology and youโ€™re fine doing the work yourself, you can totally build your own website.

The raw materials youโ€™ll need arenโ€™t horribly expensive:

  • Domain name: $10-$12/year to register a new domain. There are lots of domain registrars to choose from. I prefer NameCheap.com.
  • Website hosting: Costs range from about $100/year for standard web hosting from companies like BlueHost or HostGator to $300-$500+/year for more robust web hosting from companies like WPengine or SiteGround โ€” which really isnโ€™t needed until your site is getting gobs of traffic (i.e. more than 100,000 visitors/month), at which time you could upgrade to a web server with more horsepower. NOTE: For a much deeper dive on website hosting as well as a thorough comparison of some popular web hosting providers, check out this excellent piece by our friends over at Crazy Egg.
  • SSL certificate. Even if you donโ€™t plan to sell things directly from your site, youโ€™ll still want to secure your site with HTTPS protocol. Hereโ€™s an article I wrote explaining HTTPS in plain English. You can get an SSL certificate for as little as $10/year or as much as $200-300/year. Shop around, but donโ€™t buy more than you actually need. UPDATE: Most website hosting companies now offer a free SSL certificate as an incentive to host your site with them.
  • Premium website theme. $100-$300. There are hundreds if not thousands of themes to choose from. Some free, some paid. I urge you to spend a few bucks and get a quality theme. Donโ€™t skimp here. Youโ€™ll thank me later. Weโ€™ve experimented with many website themes over the years and the themes we now use exclusively, both for our own site as well as our clientsโ€™ sites are from Thrive Themes โ€” great design + solid coding.
  • Premium plugins. $100-$300. As with website themes, you usually get what you pay for. Do yourself a favor and invest a few dollars to get quality plugins. For example, two premium plugins we use on nearly every site we build are Gravity Forms and Envira Gallery. Yes, there are lots of free plugins and many of them are very good. But there are also lots of bad plugins that donโ€™t work as advertised and will waste a bunch of your time. So be careful.
  • Stock photos. If youโ€™re a good photographer or you already have high-quality images for your site, then youโ€™re all set. But chances are youโ€™ll need to purchase some images to dress up your site a bit. The two places we recommend are BigStockPhoto.com and iStockPhoto.com. They have lots of high-quality, royalty-free images at reasonable prices. In most cases, you can probably get all that you need (at least initially) for $50-200. After that, you just buy what you need as your website evolves. UPDATE: Hereโ€™s an image site we just learned about where you can get free, high-resolution, royalty-free images for your website >> Burst   (from Shopify). The only drawback is thereโ€™s a limited selection. But the images they do have are very nice. CAUTION: Never, ever (ever!) just copy/paste images from other sources onto your site, unless youโ€™re 1000% certain you have permission. Otherwise you can get sued. Play it safe and just purchase your images โ€” itโ€™s way less expensive than a lawsuit โ€” and youโ€™ll sleep better.
  • Education. $25-$300. Unless you work on websites every day, youโ€™re probably going to have to buy a few books or take an online course or two to learn Photoshop, HTML/CSS coding language, etc. to get yourself up to speed in one or more areas of website design and development.

In total, youโ€™re realistically looking at about $500-$1000 in expenses to get up and running.

Obviously the main cost with the DIY option is your time.

Even for a โ€œsimpleโ€ site, donโ€™t be surprised if it takes you 20-40 hours to produce something of decent quality you can be proud of. And thatโ€™s assuming youโ€™re already somewhat familiar with how to build a website. If youโ€™re totally new to this, multiply that time estimate by 2x or 3x. Iโ€™m not exaggerating.

Building a modern, well-engineered website is way more time-consuming than most people realize. But if you have more time than money right now and you donโ€™t get overwhelmed by web technology, the DIY approach is a perfectly viable option.

The Cost Of Website Updates, Upgrades, Maintenance & Licenses

Once your website launches, your workโ€™s not done.

