How Much Does it Cost a Small Business for a Website in 2023?

The cost of a small business website development is too high, especially in the USA ranging from $2,500 to $15,000 for small businesses.

What do you think is the cost of the sites shown below?

You might be thinking the sites cost between $2500 to $7500, right?What if I tell you that all the above clients just pay $59-79 a month?In the 79-package, we don’t only design a custom website from scratch but also provide maintenance, hosting, and support from a real dedicated manager.Why not save yourself from paying a large sum upfront and invest in the things that matter to your small business?

The 3 Options For Developing A Small Business Website

1. Hire a Freelancer

Hiring a freelancer is a splendid idea to develop your small business website at an affordable rate.You might find thousands of web developers on Fiverr costing ranging from $10 to $1600 for developing your website.

But it comes as a consequence. Most developers on the freelancing platforms are not aware of the U.S. laws, regulations, and ADA.What is the ADA Section 508 Violation?“Section 508 is an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act, passed by Congress in 1998. This amendment specifies that government agencies must make all electronic and information technology available to people with disabilities. Since its adoption in 1998, the digital realm has exploded, making Section 508 compliance even more necessary to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities.”When you work with a US-made company like One Smart Sheep that builds ADA compliance websites and protect your business from any kind of lawsuit.

Don’t take it for granted, it may cost your business from $10,000 to $100,000.

There are several issues when you purchase from freelancing platforms:a) Inadequate support. According to Fiverr TOS, you’re not allowed to talk over the telephone, Skype, and email; otherwise, the seller may get banned.

b) High Commission: Fiverr gets 20% of the seller’s earnings and 10% from the buyer, making up 30% of the profits. But if a buyer orders a gig above $40, he has to pay a commission fee of 5%; still, 25% of the earnings go to Fiverr.

c) Poor project management. On Fiverr, you have no control over the project and forget project management. Project management is crucial when it comes to developing a small business website.

1. Build Yourself

The second option is to build a website yourself, indubitably, the most challenging task for a small business owner.You need to handle the complex processes like:a) Domain Trademark. Many small business owners don’t have knowledge of copyright, trademark, and patent. They end up pulling down their businesses.Companies that work in the USA have clear ideas about the complex process and can guide you in selecting your business’s domain name.b) Hosting 99% Downtime Fraud. Hosting shouldn’t be taken less seriously since it’s the heart of your business.If your hosting is slow, gets frequent downtimes, provides poor support, and then forgets to establish a successful business online.Countless hosting providers claim 99% uptime guarantee. It explicitly indicates your website will face 7 hours of downtime in a month. The what?

Always opt for the hosting provider that guarantees an uptime of 99.99% or at least 99.9%.Why does it matter? You lose traffic, SEO ranking, and more. Visitors click away from your site that increases your bounce rate, which negatively impacts your ranking in the search results.c) WordPress Themes Nightmare. Selecting a theme isn’t less than a nightmare.If you select a popular theme, your customers can smell it from far away. If you choose a less popular theme, you’re awarded poor support and bugs.WordPress themes are more likely to get hacked when they don’t get security patches regularly.

You might look for an eCommerce WordPress theme on Themeforest—more than 9,200 eCommerce themes exist on Themeforest.

When you investigate, you find it loads sluggishly.

When I ran a test via the Sucuri Scanner, I found severe security flaws.

e) Regular Maintenance. WordPress themes, plugins, and core updates demand frequent updates; otherwise, your sites may break.Thanks to the latest version of WordPress that updates your plugins, core, and themes automatically as soon as new updates are released.Even if your stuff is updated, your site can be compromised on account of default security settings.For example, when you install a new WordPress blog, its default login URL is:yourwebsite.com/wp-login

That makes an easy target for hackers to attack your site with brute-force.Brute-force attacks are powerful that guess your password by trying different variations of words and taking passwords from leak databases—consisting of gigabytes of data.Powerful modern hardware like RTX 3090 is being used for illegal purposes like cracking passwords.

