Introduction
If you are a small business owner looking for a new website, the range of prices you will encounter is bewildering. You might see template sites advertised for £5 per month, freelancers quoting £500, and agencies asking for £5,000 or more. Without context, it is difficult to know what you actually need and what represents fair value.
This guide breaks down realistic website costs for UK small businesses in 2026, explains what you get at each price point, and helps you avoid the common mistake of paying too little for something that does not work or too much for features you do not need.
The Three Main Options
1. DIY Website Builders (£100-£300 per year)
Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com allow you to build a website yourself using templates and drag-and-drop editors.
What you get:
- A functional website with a professional-looking template
- Basic hosting included
- Simple editing tools for text and images
- Mobile-responsive layouts (usually)
What you do not get:
- Custom design tailored to your business
- Proper local SEO setup
- Structured data markup for Google
- Expert guidance on layout, copy, or conversion
- Technical support beyond the platform’s help desk
Realistic time cost: Plan to spend 20-40 hours building the site yourself, plus ongoing time for updates and troubleshooting. Your time has value — if you bill at £30 per hour, that is £600-£1,200 in time before the site even launches.
Best for: Very early-stage businesses testing an idea, or businesses where the website is purely informational with minimal need for local search visibility.
2. Freelance Web Designer (£500-£2,000)
Hiring a freelance designer gives you a custom-built site without agency overhead costs.
What you get:
- A custom design based on your brief
- Usually 3-8 pages
- Basic SEO setup (titles, descriptions, headings)
- Content management system for future updates
- A single point of contact
What you need to watch for:
- Freelancers vary enormously in skill. Check their portfolio carefully.
- Many freelancers design well but do not understand SEO or conversion
- Ongoing support can be unreliable if the freelancer moves on to other projects
- Hosting is usually separate — you will need to arrange and pay for it yourself
- No structured local SEO strategy is included at this price point
Best for: Businesses that need a clean, professional presence and have someone in-house comfortable managing basic updates.
3. Professional Web Design with SEO (£995-£5,000+)
A professional service combines design, development, and search engine optimisation in a single project.
What you get at the lower end (around £995-£1,500):
- Mobile-first design built for speed
- 5-10 structured service pages
- On-page SEO including titles, descriptions, headings, and internal linking
- Structured data markup (JSON-LD) for Google
- Google Business Profile setup or optimisation
- Content management system with training
- Performance optimisation (image compression, fast hosting)
What you get at the higher end (£2,500-£5,000+):
- Everything above plus custom functionality (booking systems, e-commerce, client portals)
- Ongoing SEO management and content strategy
- Regular performance reporting
- Technical maintenance and security updates
Best for: Businesses that depend on local customers finding them through Google, where the website needs to generate enquiries, not just exist.
What Drives the Price Up?
Several factors affect the cost of a website project:
| Factor | Lower Cost | Higher Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Number of pages | 3-5 | 15+ |
| Custom design | Template-based | Fully bespoke |
| Content writing | You provide copy | Professional copywriting included |
| E-commerce | No online sales | Product catalogue and checkout |
| Booking system | Contact form only | Integrated booking and payment |
| SEO depth | Basic on-page | Ongoing local SEO campaign |
| Photography | You provide images | Professional shoot included |
The Hidden Cost of a Cheap Website
The most expensive website is not the one that costs the most — it is the one that does not work. We regularly see small businesses come to us after spending £200-£500 on a site that:
- Loads slowly on mobile — over 50% of visitors leave a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load
- Does not rank for any local searches — a site that Google cannot understand will not appear when nearby customers search for your services
- Has no clear call to action — visitors arrive, browse, and leave without making contact
- Cannot be updated easily — every change requires going back to the original builder
- Is not secure — no SSL certificate, outdated software, or vulnerable plugins
The business lost from these problems over 12-24 months almost always exceeds the cost difference between a budget site and a professional one.
What About Ongoing Costs?
Every website has recurring costs beyond the initial build:
- Domain name: £10-£15 per year
- Hosting: £50-£300 per year depending on the platform and traffic
- SSL certificate: Usually included with hosting, or £50-£100 per year separately
- Maintenance and updates: £0 if you do it yourself, £300-£1,200 per year for managed support
- SEO and content updates: £200-£1,000 per month if you want ongoing optimisation
For most small businesses, total annual running costs are between £150 and £600 for a well-built site that you manage yourself.
How to Choose the Right Option
Ask yourself these questions:
How do your customers find you? If most of your business comes from local search (people Googling “plumber near me” or “physiotherapist Wandsworth”), you need proper local SEO built into the site. A template builder will not do this effectively.
What should the website achieve? If it is purely a digital business card, a simple builder might suffice. If it needs to generate phone calls, form submissions, or bookings, you need a site designed around conversion.
What is your time worth? Building a site yourself takes 20-40 hours. If your hourly rate is higher than what a professional charges, outsourcing is more efficient.
How competitive is your market locally? In competitive areas like South West London, businesses with well-optimised, fast websites rank higher and get more clicks. If your competitors have professional sites and you do not, you are at a disadvantage in search results.
What We Offer
We build professional websites for small businesses from £995. Every site includes:
- Mobile-first design that loads in under 2 seconds
- On-page SEO with local search targeting
- Structured data markup for Google
- Google Business Profile optimisation
- Content management system with training
- Fast, secure hosting options
We work from our shop in Putney, serving businesses across South West London. Whether you are in Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Clapham, or Richmond, we can meet in person to discuss your project.
See our full web design and SEO services or contact us for a quote. You can also call us on 020 7610 0500 for a free initial conversation about what your business needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I update the website myself after it is built?
Yes. Every site we build includes a content management system and we walk you through how to use it. You can update text, add blog posts, and swap images without needing technical skills.
How long does it take to build a small business website?
A typical 5-10 page site takes 2-4 weeks from initial consultation to launch. More complex projects with custom features take longer.
Do I need to provide the content?
We can work with content you provide, help you refine it, or write it for you. Good content is essential for SEO, so we always review and optimise whatever goes on the site.
Is hosting included in the price?
Hosting is quoted separately so you can see exactly what you are paying for. We offer hosting packages or can recommend reliable alternatives.
What if I already have a website that needs improving?
We often work with existing sites. Sometimes a targeted improvement — better mobile performance, local SEO fixes, or clearer calls to action — delivers better value than a full rebuild. We can assess what your current site needs and recommend the most cost-effective approach.
When to Call a Professional
If your website needs to generate consistent enquiries rather than simply exist online, professional input usually pays for itself. The biggest warning signs are low visibility in local search, poor mobile performance, unclear calls to action, and uncertainty about what to prioritise first. A professional review can identify the highest-impact fixes quickly, avoid expensive rebuild mistakes, and give you a clear scope and budget before development begins.