Just like buying a house, youโ€™ll need to invest time, effort and money to maintain it.

For example, youโ€™ll have annual hosting & maintenance fees and possibly annual licensing fees for premium plugins and services.

PRO TIP: You can avoid annual licensing fees by working with a web developer that maintains a developerโ€™s license for premium WordPress plugins used on your site. For example, a premium plugin like Gravity Forms has an annual license fee of $59/yr. Our clients avoid these annual licensing fees because theyโ€™re covered under our developer license.

Itโ€™s likely youโ€™ll purchase new images as you upgrade and expand your site.

You might add staff or hire freelancers to assist you in creating new custom web content or videos to boost your marketing efforts.

Your site also requires ongoing technical maintenance to install updates and security patches to WordPress core files and WordPress plugins to protect your site from being hacked. Yes, even small business websites are targets for hackers.

If youโ€™re comfortable performing these updates yourself, great. But sometimes routine updates break your site, so you need to know what to do if/when this happens. Are you prepared to deal with the following errorsโ€ฆ

Error 500 - Internal Server Error
Plugin Update Failed
Error 403 - Forbidden

You also need an offsite backup system so your website can quickly be restored in the event of catastrophic hardware or software failure (or user error!) crashing your site. Sorry to alarm you, but these things really do happen.

If you prefer not to deal with the messy, behind-the-scenes technical upkeep of your site, you can purchase a website maintenance plan for $40-$300/month depending on the services you need.

As your business grows and evolves, your website might need more sophisticated functionality. If you can implement these technical upgrades yourself, great. Otherwise, the going rate in 2024 to hire a competent, experienced web developer is $100-$125/hour.

Costly Website Design & Development Mistakes To Avoid

Since building my first website back in 1999, Iโ€™ve wasted a TON of time and money on:

  • Faulty technology. The theme and plugins you use to build your site matter. Shoddy, untested coding can result in security risks, software incompatibilities and site instability. Stick with proven, name brands that continually test and support their products. Use premium digital components, otherwise you may be constantly fixing your site or worse โ€” rebuilding your entire site from scratch.
  • Incompetent idiots. Beware of knuckleheads knowing just enough to make them dangerous. A few years ago I hired a subcontractor to assist with some custom programming on a large project. A few weeks into the project it became clear he didnโ€™t know what he was doing. He talked a good game, but couldnโ€™t deliver. So I fired him and cut our losses โ€” but only after wasting precious time and money on a project with a deadline. Do your best to carefully vet people before hiring them.
  • Bad advice and information. This has cost me more time and money than anything. Tens of thousands of dollars and years of my life I will never get back. It wasnโ€™t always directly related website design and development. Sometimes they were ancillary things like SEO, Google advertising, Facebook marketing, content marketing, business development, etc. Most of it was hype and fluff that didnโ€™t deliver results as advertised. Bottom line, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are no magic bullets. Success takes time, effort and persistence. Period.

I've taken a few for the team so you don't have to repeat these mistakes.

Pros & Cons: Hiring A Professional vs. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Approach

Hiring A Professional

PROS:

  • No need to spend hours, days or weeks trying to learn the technology required to build and operate a website.
  • Youโ€™ll get a modern, professional website youโ€™re proud of โ€ฆ one that accurately represents your company and your brand.
  • Visitors will have a good experience on all devices โ€” desktop, tablet & mobile.
  • They can help you manage your site once itโ€™s launched.
  • They can develop your siteโ€™s content and overcome the curse of knowledge. The curse of knowledge is when you canโ€™t remember what itโ€™s like to not know everything you know. Thus, you omit critical information from your site because you assume everyone already knows what you know โ€” when they really donโ€™t.
  • They can recommend ideas and help you avoid pitfalls you probably wouldnโ€™t have thought of yourself

CONS:

  • Will require an investment of several thousand dollars (most likely in the $5k-10k range) to create a new site from scratch or redesign an existing site.
  • If you donโ€™t understand web technology, you will be somewhat dependent on your website designer/developer to manage your site after it launches.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY)

PROS:

  • If you currently have more time than money, building your website yourself will be less expensive that hiring a professional website designer/developer.
  • You can use a website builder like Wix or Squarespace to launch a simple, decent-looking site within a day or two. Wix plans currently range from $13-$39/month. SquareSpace plans range from $12-$40/month.
  • No lag time. Any changes or updates to your site after it launches can be made instantly.