3. Hire One Smart Sheep

One Smart Sheep, an award-winning US-made company, doesn’t only build a custom website from scratch but also hosts, maintains, fixes hacked sites, and more for a budget-friendly price starting from $49 per month.We help you to:

• Build a custom website from scratch.
• Maintain your website: changing WordPress frequently, taking daily backups, optimize your website for speed, fix broken links, and troubleshooting Maintenance Tasks
• Protect your website from being hacked
• Host your website on an ultra-speed server
• Provide a dedicated personal manager
• Optimize your website for SEO

And much more. See our budget-friendly pricing here.We’re proud of what we offer to our clients.Our client websites use technology that lacks 80% of the websites on the internet.

How Much Does Having a Website Increase Business?

Having a website can significantly increase the visibility and credibility of your small business. It allows potential customers to find information about your products or services easily and can help establish trust with your audience. In fact, studies have shown that businesses with a website experience an average increase of 45% in revenue.Having a website can also help you reach a wider audience. With the increasing use of search engines and social media, customers are more likely to discover your business through online channels. By having a well-designed and functional website, you can capture the attention of potential customers who might not have known about your business otherwise.Additionally, having a website can improve your customer service by providing a platform for customers to easily contact you and access important information about your business. This can help increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.Overall, having a website can be a valuable investment for small businesses looking to increase their online presence and grow their customer base.

11 Factors Influencing Your Small Business Website Cost

Numerous factors influence your small business website cost, but here are eleven factors:Small Business WebsiteCostDomain name$1 to $3,000Website hosting$50 to $500SSL Certificate$0 to $1,500Website design$200 to $3,000Per page cost$100 to $1,000Functionality$200 to $10,000Apps and Integrations$500 to $5,000SEO & Schema Markup$300 to $1,500Copywriting$50 to $300Ecommerce$500 to $15,000Custom CMS$1,000 to $3,000Total$2,900 to $43,000

1. Domain name

As discussed above in the domain trademark section, a trademark name may get you sued for thousands of dollars or maybe more.The right domain name could be expensive to acquire. Have a look at Namecheap domains that cost from 1$ to $2000 a month.

A good domain name has the following characteristics:

• Easy to pronounce
• Easy to remember
• Easy to spell
• Easy to type

And

• Exists in dictionary
• No trademark registered
• No branded Google results.

Want to check your domain name for a registered trademark? Go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Besides, it shouldn’t have any branded search results; otherwise, it would make it hard to rank for your brand name.For example, the domain name “everything I wanted” is a song name sung by Billie Eilish.

And Google is ranking for websites related to the songs.

It’s a really bad idea to go for such a business name. People will get addicted to the song instead of visiting your site :D

2. Website hosting

Different web hosting types prevail in the market, from shared hosting to VPS to dedicated servers.Shared hosting is the cheapest of all types since all the resources are shared among other users on the server. If one user consumes more resources, then other users face the aftermath of it—frequent downtimes.Hosting costs range from $24 to $10,000 a year. Looks at the WPEngine pricing that goes from $30 to $290 per month.

Kinsta, a Google-cloud-based hosting, has plans from $30 to $1500 a month.

Namecheap is among the cheapest hosting providers on the market.

But it doesn’t mean the cheap hosting plans provide world-class performance. Take a look at the reviews before you decide to purchase a hosting package.

Did you know? A fast hosting company is crucial to get a good ranking. Why? Google loves fast websites; that’s why Google made speed a ranking factor.

Furthermore, insecure hosting—most probably the cheapest— is the number one reason your website gets hacked.

3. SSL certificate

Not everything is paid and expensive.Let’s Encrypt and Cloudflare SSLs provide free SSL certificates, and these certificates are enough to run a smooth business operation.Are you wondering why SSL certificates are essential?

• An SSL certificate protests server-client communications and encrypt every information that is sent from your users to the browser and the browser to the user.
• Help in search engine ranking since HTTPS is a ranking factor.
• Paid SSL certificate has a guarantee that pays you from $10,000 to 1.7 million dollars if something goes wrong.

If you want to use premium SSL OV and EV certificates, their cost may go from $20 to $999 a year.

