How much does a website cost for a small business in Dorset?
It’s the first question almost everyone asks, and the honest answer is “it depends”. That’s not very useful on its own, so here are the typical price ranges you’ll come across in the UK, what actually changes the price, and how to compare quotes fairly.
The three main routes
- DIY website builders (Wix, Squarespace and similar): usually around £10–£40 a month. Cheapest to start, but you do the work, and you’re tied to their platform.
- Freelance developers: commonly from a few hundred pounds up to around £2,000 for a small business site, depending on size and features. You deal with one person directly.
- Agencies: often £2,000 to £10,000+. You get a team and more process, which makes sense for larger projects but is more than most small businesses need.
Prices vary a lot between providers, so treat these as rough guides rather than fixed rules.
What actually changes the price
- Number of pages and how much content needs writing or organising.
- Features: online booking, payments, a shop, user accounts or a members’ area all add work.
- Custom design versus adapting a template.
- Connections to other tools, like your booking system, stock or accounting software.
- Who supplies the photos and text. If it’s ready, it’s quicker and cheaper.
The running costs nobody mentions
A website isn’t just a one-off cost. Budget for a domain name (typically around £10–£20 a year for a .co.uk), hosting (anything from free for a simple, fast site to £20+ a month for heavier ones), and occasional updates. Ask any web designer to list these up front, in writing.
Where Weymouth Software fits
My websites start from £80 for a simple, fast site, and most small business sites with a few pages, a contact or booking form and local SEO land somewhere between that and a few hundred pounds. Every project gets a fixed written quote before you pay anything, you own the code and content, and nothing runs on a platform you’re locked into.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- Is the price fixed, or could it go up? What would make it go up?
- Who owns the website and the domain once it’s finished?
- What are the yearly running costs, exactly?
- How many rounds of changes are included?
- Will it be fast on a phone, and set up for Google from day one?
If you’d like a fixed quote for your own site, tell me what you need and I’ll reply within 24 hours.