February 2, 2026 |
Choices...
How much is that website in the window?
The one with the waggly flashing photos
February 2, 2026
For a typical small-business, professionally built brochure or basic lead-generation site in the U.S., a reasonable planning number is roughly $3,000–$8,000 one‑time for implementation, and $150–$900 per month all‑in for ongoing costs, with technical vs. content support carved out as below. Any service to third parties and/or intervention in client processes will add to the ongoing costs.
Note: We don't actually do waggly windows, but we do enjoy lampooning sites that emphasize flash over facts.
Note: We don't actually do waggly windows, but we do enjoy lampooning sites that emphasize flash over facts.
One‑time implementation cost (build)
Industry ranges for a small, non‑ecommerce business site (about 5–10 pages, mobile responsive, basic SEO, contact form):
- Many U.S. agencies and specialists quote in the $1,500–$8,000 range for a simple brochure or 10‑page small‑business site.
- Aggregated guides for 2025–2026 put most small‑business builds between about $500$–$10,000, with “serious” custom work clustering above $3,000.
If you want a single planning number for a professional, non‑ecommerce small‑business site, budgeting around $5,000$ is a realistic central estimate.
- Many U.S. agencies and specialists quote in the $1,500–$8,000 range for a simple brochure or 10‑page small‑business site.
- Aggregated guides for 2025–2026 put most small‑business builds between about $500$–$10,000, with “serious” custom work clustering above $3,000.
If you want a single planning number for a professional, non‑ecommerce small‑business site, budgeting around $5,000$ is a realistic central estimate.
Baseline fixed overhead (non‑support)
These are recurring costs even if you do everything yourself:
- Domain: about $10–$25 per year.[3][8]
- Hosting + SSL for a small business site: roughly $30–$200 per month depending on quality and traffic.
A reasonable average planning band for infrastructure only (domain, hosting, SSL, basic platform fees) is $30–$100 per month for a small U.S. business site.
Assuming that the ongoing content cost is based on weekly (1) adding a news item to a blog, (2) cropping and resizing five images to a photo gallery, (3) adding one page of technical information, the following approximate costs will apply.
- Domain: about $10–$25 per year.[3][8]
- Hosting + SSL for a small business site: roughly $30–$200 per month depending on quality and traffic.
A reasonable average planning band for infrastructure only (domain, hosting, SSL, basic platform fees) is $30–$100 per month for a small U.S. business site.
Assuming that the ongoing content cost is based on weekly (1) adding a news item to a blog, (2) cropping and resizing five images to a photo gallery, (3) adding one page of technical information, the following approximate costs will apply.
Ongoing technical support
Technical support covers things like CMS and plugin updates, security monitoring, backups, uptime monitoring, bug fixes, and small technical tweaks.
- Maintenance guides aimed at small businesses show typical technical maintenance plans (excluding heavy content/marketing) in roughly the $100–$500 per month band for business sites, with some basic plans as low as $15–$100 per month and more comprehensive care plans up to $600–$3,000 per year.
- Hourly tech support for ad‑hoc issues is often quoted around $50–$150 per hour in the U.S., which aligns with monthly bundles landing in that same $100–$500 range for smaller sites.
- Maintenance guides aimed at small businesses show typical technical maintenance plans (excluding heavy content/marketing) in roughly the $100–$500 per month band for business sites, with some basic plans as low as $15–$100 per month and more comprehensive care plans up to $600–$3,000 per year.
- Hourly tech support for ad‑hoc issues is often quoted around $50–$150 per hour in the U.S., which aligns with monthly bundles landing in that same $100–$500 range for smaller sites.
Assumed content tasks per month
Your weekly tasks, scaled to a typical 4‑week month:
- 4 blog/news posts (1 per week).
- 20 images cropped/resized (5 per week).
- 4 pages of technical information (1 per week).
Approximate monthly content costs using mid‑market U.S. small‑business rates:
- Blog/news posts: Per‑post pricing for decent‑quality blog content often falls in the ~$125–$450 range depending on depth and expertise.
- 4 posts per month → roughly $500–$1,800 per month.
- Image cropping/resizing: Basic photo editing is often a low per‑image cost, around 1–5 per image at volume, or bundled into hourly work in the 20–50 per hour range.
- 20 images per month → roughly $40–$150 per month.
- Technical information pages: Technical/website copy commonly runs $150–$400+ per page for professional work, with some specialized technical pages hitting ~$300–$1,000.
- 4 pages per month → roughly 600–1,600 per month.
Your weekly tasks, scaled to a typical 4‑week month:
- 4 blog/news posts (1 per week).
- 20 images cropped/resized (5 per week).
