Getting a website for your small business is necessary but overwhelming. Not only are there a lot of costs involved but understanding what they are and why they are important is confusing to say the least. There is also a massive range in cost. If you don’t feel like reading the whole article and don’t care about specifics I can quickly tell you that an average informational business website can cost anywhere from $500-$50,000 (usually not including hosting, content, SEO or maintenance) and you’re average eCommerce website is usually about twice that.
Don’t worry, today we are going to break down every aspect of a website as simple as simply as possible so by the end of this article you’ll feel confident when it comes time to hire a web designer / web design agency, even if it is not us or one of our $99 pay monthly website packages.
Today we are going to cover the cost of 8 important website elements
#1) Content Creation / Copywriting
#2) Web Design & Development
#3) Domains
#4) Small Business Website Hosting
#6) Search Engine Optimization
#7) Website Maintenance
#8) Website Updates
The Cost of Content Creation
Content includes all of the text and images that are on a website. Quality content is crucial for a website’s success, not only for informing your users but also for helping you show up in the search results. Search engines read your content and then judge your website based on it; so to say that the quality of your content is important would be an understatement.
The cost associated with content creation and copywriting for a website can vary widely depending on several factors. These factors include the complexity and length of the content required, the expertise of the writer, the industry or niche of the website, and the level of research needed. Freelance writers may charge anywhere from $25 to $150 or more per hour, while some may offer fixed rates per word or per project. Content agencies or professional copywriting services often have a structured pricing system based on the type of content, such as blog posts, product descriptions, or landing pages. High-quality, well-researched content typically comes at a premium cost, but it’s an essential investment for businesses aiming to engage their audience effectively and establish a strong online presence. Ultimately, the cost of content creation should be viewed as an investment in the website’s success, as compelling and well-crafted content can drive traffic, improve SEO, and convert visitors into customers.
| Company | Estimate Cost Of Website Content Creation |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| HawkSEM | $1500 – $3000 each month |
| WebFx | $300 – $900 per page |
| Luciano Viterale | $100hr or $5,000 per project |
The Cost of Getting Your Website Built
This section is going to cover the cost of the actual design and development of an average small business website. Web design is how a website looks to a user and also how the website acts when a user interacts with it. Website development is how it all works in the backend. If a website was a car, the design would be how the car looked and the development would be the engine, axles and transmission.
Also like a car, web design and development could cost anywhere from $500 to $500,000 but here we are going to cover the average cost of a 5 page small business website without going into the fringes on either end of the spectrum.
| Company | Estimate Cost Of Website Design & Development |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| OuterBox | $5000 – $25000 |
| Mark Brinker | $5000 – $10000 |
| WebFx | $2000 – $15000 |
The Cost of a Domain
The cost of a domain is usually one of the most least expensive things a business is going to buy. Your average .com domain costs anywhere from $10-$20 annually. If the domain name you want is not available, you might have to buy from a reseller, and in that case they could charge you whatever they want; however, you can always find a domain name with a slight variation that is available. For example, I did some work for a CBD company, Greenleaf Farms. GreenleafFarms.com was (and still is) unavailable. The owner chose to settle on GFarmsCBD.com which they were able to scoop up for $12 from Google Domains.
| Domain Provider | Cost of a .Com Domain |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| Google Domains | $12 per year |
| Name Cheap | $13.98 per year |
| Domain.com | $11.99 per year |
The Cost of Website Hosting
Laying out the cost of hosting can be tricky, just like most things when getting a website, it varies a lot. You do not have to be a web design expert to know that the cost of hosting is going to be different for a small business website that gets 100 visits each month versus a website that gets a million visits each month. However, for this example, we are going to compare the costs of hosting a small business website.
Before we compare the cost of hosting though there are just two things you need to know:
#1) Avoid Shared Hosting Like the Plague!
Shared hosting is when multiple websites share the resources of a single server. This makes the cost of the hosting a lot cheaper and therefore tempting to people looking to save a few dollars. However, there are massive drawbacks. First of all, all of the websites share same database. This means, if one of the websites gets hacked, they all get hacked. Second, to prevent websites on the shared hosting plan from taking up too many resources from the server, the data transfer speeds are often limited. This means even if your website is built perfectly, it will be slow. Lastly, slow website speeds hurt your SEO. When searching for hosting, always be sure you are getting “dedicated hosting”.
