What you're actually paying for
A website price is really three things bundled together: design, development and ongoing running costs. A simple, well-built brochure site for a local business sits at the affordable end. A custom, database-backed site — with logins, bookings, payments or a customer portal — costs more because it is, effectively, custom software.
- Number of pages and how much custom design each needs.
- Whether it's a static brochure site or a dynamic, database-driven web application.
- Features: contact forms, bookings, payments, multi-language, blog, portal.
- Content: whether you provide text and images, or need them created.
- SEO groundwork so the site can actually be found on Google.
Don't forget the ongoing costs
The build is a one-time cost; a website also has running costs. Budget for domain renewal, hosting, an SSL certificate (often free via Let's Encrypt), and — most importantly — maintenance: security updates, backups and content changes. A cheap site with no maintenance is the one that gets hacked or goes stale.
How to get value, not just a low price
The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest outcome. A site that loads slowly, isn't mobile-friendly or can't be found on Google costs you customers every month. Prioritise fast loading, mobile-first design, clean SEO foundations and a maintenance plan. Those are what turn a website from a cost into a source of enquiries.