I Need a Website for My Business, Where Do I Start?
Know you need a website but not sure how to get one? A plain-English guide: whether to build it yourself or hire someone, what a small-business site actually costs, and how to get online without wasting money.
Short answer: pick your outcome first (calls, bookings, e-commerce), pick who's going to build it (DIY, freelancer, agency or small studio), and expect to spend $399 to $1,699 for a real professional site. The rest of this guide walks through the five practical steps.
Step 1: Decide what you need the site to do
Before anything else, get clear on the job your website has to do. Most small business sites are there to:
- Help new customers find and trust you on Google
- Explain what you offer and why you're the right choice
- Make it easy to call, message or book you
- Show proof, reviews, photos and past work
Step 2: Know your options
There are really only a few ways to get a website, each with trade-offs:
- Do it yourself with a builder like Wix, cheap, but slow going and limited for SEO
- Hire a freelancer, affordable, but quality and reliability vary a lot
- Use a big agency, polished, but often $5,000+ and slow
- Work with a small studio, professional results at a small-business price, done for you
Should you build it yourself or hire someone?
Here's the honest answer most web design companies won't give you: sometimes DIY really is fine. If your website just needs to exist, say you run a hobby project, your customers all come from referrals, or your budget is genuinely zero, then a Wix or Squarespace site you put together over a weekend will do the job. No shame in that.
Hiring someone starts to make sense when the website has a job to do. If new customers are supposed to find you on Google, compare you against competitors and decide you're the one to call, then the design, the speed, the copy and the SEO all carry real weight. That's a different task than getting a page online, and it's where DIY builds usually fall short, not because the tools are bad, but because doing all of those things well is a full-time trade.
There's also the time nobody prices in. Business owners who build their own site typically spend 20 to 40 hours getting to something they're half happy with. If your evenings are worth anything, a professional build starting at $399 is often the cheaper option once you do that math.
A simple rule that cuts through it: if the site's job is to bring in customers, treat it like hiring a tradesperson and get it done properly. If its job is just to exist, build it yourself and spend the savings elsewhere. We've written a deeper comparison in Wix vs a custom website if you're weighing that up.
What about free website builders?
Free plans are real, but read the fine print before you rely on one. Your site usually lives on the builder's subdomain (yourbusiness.wixsite.com rather than yourbusiness.com), the platform puts its own ads on your pages, and you get little control over the things Google cares about, speed, titles, structure. To a customer comparing two businesses, that reads as unfinished, and to Google it's barely worth ranking.
Free is fine for testing an idea before you commit. But if the business is real and you want customers to find it, plan on either a paid builder plan (usually $16 to $40 a month, forever) or a professional build you own outright.
Step 3: Understand what it costs
You don't need a big budget. A professional small business website typically costs between $399 for a simple one-page site and around $1,699 for a larger custom build. Avoid anything that locks you into a platform you can't leave or hides fees in the fine print.
Step 4: Get a few things ready
Having these on hand makes the whole process faster and cheaper:
- Your logo and brand colors (if you have them)
- A short description of your services and who you help
- Photos of your work, team or premises
- Any reviews or testimonials you're proud of
- Your domain name idea (we can help you register one)
Step 5: Get it built
That's where we come in. Anchor Web Digital builds professional, search-ready websites for small businesses across the US, starting at $399, and we handle the technical side so you don't have to. Book a free, no-pressure call and we'll map out exactly what your site needs and what it'll cost.
Frequently asked questions
Should I build my own website or hire someone?
It comes down to what the site is for. If it just needs to exist and your customers come from referrals or social media, a DIY builder is fine. If the site's job is to bring in customers from Google, hire a professional: the design, speed and SEO that make that happen are hard to get right yourself, and a pro build from $399 usually pays for itself within a handful of jobs.
Can I get a website for my business for free?
Technically yes, builders like Wix have free plans. But your site sits on their subdomain instead of your own domain, carries their ads, and gives you almost no control over SEO, so it rarely ranks or wins trust. Free is fine for testing an idea. For a real business, budget either a paid builder plan or a one-off professional build you own.
How long does it take to build a small business website?
Typically 2 to 4 weeks from kickoff to launch if you have your content, photos and logo ready. Larger sites with 10+ pages, e-commerce or bespoke integrations can run 6 to 8 weeks.
What do I need before I hire a web designer?
A clear idea of what you want the site to do, a rough page list, your logo and brand colors if you have them, real photos of your work or team, a handful of customer testimonials and your domain name (or a shortlist). That's enough to get an accurate quote.
Should I buy the domain and hosting myself?
Ideally yes. Buying your own domain (Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains) keeps it in your name and prevents lock-in later. A good designer will happily point the domain at hosting they set up, but you always want it registered to you.
Do I need to write the content myself?
You don't have to. Most professional builds include copywriting help, we ask questions, you talk, we write. If you'd rather write it yourself to save cost, that's fine too, we'll edit and shape it so it works for SEO.