How much does a small business website cost in Australia?

Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and similar tools let you build it yourself. The software is cheap. A paid plan with your own domain usually runs $15 to $40 a month.

The catch isn't money, it's time. You're the designer, the copywriter and the tech support. For some owners that's fine. For most tradies who are already flat out, the site ends up half-built and forgotten.

If you've got the time and you enjoy fiddling with this stuff, DIY is a genuinely good option. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

A freelancer builds the site for you, usually as a one-off. You hand over your details, they hand back a finished website. Quality varies enormously, from excellent to barely functional.

The money question to ask is what happens after launch. A one-off build means you own the result, but updates, hosting and fixes are often your problem or charged by the hour later.

Good freelancers are worth it. Just be clear on who maintains the thing once it's live, because a website is never truly finished.

Agencies bring a team: design, copy, development, sometimes strategy and SEO. For a complex site with lots of pages, bookings, or e-commerce, that's money well spent.

For a plumber who needs five solid pages and a contact form, it's usually overkill. You're paying for capability you won't use.

Agencies also tend to charge ongoing retainers. Nothing wrong with that, but know what you're signing up for before you do.

There's a middle path that's grown popular: a low setup fee plus a monthly subscription that covers hosting, maintenance and small changes. You don't own the code outright, but you're never left to manage it alone.

This suits owners who want a professional site without becoming their own IT department. The trade-off is that you keep paying while you keep the site, the same way you pay for your phone or insurance.

Sheppard Industries works this way: no setup fee, just $99 a month with no lock-in contract. Whether that beats a one-off freelancer depends entirely on how much hands-on help you want over the years.

More pages, custom design, online bookings, payments, logins, and anything that connects to other software all add cost. So does writing the content for you, because good copy takes real time.

A simple, honest five-page site for a service business is not expensive to build. If a quote is high, ask exactly which of these things you're paying for.

Who owns the domain name, and is it registered in my name? Who hosts the site, and what happens if I leave? Is there a lock-in contract? What's included in maintenance, and what costs extra?

How do I make a small change to my phone number or hours? And what's the total cost over three years, not just today?

Any honest provider will answer these plainly. If someone gets cagey, that's your answer right there.