What is a realistic budget for a small business website?+
In the US market, most small businesses land between $3,000 and $10,000 for a professionally-built site. What you're mostly paying for at that level is US labour — a designer, a developer and a project manager on US salaries. Our equivalent build is $999 because our team is in India, the scope is fixed in writing, and there's no sales overhead in the price.
Why do quotes for the same website vary so wildly?+
Because 'a website' isn't a defined thing. One quote is a customised template with your logo dropped in; another is custom design, written content, a CMS, integrations and SEO work. Get every quote to itemise page count, whether design is custom, who writes the content, what integrations are included and how many revision rounds you get. The spread usually collapses once they're comparable.
Is a cheap website a false economy?+
Sometimes, and it's worth being honest about which kind of cheap you're buying. Cheap because the work is offshore is a cost-base difference and the output can be excellent. Cheap because it's a recycled template with no SEO foundation, that you don't own and can't move, is a real trap. The test isn't price — it's whether you own the code, whether it's fast, and whether it was built to be found.
How much does a website cost per month to run?+
For a static site: the domain at $10–$20 a year and often free hosting, so realistically a few dollars a month. For WordPress: hosting at $20–$100 a month plus premium plugins, plus maintenance. For a builder like Wix or Squarespace: $200–$600 a year rising with add-ons and transaction fees. The monthly costs people actually get caught by are agency retainers and platform lock-in, not infrastructure.
Should I use Wix or Squarespace instead?+
If you're a one-person business that needs a presence this weekend and you'll never rely on Google for customers — genuinely, use a builder. It's the right call and we'd tell you so. The reasons to move off one are speed, ranking ceilings, the monthly cost compounding for years, and that you can't take the site with you. We wrote a full comparison rather than pretending the answer is always 'hire someone'.
How much does it cost to redesign an existing website?+
Usually similar to building new, because the design and build work is the same — occasionally less if the content and structure are sound and it's genuinely a visual refresh. Before you spend anything, get it audited: sometimes a $349 audit plus a speed and SEO cleanup does more for revenue than a full rebuild. We'll say so if that's what we find.
Do I pay everything upfront?+
You shouldn't, anywhere. We take 40% to start and tie the rest to milestones you approve, with a working preview link throughout. Any vendor asking for 100% before work begins is asking you to carry all of the risk.
What does the price not include?+
Ours excludes third-party costs that are genuinely not ours to charge for: domain registration, any paid API or data feed you need (an MLS/IDX feed, a payment processor's fees), premium stock licensing if you want specific imagery, and ad spend. Everything else in the quoted scope is in the number.
