How much should a small business website cost?

What you are really paying for

When someone quotes you for a website, the number covers far more than a few pages on a screen. You are paying for someone's time to plan the structure, write or edit the words, source or take photos, design the layout, build it, make it work properly on phones, set up basic SEO so Google understands it, and test every form before launch.

The biggest variable is usually the time spent on thinking and content rather than code. A site where the agency helps you work out what to say, in which language and to which customer will cost more than one where you hand over finished text and photos. It is also far more likely to bring in enquiries.

Typical price bands on the coast

These are typical ranges for small businesses in Spain and on the coast, before IVA. Every project is different, so use them as a guide for comparing quotes.

If a quote sits well below these bands, ask what has been left out. If it sits well above, ask what extra you are getting for the money.

• Template site, 3 to 5 pages, one language: around €600 to €1,500. Quick to launch and fine for a simple service business.
• Custom small site, 5 to 10 pages, designed around your brand, in English and Spanish: around €2,000 to €5,000.
• Site with online booking, or a shop with up to around 50 products: around €3,500 to €8,000, depending on payments, stock and integrations.
• Larger builds with property listings, several languages or custom features: from about €8,000 upwards.

Running costs after launch

The build is a one-off payment, but a website has ongoing costs too. A domain name is usually €10 to €30 a year. Decent hosting for a small business site tends to cost €100 to €300 a year. Platforms such as Shopify or Squarespace charge a monthly subscription instead, often €20 to €80 a month for a small business.

Then there is maintenance, which covers software updates, security, backups and small changes to text or photos. Agencies typically charge €40 to €150 a month for this. A neglected WordPress site can be hacked or break after an update, and fixing it later usually costs more than looking after it would have.

Questions to ask before you sign anything

A good agency will answer all of these happily and put the answers in writing.

• Will I own the domain, the website and all the content, with logins in my name?
• What exactly is included: how many pages, how many rounds of changes, and who writes the text?
• Will the Spanish version be written properly or run through a translation tool?
• What happens after launch, and what do updates and support cost?
• Can I see two or three sites you have built for similar businesses?
• If we stop working together, can I move the site elsewhere?

Red flags

Be wary of anyone who registers your domain in their own name, refuses to give you admin access, or ties you into a long contract where leaving means losing your site. Watch out for vague quotes with no list of pages or features, and for promises of first place on Google within weeks. Nobody can guarantee rankings.

A very cheap price that includes free hosting forever often means the agency keeps control of your site. A very high price with no clear plan for content often means you will end up writing everything yourself anyway.