How much does a website cost for a small business in the UK?

Short answer: anywhere from about £10 a month to several thousand pounds. That range is useless on its own, so here's what you actually get at each level, and what to watch out for.

Option 1: build it yourself

Wix, Squarespace and similar builders usually cost somewhere around £10 to £30 a month, plus a domain name. A .co.uk domain is roughly £10 to £15 a year.

It's the cheapest way in, and for some businesses it's enough. The catch is your time. Most people underestimate how long it takes to write the words, sort the photos and get it looking right on a phone. A lot of DIY sites end up half-finished, or finished once and never touched again.

Option 2: a freelancer

A local freelancer will usually charge somewhere from a few hundred pounds to a couple of thousand, depending on how many pages you need and what the site has to do.

You get someone who does the work for you and, if you pick well, someone you can ring when something needs changing. The quality varies a lot, so look at sites they've actually built and ask who you deal with after it goes live.

Option 3: an agency

Agencies usually start around £3,000 and go up quickly. That buys you a team, a process and more polish. For most small local businesses it's more than you need.

The costs people forget

The build is only part of it. Every website also needs:

• Hosting, so the site is actually online.
• The domain, renewed every year.
• Updates and changes, like new photos, prices or opening times.
• Someone to fix it when something breaks.

Some people charge a low build price and make it back on expensive monthly fees. Others charge less monthly but bill you for every small change. Ask for both numbers before you agree to anything.

What pushes the price up

• More pages, especially a page for each service or town you cover.
• Online booking or quote forms with file uploads.
• Writing the words for you rather than you sending them.
• Anything custom, like a calculator or a customer login.

Five questions to ask before you pay anyone

1. Who owns the domain and the site if I leave?
2. What does the monthly fee cover, exactly?
3. How much is a small change, like new prices?
4. Is there a minimum contract?
5. Can I see two or three sites you've built?

If the answer to the first one is anything other than "you do", walk away.

What I charge

For what it's worth, my prices are on the homepage: £495 for a one-page site, £1,195 for a full business site with enquiry handling, and £45 a month for the care plan. You own your domain and your site either way, and I'll mock up your homepage for free before you pay anything.