Web Design Costs - What is it really costing you?
If you're a small business owner currently sitting at your laptop with not the slightest clue where to start with your small business website. Man do I see you. So let’s explore web design cost for your small business….and not just the financial cost.
So even though, you have a list the length of your arm of things that your business needs right now, you're right to make getting your small business website design a priority. Did you know that in Forbes 2025 Website Statistics Survey, a massive 83.5% of business owners state their website plays a big part in their business.
Whether we like to admit it or not, if a business, (even a small one) doesn't have a website, it can ring alarm bells. Are they a legit business? Or even more simple, they can't decide if you're the best place to give their custom, if they can't see what you offer and how it compares to market competitors.
But where do you begin? Think of designing a website for your small business like a jigsaw puzzle. There are multiple pieces that create the perfect all over picture of your business and what it can offer.
Miss a piece and it will at best, make your website feel a bit ‘off’ but more likely it will mean your website will underperform in its most important role - to bring in either leads or sales. And if it isn’t doing its job properly, what is the point of it?
Weighing up the options of Web Design cost
Right now, you are likely considering two choices - looking for a web design agency that can build your website and keep it up to date and the Do It Yourself route to keep web design cost down.
Hiring a web design agency should be able to create a website that has the professional feel that you are looking for - plus they should automatically know what to include, what is important etc. But web design costs with an agency are making your eyes water. Especially if you are a new small business, money isn’t exactly flowing and you want to keep costs including web design down, where you can.
So you started looking at how you can do it yourself. Web design costs when doing it yourself is definitely a cheaper option - in regards to outgoings. You have done some research and it doesn’t seem so difficult, right? You might even know another small business owner who has designed their own website and they have told you to go for it.
And yes, maybe they have pulled together a website that looks ok. But is it bringing them in traffic? Is it functional and fast? And the big question - is it getting them sales/revenue?
Perhaps they are (which is genuinely great, because who doesn’t love a success story - its inspiring!). But the reality is, 51% of people who start to build their own website, don’t finish it - with 22% never going back to the project at all.
And here’s the reality of why that is - because despite what website building companies tell you, websites that look great and perform well - are designed from a place of strategic thinking, with an understanding of what search engines want from websites, combined with what visitors want to experience.
What to Include To Make A Great Website
Design Principles of a website - Yes it matters. A LOT! Taylor and Francis, reported that it takes 0.05 seconds to make that crucial first impression with website visitors. In plain terms, visitors will decide in 0.05 seconds whether or not to stay on a website.
In other words, it is crucial when designing a website, you understand:
what elements make the website quick and responsive
what catches attention
what retains attention so visitors scroll and click further in the website.
Brand Colours on your small business website
Most likely you will have some degree of brand colours already established. How you apply those colours is vitally important to how easy it is to view your website. For example bright and bold colours can make text hard to read and would make some visitors leave.
*And a quick branding tip for you. If you are at the beginning of your small business journey and your brand colours are not well known or established yet, now would be a great time to introduce a neutral tone to your brand’s colour palette - one that complements the other colours and can act as a good base for your website.
Fonts for your small business website
Fonts are an element that so many get wrong - it is very easy to get carried away with the selection of fonts available, believing that you are making something unique.
Choosing multiple fonts may seem like fun and creates what you think is a unique and interesting look for your website. In reality, what you have done is created a website that is hard to read and looks chaotic.
Incorporating images (and videos) in your website design
Images are hugely important to most websites - the right images will help visitors get a better understanding of products and services and they allow your customer to visualise owning your product, or experiencing your service. But there needs to be a balance between images, videos and your copy (written content that should convert visitors to customers).
You also need to make sure that the images you add are in the right size and dimensions for your website platform - otherwise you will slow down your website.
Call To Actions - Creating engagement on your website
Call to Actions are those moments in a website that call the visitor to take action - and many underestimate the importance of where they are placed.
It is vital to include CTA’s in the spots that visitors are expecting them because you should be relying on the visitor being on a certain journey in your website where they are feeling they want to take action - make a purchase, call you for more information, sign up to a newsletter are all great examples.
Website Copy - Getting it right
Clear
Relevant and
Structured
With your copy, your website visitors should understand exactly what they would be getting and what your product/service would do for them. I.e. how it would benefit them.
This element also includes all the itty bitty content that is just as important - like location of your business, testimonials, answers to faqs that your normal customers ask and more! Your website audience should never feel like ‘huh’ I didn’t get the information I need - unless it has been international and you are directing them towards contacting you directly.
And vitally, all of the information you include should be presented in a way that your visitors can/want to digest. Fill your website full of essays and you can be sure that they will get bored….fast.
The technical bit of Web Design
UX & UI Design
Ummm…what? UX design refers to the user’s experience from start to finish. For example the experience from discovering a website to a product being checked out. All the little details that you don’t normally think about….until it hasn’t been designed well and you don’t have a great experience with it. How many times have you left a website because you were frustrated with the website?
UI Design centers on the look and feel. The aesthetic of your website. For example, an icon, image or video that has been sized or placed wrong in the user journey - it could be jarring or distracting stopping a person from wanting to purchase from that website. Colours being too bright or not bright enough to be able to read - that’s UI design too! There are loads of examples of both UX and UI design that make up the overall look and experience that a website offers and applying both well, leads to a great website - just as ignoring those principles, or not understanding their importance, will lead to a poorly designed website that noone wants to stay on.
SEO Strategy
Beyond Design Principles, you also need to place serious importance on your SEO strategy - I cannot impress upon you enough how important this is if you want to rank on search engines for people to find you organically.
Applying correct SEO is actually a career of itself for millions - it is that encompassing. So please don’t underestimate it.
Is it possible that you could learn how to apply all of this properly so that your website is actually successful? Yes, it is - the bigger question is how much time do you have on your hands to master all of these? On top of alllll of the tasks you already have to do?
Personally I find designing websites a huge amount of fun (but it is my career after all - I’d hazard a guess it is the same for you with what you are building your business around).
When someone who isn’t a website designer builds a website, I feel it’s a bit like when I colour my own hair (rather than going to a qualified hairdresser). I can do it…but is it perfect and exactly what I actually want? No, because I don’t have the know how to get it exactly right. I’m making do to be quite frank.
So I’ll end this article with this question for you to ponder. You have or are building a website for your small business - something that you have worked so hard for, sacrificed for, because you are working towards a huge goal and want to make it a success. Are you prepared to have a website that isn’t perfect and is just ‘making do?’ Is that what all your effort to date and what your business deserves?
Web Design Prices UK
Web Design prices in the UK range massively. It depends on what you need, how you plan on maintaining it and where you plan on hosting it. You’ll likely see offers of cheap websites from designers but the reality is, you will get a very basic website and you will likely struggle to maintain it yourself (and that’s what many count on - that you will then pay them to keep it updated).
You will also have had quotes that made you almost drop the phone in shock. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. If you decide that you want some help, I would love to be part of that.
I can create the perfect website for your business on Squarespace or Shopify - that you can maintain yourself. Once I have designed it, I’ll give you tutorials on how to manage and edit it yourself. So no costly website maintenance fees. You are in control - whilst giving your business the professional website it deserves. There is nothing worse than trying to decipher a service and what you need and worrying if there are going to be any hidden costs - which is why I have created clear web design packages that make it easy to decide what your small business needs to flourish.
If that sounds like the perfect balance to you, click the button below and send me your contact details and lets have a no obligation chat about what it is you need.