Full Transcript
Lauren: Okay, so a friend of mine is getting quotes for a website... and she's getting numbers all over the place. Like, one person says 500 bucks, another says 10,000. And she's like... what is even happening?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor... We make interwebs and website stuff make sense... Let's get into it.
Honor: Yeah, so... website pricing is genuinely all over the map. And the reason is that there are basically three different paths you can take, and they all cost different amounts.
Lauren: Okay, break it down for me. What are the options?
Honor: Path one is DIY... you use something like Wix or Squarespace. Path two is hiring a freelancer. Path three is going with an agency. And they all have very different price tags.
Lauren: Alright, so DIY is probably the cheapest, right? Like those platforms advertise super low prices.
Honor: They advertise low prices, but here's the thing... what starts as a 20 dollar a month plan usually balloons to 55 dollars or more once you add the stuff you actually need. Like booking features, forms, email marketing...
Lauren: Oh, it's like... buying a printer for 50 bucks and then realizing the ink costs 200.
Honor: Exactly. And that's just the money. The real hidden cost? Your time. Most DIY websites take 20 to 40 hours to build.
Lauren: Wait, 40 hours?
Honor: Yeah. And if you value your time at 50 bucks an hour, that's already 1,000 to 2,000 dollars just to launch. Before you even think about maintaining it.
Lauren: Okay so the cheap option isn't really that cheap when you count your time.
Honor: Right. Now freelancers... they're usually somewhere between 1,500 and 10,000 dollars upfront. But here's the catch... you pay that big chunk upfront, and then you're kind of on your own.
Lauren: On your own like... ghosted?
Honor: Sometimes literally ghosted, yeah. And even if they stick around, every little change is hourly billing. Usually 50 to 150 bucks an hour.
Lauren: Ouch. And agencies?
Honor: Agencies are the premium option. You're looking at 5,000 to 20,000 dollars for a small business site. Plus monthly retainers on top of that.
Lauren: That's like... buying a used car just to have a website.
Honor: Pretty much. And here's the number that really surprised me when I ran the math. Over five years, a DIY site can actually cost you around 9,600 dollars when you count everything.
Lauren: Wait, almost 10 grand for the cheap option?
Honor: Yep. Platform fees, premium apps, and your time. Freelancer route? About 13,000 over five years. Agency? Over 22,000.
Lauren: Oh my god. So the sticker price means nothing. It's all about what you pay over time.
Honor: That's exactly it. Most people focus on the upfront number and forget about the years of maintenance, updates, and redesigns.
Lauren: So the moral of the story is... don't look at the sticker price. Ask yourself, what am I actually paying over five years?
Honor: Yep. And ask what's included. Updates, hosting, support, redesigns... get the full picture before you decide.
Lauren: And if you want something that doesn't cost a fortune over time... give YouGrow a call!
Honor: Yeah, we're 79 dollars a month, everything included. Hosting, security, unlimited reasonable edits, and we refresh your design every few years at no extra charge. Five year cost? About 4,700 bucks. No upfront, month-to-month, cancel anytime.
Lauren: That's less than half the DIY option when you do the math. I love that.
Honor: Yep. And we're local. Arroyo Grande. You call, I pick up.
Lauren: Alright, this has been 805 Web Minute. Thanks for listening.