Short answer: most small businesses get online one of four ways: a do-it-yourself website builder, a one-time build from a freelancer, an agency, or a managed monthly plan. The cheapest of these can be very cheap. Whether it stays cheap depends on how much of your own time and know-how you can put into keeping the site working.
Below I compare the four routes and list the questions to ask any provider before you sign.
What Does Every Website Need?
Every website, no matter who builds it, needs the same four things. Quotes look different mostly because they bundle these differently.
| Piece | What it is | Who usually handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Your address, like yourbusiness.com | You register it and renew it every year |
| Hosting | The server that keeps the site online around the clock | A hosting company or your website provider |
| The site itself | Design, pages, photos and wording | You, a freelancer, an agency or your provider |
| Upkeep | Security updates, backups, fixes and content changes | Whoever you've agreed will do it, or nobody |
Upkeep is the piece people forget. Think of it as the oil changes for your website. A site nobody updates goes stale, and one nobody patches can be hacked and flagged by Google.
The Four Ways to Get a Small-Business Site Online
| Route | What it costs | Your time each month | Skills you need | Who fixes problems |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Do-it-yourself builder | Lowest up front, low monthly fee | The most | Comfort with web tools, writing and basic troubleshooting | You |
| Freelancer, one-time build | Moderate up front, then a fee for each change | Some | Knowing when something is wrong | You, or the freelancer by the hour |
| Agency | Highest up front, plus an upkeep contract | Little | Very little | The agency |
| Managed monthly plan | Low to moderate up front, then a predictable monthly fee | Little | Very little | The provider |
Online stores, booking systems and custom features add cost on every route.
Why the Cheapest Option Isn't Always the Cheapest
A do-it-yourself builder can put a decent-looking site online for very little money. That's a real option, and for some owners it's the right one. The low price works because you're doing the rest of the job yourself.
It's a lot like doing your own oil changes. If you have the tools and know what you're doing, you save real money. If you don't, the job takes longer than planned and can end up costing more than the shop would have.
Here is what the job includes once the site is live:
- Checking it. Loading the site, testing the contact form and making sure the hours and prices are current.
- Updating it. New services, seasonal hours, staff changes and photos.
- Keeping it secure. Applying updates when the builder or plug-ins change, and noticing when the security certificate (the padlock in the browser) has a problem.
- Keeping it findable. Page titles, descriptions and listings that help Google and AI assistants describe your business correctly.
- Fixing it. Working out why a page broke or a form stopped sending, often at an inconvenient time.
For most small sites that's a few hours a month, more when something breaks or the builder changes how it works. If those hours come out of evenings you'd rather spend with family, or out of time you'd otherwise bill a customer for, the savings shrink. If you enjoy the work and have the skills, the savings are real.
A budget site that nobody looks after tends to fail quietly: a contact form that stopped sending, an expired security certificate, old hours, or a domain that lapsed. A customer who finds wrong hours or a security warning usually doesn't call. They go to the next result.
Some problems stay out of sight entirely. On a recent free website review, I looked at the site of an established local business on low-cost shared hosting. The pages loaded fine and the contact form worked. Underneath, the site ran on a version of PHP, the software that builds its pages, that stopped getting security updates in late 2022. When a serious PHP flaw was made public this October, the fix didn't reach that version at all. Nothing looked wrong, so nobody had checked. Cheap hosting kept the site online. It didn't keep the software current.
The risk with a gap like that goes past the owner. Once someone gets into a server that way, they can tuck harmful code into the pages and use the site to infect the phones and computers of the people who visit. Those are your customers, checking your hours or looking up your number. They may never figure out where the trouble came from, and if they do, it's your business they'll remember. I wrote more about that flaw, and the questions to ask your host, in The October PHP Security Flaw and What It Means for Your Website.
What Do Quotes Usually Leave Out?
The build price is rarely the whole bill. Before you sign with anyone, ask these five questions:
- Who owns the domain name? It should be registered in your name, not the designer's. Getting it back later can take weeks.
- What does a change cost after launch? New hours, a menu update or a staff photo can each be a separate charge on an hourly arrangement.
- Who handles security updates and backups? A backup is the spare key kept at a neighbor's house. You hope you never need it. An unpatched site can be hacked and flagged by Google, and cleaning one up costs far more than prevention.
- Is there a contract term or cancellation fee? Some plans lock you in for one to three years.
- Can I take my site with me if I leave? Ask for a copy of your files and content in writing.
How to Choose: Start with These Three Questions
- How often will the site change? Hours, menus, staff and prices that change monthly favor a route where someone else handles updates. A site that stays put for a year is fine as a one-time build.
- Who will notice if it breaks? If the honest answer is "nobody until a customer complains," you want monitoring and backups included, not bolted on later.
- What is an hour of your time worth, and do you have the skills? A do-it-yourself builder is cheapest on paper. It stays cheapest when you have the time and know-how to run it well.
If you do go the do-it-yourself route, own your domain. Then put a monthly reminder on your calendar to load your site, test the contact form and check your hours. That ten-minute habit catches most problems before a customer does.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the Difference Between a Domain and Hosting?
The domain is your address on the internet (yourbusiness.com). Hosting is the building at that address, the server where your site lives. You can buy them from different companies, but always register the domain in your own name.
Can I Build My Own Small-Business Website?
Yes. Website builders make it possible for most owners to put up a basic site themselves. Plan on ongoing time for updates, security and fixes, not just the time it takes to build it.
How Much Time Does a Website Take to Maintain?
For a small site, plan on a few hours a month for checks, updates and small changes, and more when something breaks. Sites that list hours, menus or prices that change often take more.
Is a Monthly Website Plan Cheaper Than a One-Time Build?
It depends on how often the site changes. A one-time build can cost less when the site rarely changes. When it changes often, paying for each change adds up, and a monthly plan that includes updates and security work can come out ahead.
How Long Does It Take to Get a Small-Business Site Live?
A 5- to 10-page site usually takes one to three weeks. Most of that time is waiting on photos, prices and wording from the owner.
Do I Need a Website if I Have a Facebook Page and Google Listing?
In most cases, yes. Google and AI assistants pull their answers from websites. A site that lists your services, hours and service area helps people find you, and it helps those tools describe you correctly.
Can I Switch Hosting Later?
Yes, if you own your domain and can get a copy of your site's files and content. Ask about both before you sign anything.
If You'd Rather Not Be the One Checking
Keeping a site working is what I do for businesses of 1 to 25 employees in south-central Michigan. One monthly plan covers hosting, monitoring, security updates and content changes. See how the plans work.
Already have a site? I'll look it over for free and send you a short written report on what needs attention.
