Pricing guide 2026
How much does a small business website cost in the UK?
Real numbers and a 2026 pricing guide, before you book a call
Most website pricing pages send you to a contact form to find out anything at all. This one gives you the figures up front. Below you will find what a professional small business website actually costs in the UK in 2026, what moves the price up or down, and exactly what you pay if you work with me.
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The UK market
What a small business website costs in the UK in 2026
There is no single price for a website, in the same way there is no single price for a car. What you pay reflects what it is built to do. This is how the UK market breaks down, based on the projects I see and quote on every week.
Option
Typical UK cost in 2026
What you actually get
DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace)
£0 to around £400 a year
A template and your own time. SEO is down to you.
Budget freelancer
£500 to £1,500
A site that often looks fine but is rarely built to be found on Google.
Specialist designer with SEO built in (my work)
£4,000 to £8,000+
A site built to rank, and to turn visitors into enquiries.
Agency
£6,000 to £25,000+
Comparable work with a larger team, higher overheads, and usually VAT on top.
A cheap site that nobody finds is the most expensive option of all, because you pay for it twice: once to build it, and again to fix it. More on that further down.
What moves the price
What changes the price of your website?
Two businesses can ask for “a website” and get quotes thousands of pounds apart. That is normal, and it is usually down to these factors:
Every quote I send breaks these down so you can see what you are paying for. Anything outside the agreed scope is discussed and priced before any work starts, so there are no surprises.
- New build or replacement. Replacing an existing site takes extra care. Your current pages may already be ranking on Google, so they need mapping and redirecting properly to keep the authority you have built up. Skipping this can wipe out years of visibility overnight.
- Number of pages and complexity. A clear five-page site is quicker to build than a fifteen-page site covering several services or locations.
- Content support. If you write your own copy and supply your own photos, you keep costs down. If you would like a copywriter or photographer, I can arrange one and price it separately.
- Integrations. Booking systems and online shops add build time.
- Depth of SEO and competitor research. Ranking in a quiet local market is very different from outranking established competitors across several towns.
Your three levels
Your three Wildcurrant website levels, and what they cost
The Launch: from £4,000
Your new site, built and live in four to six weeks. For established businesses that need a site built to be found. £4,000 for up to six pages, and each extra page is £400.
The Launch includes:
- Up to six pages, designed for your business and built in WordPress.
- A strategy call before anything is designed.
- Competitor and keyword research first, so every page is built around what your customers type into Google.
- Technical and on-page SEO done as the site is built. Google and AI tools can read it from launch day.
- Your old pages mapped and redirected if you are replacing a site.
- Google Analytics and Search Console connected.
- A Friday email every week, and training at handover with a video made for your site.
Every site comes with my care plan at £65 a month.
See The LaunchThe first 30 days: from £5,500. The first 90 days: from £7,750
Both prices include your website build. The first 30 days is £4,000 for the site and £1,500 for the month of work after launch. The first 90 days is £4,000 for the site and £3,750 for the three months of work after launch.
What each one adds:
- The first 30 days: a record of how you show up before we start, a Google Business Profile audit with the fixes made, your listings corrected across profiles and directories, and tracking set up.
- The first 90 days: everything in The first 30 days, plus eight customer questions answered on your pages, email set-up in MailerLite, a Google profile post every week for three months, and a before-and-after report.
SEO is part of the process here, which means you are not paying a web designer and then a separate SEO consultant on top. Your final quote depends on the factors listed above, and you receive a written proposal before you commit to anything.
See The first 30 daysSide by side
Which one is right for you?
Each level includes everything in the one before it. The difference is how long I stay with you after your site goes live.
Who it is for
Established businesses that need a site built to be found
Businesses whose customers come from a town or region
Owners who will not have time for the follow-up
Price
From £4,000
From £5,500
Website build included
From £7,750
Website build included
Care plan
Plus £65 a month
Plus £65 a month
Plus £65 a month
How long I am with you
Four to six weeks, to launch day
Until a month after launch
Until three months after launch
What is in each level
What you get
The Launch
The first 30 days
The first 90 days
Up to six pages, designed and built in WordPress
✓
✓
✓
Strategy call
✓
✓
✓
Competitor and keyword research
✓
✓
✓
Technical and on-page SEO
✓
✓
✓
Redirects if you are replacing a site
✓
✓
✓
Analytics and Search Console connected
✓
✓
✓
A Friday update email every week
✓
✓
✓
Training and a video made for your site
✓
✓
✓
A record of how you show up before we start
✓
✓
Google Business Profile audit and fixes
✓
✓
Listings corrected across profiles and directories
✓
✓
Tracking set up
✓
✓
Eight customer questions answered on your pages
✓
Email set-up in MailerLite: form, lead magnet, three emails
✓
A Google profile post every week for three months
✓
Before-and-after report
✓
Each extra page over six is £400 at every level.
Not sure which fits? That is exactly what the discovery call is for.
Book a free discovery callOther services
The rest of my services, and what they cost
Plenty of businesses come to me for help being found on Google without needing a new website. These are my prices for that work.
Service
Investment
Good for
SEO audit and strategy session
From £675
Knowing exactly how your site is performing and what to fix first. The fee is refunded if you book a new website within 60 days.
SEO setup and implementation
From £995
Laying solid SEO foundations: keyword research, on-page optimisation, and structure built for AI search.