Why makes them so expensive? EV and OV SSL certificates provide a warranty of 1.75 million dollars, and other additional features—free SSL doesn’t provide any kind of warranty.

4. Web Design & Development

Web design and web development are one of the most appealing aspects influencing small businesses. Even though they both go hand in hand, yet they are entirely different concepts.Web design is like the aesthetic of a car: the color, paint, and overall appearance. On the other hand, web development is similar to the engine, radiator and front steering, and car suspension.

The cost to build and design a website ranges from $200 to $50,000. This cost varies based on the design and developers you hire.The price may also depend on the number of pages you have on a website, the content, and the functionalities.A well-constructed and well-developed website will consider the level of success and failure for small businesses. Important factors to consider regarding the design includes the following:

• Attractive interface
• Simplicity
• Consistency
• Readability
• Minimum response time

Make sure to use an appealing layout, accurate colors, and suitable typefaces while designing your website.

5. Number of Pages

A web page helps to distinguish a brand from the audience in a more salutary way. Each page in web development demands dedicated time. Even if the pages contain the same layout, web developers still need to update their assets.An eCommerce website may have more than 100 pages, and a simple business site may consist of only ten pages. Keep in mind that only a well-craft page will showcase your products, goods, and services. For up to 10 pages, the cost can vary between $500 to $2000.If you are willing to develop up to 50 pages, the cost may increase to $30,000. This cost may vary from a constructor to another constructor.Remember to avoid unnecessary pages while developing the website. It can reduce the loading time of your website while minimizing the number of visitors.

6. Functionality

The cost for your small business website differs based on the functionalities you want to embed. The functionality of a website determines the intention of your website with its working.It is ideal for small businesses to include valid and durable functionalities to obtain the maximum revenue. A durable functionality of a website encompasses interactivity, content, and the actions of a user.

Make sure the proper functionality is added for a successful website. For instance, you may want to accept online payments from PayPal, Stripe, or any other payment gateways. Besides these, small businesses might want to include functionalities such as:

• Event calendar
• Image gallery
• Compatible interface
• Forms
• Search engine

Each platform or functionality may require its own cost since the process varies from easy to complex. Moreover, you may need a price calculator tool that can help your customers in real-time.Customers demand unique functionality that lacks in other competitors. These calculating price tools can perform functionality tests to help earn customer's trust and generate more leads.Additionally, a few more tests such as interface testing, usability testing, compatibility testing, performance testing, and security testing may be required.Remember, if your website doesn’t meet the required functionalities, you may have to re-plan your web design and web development.

7. Apps Integrations and Automation

Manually integration of the tasks can become complicated in no time. Do you want to add some apps on your site that can automate most of your tasks? Automation and integration are trending in the current market due to its unremarkable advantages.For example, you want to automate your email marketing and set up your autoresponder or send weekly emails to your customers about your products and coupons to impress them.

Many small businesses lack a huge budget, but they can use Zapier:

• It is free to use for starters.
• Businesses can use this app for up to 5 connections.
• You can perform up to 100 tasks using this app.
• As your business starts to grow, businesses can enjoy their premium services by paying as low as only $20 per month.

Depending on the complexity of your app, your cost may go from $100 to $10,000. Your app could be a complex booking engine that retrieves data from the database or API; it could cost a lot more.Moreover, the time frame also impacts your cost. The faster you need the app, the more it costs. Automation and integration will reduce the hassle of your life by providing an easy management system.Moreover, it reduces the total cost required to perform most of your tasks. Accelerate your system with automated detections, resolutions, and much more.

8. SEO and Schema

Search Engine Optimization is a crucial part of any successful small business website.30 billion searches are conducted every month on Google. If you’re not found online, no matter how much money you spend on your website, it has no use.It’s essential to dedicate some budget for SEO and make your website SEO optimized and implement Schema.Additionally, you must invest your money to optimize for rich snippets of Google so that it can attract as many clicks as possible.

Ensure the developer you hire has an in-depth knowledge of SEO; otherwise, your website could never rank on Google.SEO implementation on your website helps to get more clicks organically—saving your budget for PPC.You get more traffic from Google when it’s easily crawlable and indexable otherwise inexperienced developers will add text in images, and complex javascript that will create difficulties for Google Bot, hence, negatively impacting your site ranking.

