This is one of the first questions almost every business owner asks, and honestly, it's a fair one. The answer isn't a single number, because a website for a small local business and a website for an ecommerce store with hundreds of products are two completely different projects. Here's a real breakdown of what things actually cost, based on the type of site you need.
Simple three page websites
We occasionally run promotions on smaller sites, where a simple three page website is available for a $99 build fee, with hosting at $50 a month to keep it live. This option works well for businesses that just need a clean, professional presence online without a lot of extra pages or features.
Full business websites with multiple pages
For a more complete business website, like one for a local service business that wants to highlight all of its services, show past work, display reviews, answer common questions, and include dedicated pages for each town or service area it covers, pricing typically falls between $1,500 and $3,000. The exact number depends on how many pages you need and how much custom design and content work goes into the site. Hosting for these sites usually stays around $49 a month, though more complex builds can run closer to $100 a month in rare cases.
Having dedicated pages for each town you serve isn't just a nice extra either. It's one of the best ways to improve local SEO reach, since it gives search engines a specific page to match with searches from each of those areas.
Websites with back end portals or secure logins
Some businesses need more than a public facing website. If you need a back end portal where different users can log in and see specific information, or a secure area where a limited group of people, like board members, can communicate privately, that level of complexity usually starts north of $5,000. These are highly technical builds, but they're exactly the kind of project we specialize in.
One example is a site we built called Canopy Search. It's a plant search tool built for landscape designers, using a library of several hundred plant entries that we researched individually so users can actually filter and search by usability rather than guessing. It's a good example of how far a custom build can go when a business needs something a template simply can't do.
Ecommerce websites
Ecommerce pricing is the hardest to pin down with a flat number, because it depends entirely on scope. A store with a handful of products, like a simple site selling sorority pins, is a much smaller project than a full catalog with hundreds of items, like a lightning protection parts catalog we built with over 300 products listed. Because of that range, ecommerce sites are always quoted individually based on your product count and the features you need.
The bottom line
Whether you need something simple or something highly custom, pricing comes down to scope, not guesswork. If you're not sure where your project falls, the best next step is to reach out and get a straightforward quote based on what you actually need.