Notes
How much does a small business website cost in North Carolina?
Ask five people what a website should cost and you get five answers that differ by a factor of ten, and none of them will say a number until they have "learned more about your needs." Here is the plain version, with my own prices included, because you should not have to call anybody to find out.
How much does it cost to build a website?
For a local business that needs the basics done well, a home page, what you do, where you do it, photos, reviews and a way to reach you, there are really four ways to buy it.
| Route | What you pay | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself on a builder (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy) | Roughly $15 to $50 a month, plus your evenings | A template you fill in. Fine if you enjoy it and finish it. Most people do neither. |
| A freelancer | Often a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, then hosting and changes on top | Wide range in quality. The good ones are busy; the cheap ones disappear. |
| An agency | Usually several thousand dollars, sometimes a monthly retainer as well | A polished site, meetings, a project manager and a bill to match. Built for businesses bigger than most of the ones I work with. |
| Foothold Web | $450 to build, $90 a month (or $900 a year) | A lean, fast site built for your business, your domain, hosting, backups, small changes whenever you need them, and me on the phone. |
The builder and agency numbers are ranges, and they move. The point of the table is the shape: the cheap options cost you time, the expensive options sell you things you may not need, and the middle is where most local businesses should be.
How much does it cost to have a website, after it is built?
This is the question people forget to ask. A website is not a one-time purchase. Something has to host it, renew the domain, keep the security certificate current, back it up and fix the small things that break. On a builder that is the monthly plan. With an agency it is a maintenance contract, often priced separately. With me it is the $90, and it is the whole list: hosting, security, backups, and the everyday changes like new photos, new hours or a new service. Bigger work gets a plain quote first, every time.
Why is $450 enough?
Because the site is lean on purpose. When somebody looks you up they are on their phone and they want three things: what you do, whether you are any good, and how to reach you. A site that answers those questions in a few clean pages does the job. I do not build a page for the sake of a page, there is no office to pay for, and there are no salespeople or account managers between you and the person doing the work. That is the whole trick. It is also why I can build most of a site before we ever talk.
What the $450 includes: the finished site on your own domain, a page for each service and each town you cover, titles and descriptions written for the searches your customers actually type, your Google Business Profile set up and linked, and a walk through it with you before it goes live.
What it does not include: online stores, booking systems, customer portals. Those are real projects and they get a real quote if you ever want them.
What should make you suspicious
A price that only appears after a "discovery call." A monthly fee that does not say what it covers. A contract that keeps your domain in somebody else's name. A promise of the top spot on Google. And "free website" offers, which are usually a builder plan with a company's ad on your site until you pay to remove it.
Do you need a website at all?
If your work comes from referrals and you are booked solid, maybe not today. But even referrals look you up before they call, and the customers you do not have yet are searching for what you do, not for your name. That is the case for a site, and it is the same case whether you buy it from me or from someone else. If you are running on a Facebook page right now, this one is for you.
Need a website for your small business? $450 to build, $90 a month, cancel anytime. Built in Cary, NC by a real person you can call.
Call or text (919) 473-3371Also in Notes: You have a Facebook page. Do you still need a website? · What the $90 a month actually covers · How to actually show up on Google Maps