If you run a business in Cheltenham or anywhere in Gloucestershire, one of the first questions you'll ask when you need a website is how much it should cost. Quotes can range from a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands, which makes it hard to know what's fair. This guide explains what drives the price, what each budget gets you, and the questions to ask before you sign anything.
The short answer
For most small businesses, a professionally built website costs between £500 and £4,000. Where you land in that range depends on how many pages you need, whether the copy is written for you, and whether you're selling products online.
To give you real numbers, here is how we price our own packages at Loudfire. We're not VAT registered, so these are the prices you pay:
- Spark, £499: a one-page website with up to 6 sections, ready in 5 working days
- Spark Plus, £799: a one-page website with up to 8 sections, written copy, a booking form and FAQ schema, ready in 7 working days
- Grow, £1,495: a 5-page small business website, ready in 2–3 weeks
- Business, £2,950: up to 10 pages, custom design, a blog and lead features, ready in 4–6 weeks
- Shopfront, from £4,000: an e-commerce site with up to 50 products loaded, ready in 5–7 weeks
What affects the price of a website?
Number of pages. Every page needs to be planned, designed, written and tested. A one-page site for a mobile hairdresser takes far less time than a ten-page site for an accountancy firm with several services.
Copywriting. Many business owners underestimate how long it takes to write good website copy. If you supply your own text the price comes down. If you want it written for you, with your services explained clearly and search terms worked in naturally, expect to pay more.
Custom design versus templates. A template-based site is quicker to build, but it can look like every other business in your sector. A custom design is built around your brand and the way your customers make decisions.
Functionality. Booking systems, enquiry forms that feed into a CRM, online payments, member areas and product catalogues all add build and testing time.
E-commerce. Online shops cost the most because every product needs photos, descriptions, prices, stock levels and categories, and the checkout has to be secure and reliable.
Ongoing costs to budget for
The build is only part of the cost. Make sure you also budget for:
- A domain name, usually £10–£20 a year
- Hosting, from around £5 to £30 a month depending on the provider
- Updates, backups and security, either done yourself or through a care plan (ours start at £35 a month)
- Local SEO if you want to actively climb the Google rankings (ours start at £249 a month)
Cheap websites often cost more in the long run
A £150 website can look like a bargain, but it often comes with problems: slow loading, poor mobile layouts, no SEO setup, and a builder you can't move away from. If the site doesn't bring in enquiries, you end up paying again for a rebuild within a year or two.
A good website should pay for itself. If one new client is worth £500 to your business, a site that brings in a handful of extra enquiries a month covers its cost quickly.
Questions to ask any web designer
- Is the price fixed, and what exactly is included?
- Will I own the website and the domain?
- Can I edit the content myself?
- Is basic SEO set up as part of the build?
- How fast will the site load on a phone?
- What happens if something breaks after launch?
Getting a quote in Cheltenham
If you're a business in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Stroud or Cirencester and want a clear, fixed price, book a free 30-minute call with us. We'll look at what you need, recommend the right package, and send a written quote within 24 hours.
Book a free 30-minute call. No pressure, no commitment.