Ask five people what a website costs and you will get five very different answers. That is because the price of a site is really four separate costs wearing one coat.
1. The build
This is the visible number: design, writing, and getting pages live. It can be a one-off project fee, a monthly subscription, or your own weekends. Bigger is not better here. A clear five-page site beats a sprawling twenty-page one nobody maintains.
2. The running costs
Every site needs a home on the internet (hosting), a domain name, and usually a way to collect messages or payments. Most are modest on their own, but they are easy to forget and they renew every year or month.
3. The upkeep
Sites go stale. Opening hours change, a service is added, a plugin needs updating, a form quietly stops working. Upkeep is the cost people skip, and it is why so many sites look abandoned two years after launch.
4. Your time
DIY builders look cheap until you count the hours choosing templates, resizing images and fixing a layout that broke on your phone. If your hour is worth real money, a cheap tool can be the expensive option.
How to compare quotes
- Ask what is included after launch, not just before.
- Ask who handles updates and how fast.
- Ask what happens if you leave. You should own your domain and content.
- Ask what is not included, so there are no surprises.
The partnership model
That is why I run All Seeing One as a flat $100 a month: the build, the care and the updates in one predictable line, with a real person behind it. If you want to see whether it fits, take the quiz on the home page and we will talk.