Building a website? Decide these 5 things first.

Picture a dental clinic in Ohio, or a family-run furniture workshop in Manchester, deciding it needs a new website. The usual first move is to ring an agency and ask for a quote. The better first move is to spend an hour answering five questions on paper.

1. 1. GoalWhat should the site do for the business in the next year? Bring in booking requests, sell products, or build trust before a sales call. Pick one main goal.
2. 2. AudienceWho visits, from which countries, on which devices, and what do they want to find in the first ten seconds?
3. 3. PagesList the pages you really need. Many small sites start well with a home page, services, about, contact and a few helpful articles.
4. 4. UpkeepWho will update text and prices after launch? If the answer is "us, without calling a developer", that points toward a platform you can edit yourself.
5. 5. Budget rangeDecide what you can spend to build it, and what you can spend each month to keep it running. Say the range out loud to suppliers. It saves everyone's time.

Google makes a related point for small businesses in its guidance on search. It says small local businesses can often do much of the work themselves, and recommends starting with its SEO Starter Guide. Hiring outside help tends to be most useful during a redesign or a new site launch.

You have four realistic options. None is best for everyone.

• A website builder you run yourself. Wix, Squarespace, Shopify and similar services let you assemble a site from templates. Good for a simple brochure site or small shop, and you stay in control of edits. WordPress sits in between: the software is free, but you arrange hosting and a domain yourself.
• A freelancer. Often good value for a clear, smaller project. Ask what happens if they are ill or busy, since you are relying on one person.
• An agency. A team with designers, developers and project managers. Suits bigger sites, but check who will actually do your work.
• A product studio or engineering partner. Best when the website is part of something bigger: bookings, customer accounts, integrations with your other systems, or a product you plan to grow. This is where we at Geneki work.

It is common to share the work. The UK government's 2026 Business Data Survey found that 78% of UK businesses have a website. Among those, 29% manage it with a mix of in-house and external help, 27% do it entirely in-house, and 24% rely entirely on an external developer or platform. So whatever you choose, you are in good company.

We will be straight with you: we looked for official data on typical website project costs and found none. Agency blogs publish price tables, but they are marketing, and the numbers vary wildly. So we do not give one.

What we can tell you is what moves the price:

• Number and type of pagesTen simple pages and a hundred product pages are very different jobs.
• Custom design or a templateA tailored design costs more than a customized template.
• FeaturesOnline payments, bookings, customer logins, multiple languages and links to other software add work and testing.
• ContentWho writes the words and takes the photos? Content is often the real bottleneck.
• UpkeepHosting, updates, security fixes, backups and small edits are an ongoing cost, even for a builder subscription.

Subscription builders publish their own prices, but these change often and vary by country and billing period, so check the live page for your region before you plan around a number.

The reliable way to compare suppliers is a written scope: the pages, features, number of design rounds, what "finished" means, and the date. Give every supplier the same document. Then you are comparing like with like.

Google's page on hiring an SEO is a useful model for any web supplier. Adapted, ask:

• Can you show me examples of your work and some success stories?Then ask to speak to one of those clients.
• What results do you expect, in what timeframe, and how do you measure them?Honest answers sound cautious and specific.
• Do you follow Google's Search Essentials?This is Google's own rulebook for search.
• How will you communicate and document changes?You want a named contact and a written record.
• What do I get at the end?Logins, source files, content and a handover document.

This is the part people regret ignoring. Three things should always be in your name:

• The domain name. ICANN, the body that oversees domain names, says the registrant takes sole responsibility for the registration and use of the domain, and that it is your right to transfer it between registrars. A holder can let a web designer use the name and remains the holder of record. So register it yourself, with your own email, and share access.
• The hosting and analytics accounts. Create them yourself and invite your supplier as a user.
• The content and the code. Agree in writing who owns the finished work and the design files, and ask for a copy at handover.

If a supplier holds your domain and you part on bad terms, getting it back can turn into a long argument. Setting it up correctly on day one costs nothing.

Three areas catch businesses out, especially when selling to customers in other countries. This is a summary of what the official pages say, not legal advice.

Accessibility

• The benchmark. WCAG 2.2, published by the W3C in December 2024, is the current recommendation. It builds on 2.1 and is backwards compatible with it.
• EU. The European Accessibility Act applies to services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025, and the European Commission's accessibility centre lists e-commerce among the covered areas. The directive exempts microenterprises providing services, meaning fewer than 10 employees and a small turnover or balance sheet.
• US. The Department of Justice's web accessibility rule covers state and local governments and requires WCAG 2.1 level AA. Its guidance for private businesses says the ADA applies to the goods and services of public accommodations, including online, but it does not set a technical standard for them. Ask a lawyer how this applies to you.

We could not confirm from an official page whether the EU rules reach a business based outside the EU that sells to EU consumers. Check national law if that is you.

Cookies and tracking

The UK Information Commissioner's Office updated its guidance in April 2026. Its core position is that non-essential storage and access technologies, such as analytics and advertising cookies, need the visitor's consent first, with a few listed exceptions. In the EU, national ePrivacy laws and the GDPR apply. If you use analytics or ad tools, plan a cookie banner with a clear reject option from the start. Our guide to India's data protection law shows the same principle in another country.

Search and content

Google says people-first content means content created primarily for people, not to manipulate rankings. A sitemap is optional, and Google notes that smaller, well-linked sites may not need one, though it helps new sites with few outside links.

Run through this list in the last week.

• SpeedGoogle's "good" targets for Core Web Vitals are: main content loading within 2.5 seconds (LCP), interactions responding within 200 milliseconds (INP) and layout shift of 0.1 or less (CLS), measured for 75% of visits. Google says Core Web Vitals are used by its ranking systems, and that there is no single page experience signal.
• Titles and descriptionsEvery page needs a unique, clear title and a short description of its own.
• Phone firstOpen every page on a real phone. Tap every button and fill in every form.
• Forms and emailsSend a test enquiry. Make sure it reaches a real inbox that someone reads.
• Accessibility basicsCheck colour contrast, add alt text to images, make sure the site works with a keyboard alone.
• Cookie banner and privacy policyLive, accurate and matching what the site really does.
• Backups and loginsKnow where backups go, and that you hold every password.
• MeasurementSet up analytics and Google Search Console before launch day, so you can see what happens next.

Once you are live, the next job is being found, including by AI tools. See our checklist for AI answers.