CONS:

  • If youโ€™re not up on current website design trends, your website might look amateurish and negatively impact how your company is perceived.
  • Building a website can feel like a monumental task, so itโ€™s common to procrastinate for weeks or months. If the aversion to building your site is large enough, your site might never get built at all.
  • Itโ€™s incredibly time consuming. You might have to spend 2-4 hours or more researching how to get something working on your website when an experienced website designer/developer can have that particular task finished in 5-10 minutes.

The Shortcut To Building A Great Website

Hire someone.

Yes, Iโ€™m biased, but Iโ€™m also being honest. Creating a modern, professional website that generates leads and sales for your business is way more difficult and time-consuming than most people realize.

If funds are tight right now, and the DIY approach to creating your company website is your only option, then just do the best you can.

However, if you can afford it, hiring an experienced web designer/developer to build (or redesign) your website will save you tons of time, money and headaches โ€” and the finished product will be better than you couldโ€™ve done on your own.

Itโ€™s the same reason I gladly pay dentists, accountants, auto mechanics and roofing contractors for their expertise. They can usually get the job done quicker, better and cheaper than I could do myself.

(I cannot fathom giving myself a root canal. Yikes!)

About the Author

Mark Brinker is president of Mark Brinker & Associates โ€” a business website design and development firm in Sterling Heights, MI. He's the author of "The Modern Website Makeover", which you can download free here. You're also invited to Mark's NEW (and FREE!) "Boost Your Brand" video challenge and you can sign up here.

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  1. Hi Mark,

    I really appreciate your blog post on the cost of a small business website. I'm in the process of starting my own business and I'm trying to get a sense of how much I should budget for a website.

    I have a few questions:

    What are the most important factors that affect the cost of a website?
    Is it possible to get a high-quality website for less than $10,000?
    What are some of the best ways to save money on a website?
    Thanks for your time!

  2. Great work, Mark! Thank you for explaining the pros and cons of hiring a professional and doing it myself. I think I should consider hiring a professional. Also thank you for the shortcut too ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. Wonderful content, thank u!
    I have a question… I read in one of the comments that you use WordPress to develop so that customers can edit later on their own… How does it work? How is this “control” passed? I’m undecided on who to hire and I’m a little lost…And this idea seemed interesting to me for my needs…

    1. Your web designer/developer simply gives you a username and password so you can log in to your site and edit it. Yes, you’ll need to educate yourself a bit on how to edit your site, but it’s totally do-able.

  4. Ty Mark for this informative post. Every small business owner who decided to make a website should read this article so that they can have the most affordable website.

  5. Great article! As a web designer and developer myself, this is the first article about this that I read and can agree on everything! Your pricing is spot on for everything! Thank you! I hope all my clients read this.

  6. Wow! Thank you. Like you said, sometimes all you want is an idea of what's involved, without the rigmarole of an estimate.

    Again, thank you for this concise article. Very helpful.

  7. As someone working as a web developer, yet still early in my career, the only piece that does not seem correct to me in the article is that someone going the DIY route can produce something decent in 20-40 hours. I'm sorry but this seems incredibly unrealistic to me. Perhaps if they're going the WordPress route and aren't looking for anything beyond a few pages with minimal user input (maybe a contact form), then this seems possible. If you're looking for anything to do with ecommerce, hire someone.

