A professional small business website in Canada generally runs between $2,500 and $10,000, with most projects landing around $4,000 to $6,000. This assumes 5-15 pages, mobile-responsive design, basic SEO setup, and a content management system like WordPress. If you go the DIY template route with Wix, Squarespace, or a basic WordPress theme, you might spend $500 to $2,000 including your time. The cost breakdown usually looks like this: design and development ($2,000-$6,000), copywriting if you need it written for you ($500-$2,000), stock photography or custom images ($200-$1,000), and initial SEO configuration ($500-$1,500). Hosting and domain registration add another $150-$400 per year ongoing. E-commerce changes the equation significantly. A basic online store with 20-50 products starts around $5,000 and can easily reach $15,000-$25,000 if you need custom functionality, payment gateway integration beyond Shopify's defaults, or inventory management features. Brochure sites are cheaper than lead generation sites with complex forms, calculators, or booking systems. At Ottawa SEO, we see businesses underestimate three things: content creation time, the value of proper technical SEO from day one, and ongoing maintenance costs. A $3,000 website that ranks well and converts visitors will outperform a $10,000 site that looks great but sits on page four of Google. We typically recommend allocating 30-40% of the initial budget to content and SEO foundation rather than just design aesthetics. Beware of $500 offers unless you're getting a truly basic one-pager. You generally get what you pay for, and cheap builds often mean poor mobile experience, no SEO structure, or templates that look identical to fifty other sites. On the flip side, don't let an agency upsell you to $20,000 for a ten-page service business site unless there's genuine custom functionality involved. Most small businesses need solid fundamentals, not enterprise features.