What should a small-business website actually cost?

Page count is one of the least useful ways to compare local-business website proposals. Two five-page sites can represent completely different amounts of thinking, infrastructure, and commercial value.

Separate the layers.

• Research: customers, competitors, search intent, service priorities, trust signals.
• Conversion: hierarchy, calls-to-action, forms, mobile flow, service positioning.
• Content: service copy, FAQs, local pages, useful search content.
• Infrastructure: domain, hosting, SSL, email, DNS, backups, analytics.
• Ongoing work: updates, new pages, Google profile management, reporting, conversion improvement.

Ask what you actually own and what continues monthly.

A useful proposal should make setup costs, recurring costs, asset ownership, and ongoing responsibilities clear before launch.