How Much Does a Website Cost? A Small Business Guide

Domain name

Your domain (for example yourbusiness.com) is your address on the web, and it’s usually paid for yearly. The price depends on the extension: .com, country domains and newer extensions are all priced differently. Watch out for first-year discounts: the renewal price can be noticeably different. Always check what the domain will cost to renew. Our guide what is a domain name covers the details.

Hosting and SSL

Hosting is the server that stores your site and delivers it to visitors. An SSL certificate gives you the padlock in the address bar and is effectively mandatory today. Some providers include SSL automatically at no extra cost; others charge for it. With website builders, hosting and SSL are usually part of the plan.

Design and setup

If you hire an agency or freelancer, this is usually the biggest single item: design, building the pages and rounds of revisions. With a website builder and ready-made templates, most of this cost turns into your own effort instead.

Content: words and photos

This is the item most budgets forget. You can write the copy describing your services yourself or work with a copywriter. For images, your options include a professional shoot, well-lit photos taken on your own phone, or licensed stock photos. Genuine photos of your work and team are often the best investment you can make.

Maintenance and updates

Software and security updates, backups and content changes all need regular attention. With an agency this is usually billed through a separate maintenance agreement; with a website builder the platform maintains the infrastructure and you handle content updates.

Plugins and licences

Sites built on a content management system often rely on premium themes and plugins for forms, security or SEO. Many of these run on yearly licences and stop receiving updates if they aren’t renewed. Ask which licences are included in a quote and whose name they’re registered in.

If you plan to sell through your website, some costs appear that a brochure site never has:

• Payment processing fees: payment providers usually take a fee on each card transaction. Rates and payout times vary by provider and country.
• Shipping: connecting to couriers, creating shipping labels and sharing tracking numbers may need an integration or an extra service.
• Product content: photos and descriptions for every product add up to real time and money as your catalogue grows.
• Legal pages: terms of sale, returns policy and privacy information need to be right for the countries you sell to. You may want a lawyer to review them.

On BirSitem today you can showcase products with product cards and take orders by phone or WhatsApp. The Store plan, with a cart and online payments, is coming soon.

A published website doesn’t bring in visitors by itself. Google and social media ads, managing your business profile or working with an SEO consultant all help people find you, and each is a separate budget line. Keep your advertising budget apart from your website budget, start small and scale up based on results.

The hardest cost to account for is your own time. If you build the site yourself, you’ll spend hours writing, choosing photos and editing. Even with an agency, briefing them, gathering content and approving drafts all take time. Putting that time in your plan is what stops a website project from stalling halfway.

Splitting costs into two groups makes quotes much easier to compare:

• One-time: design and setup fees, a professional photo shoot, copywriting, logo design, initial content entry.
• Recurring: domain renewal, hosting and SSL, a website builder subscription, plugin and theme licences, a maintenance agreement, payment fees, advertising.

Think in three-year totals

An option with a small first invoice can end up costing more once yearly renewals are added; an option that looks pricier up front can be cheaper in the long run. For each quote, do a simple calculation: setup cost, plus every recurring fee over three years, plus a realistic estimate for changes you’ll need in that time. If you’re still weighing up which route to take, our comparison of a website builder vs a custom website will help.

To make sure a good-looking quote doesn’t cause problems later, watch for these warning signs:

• The domain is registered in the agency’s name: if it isn’t in your name, getting your address back can be difficult if you part ways. The domain should always belong to your business, and you should have access to its control panel.
• Unclear ownership: if it isn’t written down who owns the design, source files and content, that’s a problem. It belongs in the contract.
• Vague renewal pricing: if the quote only covers the first year, ask exactly what you’ll pay from year two onwards.
• Every change is billable: if you need to raise a support ticket just to update your phone number, small charges add up fast.
• No defined maintenance: if nobody has said who applies security updates and how often, the site can slowly become a liability.
• Over-scoping: a business that needs a simple one-page site being sold a large software project.

One-page brochure or business card site

Often all that freelancers, tradespeople, consultants and new small businesses need: who you are, what you do and how to get in touch. Most of the budget should go into content and good photos. A site like this can even start on a free plan; our guide to building a free website shows how. For a quick start, try the Personal Business Card template.

Multi-page business site

For businesses that want separate pages for each service, a team page or a blog. Your own domain, well-written copy for each page and regular content updates matter most here. Set aside part of the budget for copywriting and for posts you’ll add over time. The General Business template is a good starting point.

Online store

The most involved budget: the platform or software, payment fees, shipping, product photography, legal pages and almost always advertising. Starting with a showcase site that displays your products before you take payments online is a low-cost way to test demand. The Boutique & Store template works well for this.

We’ve tried to keep BirSitem’s pricing simple. There’s a free-forever plan for one-page sites, and paid plans for things like multi-page sites and connecting your own domain. Hosting and SSL are included in every plan at no extra cost. Yearly paid plans include a free domain for the first year; you’ll find current terms and plan prices in the pricing section.

• You start from an industry-specific template instead of paying for design from scratch.
• Because you edit the content yourself, small changes don’t create extra bills.
• You can use industry photos from the free image library until your own photos are ready.

If you’d like to try it before settling on a budget, open the demo editor without signing up. When you’re ready, create a free account, start with a one-page site and upgrade as your needs grow.