The five tiers of website pricing
Every web design option falls into one of these five tiers. I’ll break down what you actually get — and what you give up — at each one.
Tier 1 — Free / $0–$20/month
Free or $0–$240/year
Google Business Profile (free, highly recommended), a basic Facebook or Instagram page, or a completely free Wix plan. These are not real websites, but for a business that has zero online presence, they’re better than nothing.
Pros: Free. Better than nothing. Gets you on Google Maps immediately (GBP).
Cons: No real credibility. No control. Limited SEO. Free Wix has Wix branding on the URL.
Tier 2 — DIY Website Builder
$16–$49/month ($192–$588/year)
Squarespace Business, Wix Core, GoDaddy Pro, Weebly. You pick a template, fill in your information, publish. The site lives on their platform and disappears if you stop paying.
Pros: Fast to set up. No technical skills required. Looks decent out of the box.
Cons: You own nothing. Limited local SEO. Template limitations make standing out hard. The $16/month turns into $800+ over 5 years for something you never actually own.
Tier 3 — Freelance or Budget Build
$500–$1,500 one-time
A freelancer (often on Fiverr, Upwork, or referral) builds a site for you using WordPress, Elementor, or a template. The quality varies enormously. Some do excellent work; others deliver a template with your logo swapped in.
Pros: Low upfront cost. Can get something live quickly.
Cons: Rarely includes local SEO setup, Google Business Profile, or analytics. Often ends up on the designer’s hosting with no clear handoff. You may not have the logins when the relationship ends.
Tier 4 — Local Web Designer (custom build + handoff)
$1,500–$5,000 one-time — then $0/month to run
A local web designer who builds a custom site, sets up your Google Business Profile, wires in analytics and local SEO, and hands everything over to you in your name. No monthly fee to keep the site running. This is where a real business website lives.
Pros: You own everything. Real local SEO. Custom design that matches your brand. Ongoing hosting is free. Over 5 years, often cheaper than Tier 2.
Cons: Higher upfront cost. You need to vet the designer to make sure they actually hand over ownership.
Tier 5 — Agency
$5,000–$25,000+ one-time, often with retainers
A web design or marketing agency. You get a team, project managers, strategy sessions, brand guidelines, and often ongoing SEO retainers. The work is typically high quality but the cost structure assumes a larger marketing budget.
Pros: High production quality. Full team. Integrated marketing strategy.
Cons: Expensive. Often comes with a required monthly retainer. May not be the right fit for a local service business with a $0 marketing budget trying to get started.
The hidden costs nobody mentions
The sticker price is rarely the real price. Here’s what gets added on:
- Hosting: DIY platforms charge $16–$49/month. WordPress requires a hosting plan ($5–$30/month). A properly built static site on Netlify costs $0/month at local business traffic levels.
- Maintenance fees: Many designers charge $100–$300/month to “maintain” a site that mostly just needs the phone number changed twice a year.
- Update fees: If you can’t update the site yourself, you’re paying $50–$150 every time you want a sentence changed. Over a year, that adds up fast.
- Domain: Around $12–$15/year, regardless of who builds your site. This one is unavoidable and totally reasonable.
- SSL certificate: Should be included. If someone is quoting you extra for HTTPS, that’s a red flag.
The 5-year number that changes the conversation
Most business owners compare the upfront cost of hiring a web designer against the low monthly cost of Squarespace. That’s the wrong comparison. Here’s what both options actually cost over 5 years:
- Squarespace Business at $23/month: $1,380 over 5 years — and at the end of it, you own nothing. Cancel and the site disappears.
- Custom web design at $1,500 (7-Day Liftoff): $1,500 + $75 in domain renewals = $1,575 over 5 years — and at the end of it, you own everything outright.
Almost the same total cost. One leaves you with an asset you own. The other leaves you with a monthly bill and nothing to show for it.
What I charge and what you get
For context: the 7-Day Online Liftoff is $1,500 right now. That’s a complete custom website, Google Business Profile optimization, analytics, review import, contact form, and a clean handoff with everything in your name. No required retainer afterward. You own it on day one and forever.
If you want to know what the right tier is for your specific business — and whether it’s worth investing now or waiting — book a free conversation and I’ll give you a straight answer.