Ongoing SEO retainer
£695 (½ day), £1,200 (1 day), or £1,885 (1.5 days) per month
Sustained growth in Google and AI search. Minimum three-month commitment.
£1,195 a month
Showing up in the Google Map Pack and local searches near you. Includes Google Business Profile management. Minimum three-month commitment.
£197
One focused 60-minute call on SEO, your website, or marketing, with a written summary and action plan.
Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile setup and management is part of my Local SEO service at £1,195 a month, along with everything else you need to show up in local searches. Set-up is also part of The first 30 days, alongside a new website.
The care plan
What the £65 a month care plan covers, and why it is included
Every website I build comes with my care and maintenance plan at £65 a month. This is part of the build, not an optional extra, because an unmaintained WordPress site is a security and performance risk waiting to happen.
It means that once your site launches, you never have to worry about it quietly breaking, going out of date, or being left exposed. You get on with running your business, and I keep your site working.
For £65 a month you get:
- Software, plugin and security updates
- Regular backups, so nothing is ever lost
- Security monitoring
- 15 minutes of small content changes each month, for the little text and image tweaks that always crop up
The false economy
Why the cheapest option usually costs the most
A £500 website and a £4,000 website can look similar on the surface. The difference is underneath, and it shows up later.
The common pattern goes like this. A business pays a little for a good-looking site. Months pass and the enquiries do not come, because the site was never built to be found on Google. So they pay an SEO consultant to fix it, then pay again for the structural changes the original site cannot support. The total ends up higher than a site built properly the first time, and they have lost months waiting.
When SEO is built into the design from the start, that whole second round of cost and delay disappears. That is what the investment in my work reflects, and it is why clients tend to see enquiries come through soon after launch.
Payment terms
Payment terms, and no hidden costs
The investment is staged across the build rather than paid in one lump.
Every project is split the same way: a 50% non-refundable deposit to book your dates, then 25% before the project starts and 25% when the site is ready and before it goes live. For The first 30 days and The first 90 days, the work after launch is invoiced in one go once your website is live, before that work starts.
Your deposit is non-refundable and secures your place. Everything else is agreed in your written proposal before any work begins. Anything outside the agreed scope is quoted in advance, so the price you agree is the price you pay.
I am not VAT registered, so the prices on this page are the prices you pay. There is no 20% added on at the end, which is often not the case with larger agencies.
Real results
Four recent projects, and what happened next
300 clicks from Google in 28 days
Barn Drift in Norfolk came to me with a site that had no SEO at all. After a full rebuild with the right keywords in place, Search Console recorded 300 clicks in the first 28 days.
Number one on Google, for three years
Vintage Vehicle Restorations reached the top spot on page one for their chosen keyword within three months of launch. Three years later, they are still there.
25 to 30% more clients in four months
Night Nannies in London needed more visibility, not a new site. After competitor analysis, keyword research, and full on-page SEO, their enquiries rose 25 to 30% within four months. In their words, it was the best money they ever spent.
Better enquiries, not just more of them
Jeremy Moulsdale, sculptor, got in touch two months after launch to say the quality of his enquiries had improved substantially. His site is also on page one for his chosen three keywords after just three months of being live.
20 years in marketing, 8 years building websites, more than 60 of them, and 48 five-star Google reviews.
Read my case studiesPricing questions
Pricing questions, answered
Do your prices include everything, or are there hidden extras?
The price you agree in your proposal is the price you pay. Optional extras such as copywriting, photography, branding, or ongoing SEO are quoted separately and only if you want them, so you never pay for something you have not agreed to.
What are the ongoing costs of a website?
Two things. Your domain name (usually £10 to £20 a year) and your care plan at £65 a month, which covers hosting-level maintenance, updates, backups, security, and small content changes. That is the lot.
Is a website a one-off cost?
The build is a one-off. The care plan is monthly, because a live website needs maintaining in the same way a car needs servicing. If you would also like ongoing SEO to keep growing your visibility, that is a separate monthly choice, never a requirement.
Why not just use Wix or Squarespace and save the money?
You can, and for some businesses that is the right starting point. The trade-off is your time, and a site that is harder to optimise for Google and AI search. Most clients come to me after a DIY site has stopped bringing in enough of the right enquiries.
Do you guarantee Google rankings?
No, and anyone who does is not being straight with you. Nobody controls Google’s algorithm. What I can promise is a site that is researched, structured, and optimised to give you the strongest possible chance to rank, with client results that back it up. Rankings usually take three to six months to build properly.
How much time will it take from me?
For a bespoke build, allow four to five hours in total to gather your copy and images and send me your logins. I give you a guided Trello board and a copy guide to make it easier.
Free guide
Free guide: why your website has gone quiet
The enquiries that used to come in have slowed, and you can't quite put your finger on why.
My free guide tells you what your score actually means, gives you 5 checks no tool can do for you, and 4 things you can fix yourself this week. No jargon.
After that I send short weekly website and SEO tips. Unsubscribe whenever you like.
Melissa Critchley
Founder of Wildcurrant Marketing, specialises in website design and search engine optimisation for small businesses. Based in Ludlow, Shropshire, she works with clients across the UK (and sometimes beyond!)
Ready to talk about your website?
Book a free discovery call for a relaxed conversation about what you need and what it would cost.
Email: melissa@wildcurrant.co.uk
Call: 07771 623276
