Costs
How much does a small business website and logo cost?
Ask five people what a website and logo cost and you'll get five answers, from free to tens of thousands of dollars. Here's why the range is so wide and what you actually get at each level.
Doing it yourself
Website builders and logo makers can get you something for little money up front, plus a monthly fee. The real cost is your time: learning the tools, writing every page, finding photos and fixing things that look off on a phone. For many new owners, that's weeks they'd rather spend on paying work.
Hiring a freelancer
Freelance prices vary widely. Industry guides commonly put a small business website from a freelancer in the low thousands of dollars, with a logo or brand kit priced separately. Quality and what's included vary a lot, so ask exactly what you get: how many pages, who writes the words, whether you can edit it, and who owns the accounts.
Hiring an agency
Agencies usually include strategy, design, writing and project management, and charge more for it, often several thousand dollars for a website and more for a full brand. Many also charge a monthly fee to host and update the site.
The yearly costs people forget
- Your domain, renewed every year
- Website hosting or a website builder plan, monthly or yearly
- Business email, a few dollars a month per person
- Printing cards and signs
These are normal. Just make sure they're billed to you, in your name, so you're never stuck paying someone else's markup to keep your own website online.
Questions to ask before you pay anyone
- Will every account be in my name?
- Can I change the words and photos myself?
- Do I get my logo files, including the source files?
- Are there monthly fees to you, and what happens if I stop?
- What's included: cards, signs, a Google profile, a marketing plan?
Our flat-fee option
The Storyhand Studio business package is one flat price for a website, logo and brand kit, cards and sign designs, a 90-day marketing plan and a step-by-step setup guide, all in your name with no monthly fees to us. You can pay in full or spread it out at no extra cost.