Red Isle WebWhen I give someone a price for a website, the first thing they ask is usually about the part I didn't mention. "Okay, so what's the monthly fee?"
People ask because nearly every website company trains them to. You sign up, you pay every month, and you keep paying for as long as the site is up. Two numbers really decide what a website costs you: the one-time price to build it, and the monthly price to keep it running. Most companies keep the build cheap and lean on the monthly fee. Below is what each one usually looks like, and why I went a different way.
What it costs to build
Red Isle Web started with a number a friend told me. He was getting a business off the ground, and he mentioned, almost in passing, that he'd paid $5,000 for his website. That got me thinking. I knew I could build a great site for a fraction of that, so I started doing it. Prices for a website are all over the map, because "website" can mean a five-page site for a plumber or a booking-and-payment system for a busy clinic.
For a normal small business site, a freelancer in Canada usually runs $1,500 to $5,000, and a small agency $2,500 to $7,000. Go up to a bigger firm in a city like Toronto or Halifax and you're into five figures quickly.
Most Island businesses don't need the five-figure version. You need a clean, fast site that tells people what you do, shows a few photos, lists your hours, and makes it easy to get in touch. Five or six pages, built once. The trouble usually isn't the build price. It's what comes after.
What the monthly fee is for
If you build it yourself on Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy, the site is cheap or even free to start. The monthly plan is where they make their money, usually $20 to $50 a month once you're on a paid plan with your own web address and no ads. You're paying rent. Part of it is hosting, the cost of keeping your site online, and part of it is the software that lets you log in and edit the thing inside their system.
That fee doesn't stop. Say you're on a $30 a month plan. That's $360 a year, and $1,800 over five years, for a site you built and maintain yourself. Hire an agency instead and a lot of them add a monthly "care plan" on top of the build, so there's a bill there too. Miss enough payments and the site goes dark, because you were renting it the whole time.
Why I don't charge a monthly fee
Hosting a simple site costs almost nothing now. The tools I build on host it for free and keep it fast and secure, so there's no monthly cost for me to pass on to you. That's the whole reason I could drop the subscription.
So I charge $1,000, one time, and that's the price. I build the site, take it live on your own web address, and the first month of changes is free so we can get it exactly right. After that, a small change is a flat $50 whenever you need one, not every month whether you need it or not. You own the site and the web address, the same way you own your sign or your van.
Do the math for your own shop
Before you sign up for anything with a monthly fee, add up what you'd pay over five years and set it next to a one-time build you own outright. For a lot of small businesses, the one-time route comes out cheaper by the second or third year, and everything after that is yours.
Have a look at some of my work, or send me a note. I'm always happy to look at what you've got, or what you're paying now, and tell you honestly whether it's worth a switch.