    1. I agree with you, Dan. Professional web development takes WAY longer than most people realize. I wrote “20-40 hours” so readers wouldn’t immediately dismiss this timeframe. But for anyone that’s ever done this type of work, they know it’s extremely time-consuming and challenging.

    2. I agree Dan. That's why the author said if you're new to web development it could take 2-3 times as long.

      "Even for a โ€œsimpleโ€ site, donโ€™t be surprised if it takes you 20-40 hours to produce something of decent quality you can be proud of. And thatโ€™s assuming youโ€™re already somewhat familiar with how to build a website. If youโ€™re totally new to this, multiply that time estimate by 2x or 3x. Iโ€™m not exaggerating."

  8. Great piece! Perfect timing for me as I have had a quote from โ€˜Wix Partnerโ€™ for $1000 and another from my local developer for $11000! Itโ€™s so hard to decide what to do.

  9. This article is much more worth reading than I thought.

    Not just about prices, it’s all the c’S of copywriting : clear , coherent, correct, concise, etc, !

  10. Loved your article and I’m bookmarking your site. So much valuable information, and I saw some articles I plan to read later.

    Keep up the great work and thx for sharing!

  11. As experienced web developer and co-founder of a web agency, I concur that the best option is to hire a professional.

    Many business owners make the mistake of choosing the cheapest option (website builders, freelancers) or DIY. Yes, business owners want to save their money, but ironically the cheapest option often ends up costing them money in the long run.

    Your advice is very useful and I will use your points with my clients.

    Thank you for the article.

  12. Hard to believe I found such a wonderful, detailed, clear and concise article just by typing in “how much should a website cost”……thank you so much. I have no doubt that you have already saved me hours of my time.

  13. Thanks, Mark for your post. I was badly in need of a business website so that I can take my business to the next level. Your post offered me valuable information on building a website. I feel it is better to hire a professional web developer for building a good business website.

  14. Mark, I have a question I can’t find an answer to… what if I want a site that will need to be constantly updated (like daily) for community events, etc?
    If I have someone design and build it for me, is there a way they can then pass off daily maintenance to me to do myself? In other words is there a type of website that can be built for me that is simple enough for a non-techie type person to edit daily? If so, do you have any suggestions for this? Also, I’d like there to be a section that’s a forum for discussion separate from the pages. Thanks!

    1. Hi Donna. Yes, that’s totally possible. It’s why we build all our clients’ sites using the WordPress platform. With a little training, a person can update their site’s content on their own without being dependent on a web developer to do it for them. And because WordPress is used by tens of millions of websites, if you ever have a question there’s going to be a tutorial on Google or YouTube 99.99% of the time.

  15. Thanks for your article, Mark. Excellent information and links, not to mention free training. Best part for me, however, was section on costly website mistakes. I’ve made every one of them and you put into print so accurately what I’ve experienced. Glad to know I’m not alone; it’s just too bad it takes so much “experience” to learn what and who to avoid!!

  16. Wonderfully detailed, yet easy to understand, explanation.

    One thing you mentioned that runs up the price of a website is custom layouts and design. I very rarely (almost never) find a client who needs this. In my opinion, it’s the first thing that most businesses should so is scratch that off their list. (Sure, custom logo and images are important but, for most applications, that’s it. There are so many themes/layouts available that looking too much like someone else is rarely a concern.)

    There is no need to ‘wow’ online customers. Visitors simply want a site that loads quickly, is easy to navigate, is safe and secure, and lays out the content clearly.

    And the benefit of using a trusted, ‘right out of the box’ layout or theme is that the developer has already addressed these concerns.

    I think so many customized layouts end up doing the client a disservice by 1) introducing unnecessary problems and 2) eating up the budget that could be put to better use by spending time or money on SEO, creating great content, and addressing on conversion optimization issues.

    Your article is very helpful and I will refer to it in our meetings. Many thanks for posting it.

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