#2) Predatory Introductory Rates
A very common scheme of hosting providers is to offer very low introductory rates and then once your website is locked in, jack up the rates literally hundreds of percent. For example. HostGator, brags on their homepage about hosting that costs only $3.75 per month. However, upon checkout you can see that cost is only on your first invoice and the true cost is upwards of $15.99 per month.
| Hosting Provider | Cost Of Their Small Business Website Hosting |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| Wp Engine | $30 – $75 per month |
| SiteGround | $14.99 – $39.99 per month |
| Kinsta | $35 – $450 per month |
The Cost of Search Engine Optimization (AKA SEO)
Search engine optimization is again, another very complex thing to explain when it comes to web design. Put simply, it means getting a website to show up when someone is searching a keyword related to that websites niche. For example, here at Worldwide Web Designs one keyword / search time we are trying to rank for is “monthly website packages”. If you own a jewelry store you might want to show up whenever someone searches for “gold necklace” or if you own a landscaping business in Mansfield, CT you might want to show up whenever someone searches for “best landscaping companies in ct”.
There are two types of SEO:
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the optimization techniques and practices employed directly on a website to improve their search engine ranking and overall visibility, encompassing factors like content quality, keyword usage, meta tags, and structured data.
Off-Page SEO
Off-page SEO involves strategies and actions taken outside of a website to enhance its search engine ranking. This type of SEO typically focuses on factors like backlinks, social media, and online reviews.
Please note! Both forms of SEO are important to have a website rank well. Today we are going to cover the cost of on-page SEO since that is what is included in our monthly website plans and off-page SEO pricing is not only extremely expensive but also varies wildly depending on a businesses needs. With that being said, if you would like to learn how to do your own SEO we wrote up a great guide you can read by clicking here.
| On-Page SEO Provider | Cost Of An On-Page Optimization |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| Stellar SEO | $250 per page |
| On The Map | $500 to $5000 |
| Outer Box | $5000 – $10000 |
The Cost of Website Maintenance
Just like how a car needs to have its oil changed on a regular basis, all websites need regular maintenance. Even if you have a static website that doesn’t need maintenance on the code itself as often as something like a WordPress website, search engines, devices and browsers are constantly changing and your website needs to maintained to function as well as it should.
Please note- website maintenance is not the same thing as website updates. Maintenance keeps a website running how it should, while updates are changes to an existing website. If you want to learn more about the cost of website updates, you’re in luck, we are covering that next.
| Website Maintenance Provider | Cost Of Regular Website Maintenance |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| Cydo Media | $35 – $500 per month |
| Web Fx | $300 – $10000 per month |
| Blue Tree Digital | $225 per month |
The Cost of Website Updates
For this example, lets say it’s Christmas time at your Pennsylvania based paper supply company. You decide to take a photo of all the employees and you want it added to your website, alongside a message wishing all your clients a happy holiday. How much is that going to cost you? That is what we are going to cover in this section.
Please also be aware, there are many tiers to website updates. Changing a picture for example is a lot easier and takes a lot less time then adding a whole new page but in effort of simplicity, we are going to try and keep it basic; that’s why this table is going to compare the hourly rates of companies who offer website updating services.
| Company | Hourly Rate To Do Website Updates |
| Worldwide Web Designs | Included in all of our monthly website packages |
| Arc Dev | $61 – $80 per hour |
| Andriy Space | $60 – $90 per hour |
| Lovett Web Design | $50 – $100 per hour |
But how long does an update take? Here are some examples…
| Website Update | Average Time It Takes To Complete |
| Changing a photo | 30 minutes |
| Changing some text | 30 minutes |
| Adding a FAQ section | 2 hours |
| Adding a new page | 2-6 hours |
What Does a Small Business Website Cost in 2023?
I wanted to go over every aspect in detail because that is the only way to really understand the cost of a website but as you can see, it is complicated. When getting a website for your business you can’t only consider the build cost but also have to figure in content creation, copywriting, hosting, maintenance and more. For an average small business website I would say you could expect to pay around $2000 upfront plus an additional $500 – $1000 per year. Of course you can find agencies / freelancers that will be a lot more expensive as well as a lot cheaper but that is an average, fair price that we see most often in the industry. That cost figured is for the website design and development, the domain, hosting and regular maintenance; that does not include the cost of updates or search engine optimization.
Now that you’ve learned about what costs are associated with a small business website maybe you’ll see why our pay monthly web design packages are such a great deal. Unlike our competitors we also offer a 30 day money back guarantee. When working with us we become a partner in your success. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask by either commenting below or by visiting our support page by clicking here.