9. Website Content

Content on your website is as equally important as the design of your website. Well-written content can create an impression of professionalism.Content is the reason an audience can stick on your page. It catches the attention of your client and ends up buying your valuable products or services.

Remember to ensure that the content provides information regarding your business. Avoid listing irrelevant data since it's visible to search engines. Know your audience well before creating content.The selection of words should carefully be chosen on your homepage since it could make or break your website’s overall conversions.Focus on the quality of the content rather than the quantity of the text. Stick to the rule of simplicity and conciseness. You can include pictures, screenshots, and GIFs since a visual representation shows 1000 words.Did you know?Skilled copywriters don’t write for the masses, but they write for one person and create a personalized experience and hook your customers.Always hire a copywriter who has deep knowledge of your vertical otherwise, he or she may not convert your visitors into customers.Content on your website positions your small business as the industry expert. If your website doesn’t seem to be an industry expert, why would they buy from you anyway?

10. eCommerce Functionality

When talking about eCommerce websites, functionalities and layout hold a substantial worth.Through eCommerce functionalities, small businesses can keep track of the orders, control inventory, and customize new services. Such functionalities are not only convenient in the current market, but it is also useful for the growth of small businesses.

Whether you want to increase your sales or hike the number of products you offer, eCommerce functionalities can be convenient. Below is the list of the common yet important Ecommerce features:

• Easy checkout
• Reporting tools
• Integration system
• Discount codes
• Search engine bar
• Bar codes

eCommerce functionalities can help business owners to manage business processes effectively. Choosing your eCommerce website’s accurate functionalities can either lead to a higher success rate or a cutout.The cost of adding eCommerce functionalities to a website can diverge based on the design, features, functionalities, hosting, and other development aspects. Each functionality can cost up from $50 to up to $5000.

11. Content Management System (CMS)

As business owners, big or small, doesn’t it become frustrating to manage all of your content, tasks, and projects?Business owners are always craving for a more straightforward solution to manage daily activities and assignments.If you’re a small business owner, I’ll never recommend building a custom CMS that may cost from $2000 to $10,000. It’s better to modify the open-source CMS like WordPress, Joomla, and Magento as per your needs and wants.

The content management system (CMS) allows business runners to create, control, edit, and publish the website content. CMS will make your life much more comfortable with great comfort since it doesn’t require any special technical knowledge.

How to Keep Website Costs Low

While having a website can provide numerous benefits for your small business, it can also be a significant expense. Fortunately, there are several ways to keep website costs low without sacrificing quality.One way to save money is to use a website builder platform, such as Wix or Squarespace, which offers pre-designed templates and easy-to-use tools for building your website. Another option is to hire a freelancer or web design agency that specializes in affordable website development.You can also reduce costs by being strategic about the features and functionality you include on your website. While it may be tempting to add every possible feature and integration, this can quickly drive up costs. Instead, focus on the essential features that are most important for your business and prioritize those in your website development plan.Finally, consider the long-term maintenance and update costs of your website when choosing a content management system (CMS). Some CMS options, such as WordPress, offer a wide range of plugins and updates that can add additional costs and complexity to your website. Choosing a simpler CMS or website builder platform can help keep ongoing maintenance costs low.By being mindful of these cost-saving strategies, you can create a professional and functional website for your small business without breaking the bank.

Conclusion

Small businesses usually struggle the most when it comes to leads. They may have to pay for the upfront cost, maintenance cost, and much more.Fortunately, the total cost required for setting up small businesses is not as extreme as big businesses. Remember, a website can increase the flexibility, credibility, and usability of your brand.So, inventing the right amount for your business can be a superlative perspective. The total cost may vary for each business based on the added functionalities.Keep in mind that a well-research and well-written content may cost a bit higher, but it will surely do the job for ranking your website high on Google.Try to add eCommerce functionalities while staying within your budget. Such functionalities can leave an unremarkable outcome on your visitors, causing them to turn into buyers.