What to know before you build or rebuild.

Plain-English answers to the questions every owner has before spending a dollar on a website — what it costs, whether to do it yourself, when a redesign is worth it, and what you actually own at the end.

What a small business website really costs

Short version: most small-business sites land between $2,500 and $9,000, driven by page count, custom design, integrations, and who writes the content. DIY builders run $20–$50/month but cost you the time and, usually, the results.

We wrote the full breakdown — the five factors that move the number and the ongoing costs nobody mentions — in a dedicated guide: How much does a small business website cost?

DIY builder vs. hiring a professional

A DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) genuinely makes sense if you're pre-revenue, need a placeholder, or enjoy the work and have the time to keep it current.

Hiring a pro makes sense when the website is a real sales channel — when a slow, generic, or hard-to-find site is quietly costing you calls you'll never know you missed. The honest test: if your website needs to bring in customers rather than just exist, the DIY time plus the lost leads usually cost more than the build.

Seven signs it's time to redesign

A sign or two is normal. Four or more usually means the site is actively costing you business:
• It isn't comfortable to use on a phone.
• It takes more than about three seconds to load.
• You'd hesitate to send a good lead to it.
• It doesn't show up when people search for what you do.
• There's no obvious next step for a visitor.
• You can't update it yourself — or can't reach whoever built it.
• It was built more than four or five years ago.

What website maintenance actually includes

Real maintenance is software and security updates, automatic backups, uptime monitoring, broken-link and form checks, and small content edits — plus keeping your local SEO current.

It's the difference between a site that quietly keeps working and one you discover is broken (or hacked) the day you need it most. Expect roughly $100–$500/month depending on how much ongoing work and SEO is included — here's what our care plans cover.

Do you actually own your website?

You should own all of it — your domain, your hosting account, the design, and the content — with no proprietary lock-in. Some builders and agencies keep you renting: the moment you leave, you lose everything.

Before you hire anyone, ask one question: “If we ever part ways, do I keep the domain, the files, and the ability to move it somewhere else?” The right answer is “yes, completely.”