Website costs break into three tiers. DIY platforms (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify) run $200–500 per year for basic plans plus themes, suitable for simple brochure sites but limiting for SEO and custom functionality. Template-based professional builds cost $2,500–6,000, where an agency or freelancer customizes a WordPress or Webflow template with your branding, content, and essential integrations. Fully custom websites range from $8,000–15,000 for small business sites up to $25,000–75,000 for e-commerce platforms or complex web applications with custom user portals, APIs, or advanced automation. The price depends on scope. A 5-page service business site with contact forms and basic SEO sits around $3,500–5,000. Add e-commerce with 50–200 products and you're at $8,000–12,000. Custom features like membership systems, booking engines, or CRM integrations each add $2,000–5,000. Ongoing costs matter too: hosting runs $150–600 annually, security and maintenance $500–2,000 per year, and content updates $75–150 per hour if you outsource them. What drives cost up is custom design work, content creation (professional copywriting costs $150–300 per page), photography, and integrations with tools like HubSpot, Stripe, or inventory systems. Template builds are faster and cheaper because the structure exists, but custom builds let you own a unique design that competitors can't replicate and can be optimized exactly for your conversion goals. At Ottawa SEO Inc., we typically build new client sites in the $4,500–8,500 range because we prioritize speed, technical SEO foundations, and conversion architecture over decorative elements. We've seen $15,000 agency sites perform worse than $5,000 builds because budget went to animations instead of page speed and schema markup. The right question isn't just cost, it's cost per acquired customer over three years. A $6,000 site that converts 4% beats a $2,000 site converting 1.5% if you're driving meaningful traffic to it.