A functional small business website runs $2,500–$6,000 for a template-based WordPress or Shopify build with 5–10 pages, basic SEO setup, and mobile responsiveness. Custom designs with original layouts, advanced features like booking systems, member portals, or inventory management push costs to $8,000–$15,000. Anything quoted under $1,500 usually means corners cut on security, speed, or SEO fundamentals that cost more to fix later. The price breaks down into design and development (60–70% of total), content creation if you need copywriting or professional photos (10–20%), initial SEO configuration (10–15%), and project management. Template builds take 2–4 weeks, custom projects 6–12 weeks. Faster timelines cost more because they require dedicated resources. Recurring costs matter as much as the build. Expect $20–$60 monthly for quality hosting, $150–$300 yearly for SSL and domain renewals, and $500–$2,000 annually for updates, backups, and security patches if you hire it out. DIY maintenance works for simple sites but gets risky as complexity grows. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we build in the $4,500–$12,000 range depending on whether the site needs to rank locally, convert leads, or just establish credibility. We skip the $25,000+ agency overhead but don't compete with $800 Fiverr builds that ignore page speed, schema markup, or conversion architecture. The biggest cost variable is content—if you provide finished copy and images, you save 15–25% compared to us writing everything from scratch. Red flags include agencies that won't itemize the quote, promise page-one rankings in the build cost, or lock you into proprietary platforms you can't move off later. A proper small business site should be yours to take elsewhere, built on WordPress, Shopify, or similar standard platforms. Pay half upfront, half on delivery, never 100% before launch.