- 4 pages of technical information (1 per week).
Approximate monthly content costs using mid‑market U.S. small‑business rates:
- Blog/news posts: Per‑post pricing for decent‑quality blog content often falls in the ~$125–$450 range depending on depth and expertise.
- 4 posts per month → roughly $500–$1,800 per month.
- Image cropping/resizing: Basic photo editing is often a low per‑image cost, around 1–5 per image at volume, or bundled into hourly work in the 20–50 per hour range.
- 20 images per month → roughly $40–$150 per month.
- Technical information pages: Technical/website copy commonly runs $150–$400+ per page for professional work, with some specialized technical pages hitting ~$300–$1,000.
- 4 pages per month → roughly 600–1,600 per month.
Recurring cost summary
Aggregating these mid‑range numbers, a realistic planning range for content creation and updates only for your specified workload is about $900–$2,000 per month, with lean setups at the low end (simpler posts, shorter pages, more templated work) and higher‑expertise, technical or B2B content pushing toward the upper end.
Adding this to the earlier technical support (about $150–$300 per month) and infrastructure (about 30–100 per month), your all‑in monthly website budget for this content cadence would sit roughly in the $1,100–$2,400 per month range.
A practical “average” for a modest but professional technical care plan for a small‑business site is about $150–$300 per month on top of infrastructure.
Adding this to the earlier technical support (about $150–$300 per month) and infrastructure (about 30–100 per month), your all‑in monthly website budget for this content cadence would sit roughly in the $1,100–$2,400 per month range.
A practical “average” for a modest but professional technical care plan for a small‑business site is about $150–$300 per month on top of infrastructure.
Options
Ongoing content & marketing support
Content/marketing support includes new pages, copy changes, blog posts, graphics, basic on‑page SEO tweaks, and small conversion improvements.
- Maintenance breakdowns typically price content & marketing at about $100–$1,000+ per month, depending on how many pieces of content and how strategic the work is.
- Broader maintenance estimates that include “content updates & minor fixes” cite around $50–$200+ per month for light content work, with higher retainers for active blogging and SEO.
For a small business that wants regular but modest content help (say, a few edits plus a post or landing‑page tweak each month), a reasonable planning number is $150$–$500$ per month for content/marketing support.
Third-party support or intervention
- This includes interaction with clients of the website that may be beyond the expertise of the site-owner's staff.
- This is usually billed hourly at rates ranging from $50 to $150 depending on the nature of the third-party service required. Such costs are not part of our totals.
Content/marketing support includes new pages, copy changes, blog posts, graphics, basic on‑page SEO tweaks, and small conversion improvements.
- Maintenance breakdowns typically price content & marketing at about $100–$1,000+ per month, depending on how many pieces of content and how strategic the work is.
- Broader maintenance estimates that include “content updates & minor fixes” cite around $50–$200+ per month for light content work, with higher retainers for active blogging and SEO.
For a small business that wants regular but modest content help (say, a few edits plus a post or landing‑page tweak each month), a reasonable planning number is $150$–$500$ per month for content/marketing support.
Third-party support or intervention
- This includes interaction with clients of the website that may be beyond the expertise of the site-owner's staff.
- This is usually billed hourly at rates ranging from $50 to $150 depending on the nature of the third-party service required. Such costs are not part of our totals.
Putting it together
For a typical small‑business website in the U.S. (non‑ecommerce):
- Average one‑time build: ~$5,000 (working range $3,000–$8,000).
- Average ongoing per month (ballpark):
- Infrastructure (domain, hosting, SSL): $30–$100.
- Technical support: $150–$300.
- Content/marketing support: $150–$500.
So a realistic all‑in monthly planning band for a U.S. small‑business site with both technical and content support is roughly $330–$900 per month, with many landing near the lower‑middle of that range unless they are doing aggressive ongoing content and SEO.
Additional services such as database management and extended interaction with third parties on behalf of the site's business will if used add unforeseeable costs beyond the scope of this analysis.
- Average one‑time build: ~$5,000 (working range $3,000–$8,000).
- Average ongoing per month (ballpark):
- Infrastructure (domain, hosting, SSL): $30–$100.
- Technical support: $150–$300.
- Content/marketing support: $150–$500.
So a realistic all‑in monthly planning band for a U.S. small‑business site with both technical and content support is roughly $330–$900 per month, with many landing near the lower‑middle of that range unless they are doing aggressive ongoing content and SEO.
Additional services such as database management and extended interaction with third parties on behalf of the site's business will if used add unforeseeable costs beyond the scope of this analysis.
Sources
Values are aggregated from numerous online sources that are shared with clients.