A $300 website is not a $3,000 website wearing a coupon. It is a small, deliberately limited build for a business that needs to look legitimate, explain what it does, and give people a clean way to get in touch.
I publish the price because I dislike the usual ceremony: discovery call, strategy call, proposal call, then a number appears from behind a curtain. The number is $300 to start. Now let us deal with what that buys.
The page has one job
At this price, the website needs a clear purpose. A plumber may need services, service area, phone number, and a quote form. A new consultant may need an introduction, two offers, a short biography, and a booking link. A community group may need an explanation, an event date, and somewhere to donate.
That can fit on one strong page. Sometimes it fits better across three short pages. What it cannot do is become a shop, customer portal, booking platform, membership system, multilingual catalogue, and experimental art project for the same $300. The math either works or it does not.
What is included
A focused responsive build
The site will work on phones, tablets, and desktop screens. I am not shrinking a desktop page until the text becomes suitable for ants. Navigation, buttons, forms, and tap targets need to make sense on a phone because that is where many customers will first see the business.
One standard domain for the first year
A normal available domain is included for year one. If yourbusiness.ca is available at ordinary registration cost, fine. If somebody bought it in 2004 and wants $8,700, that is a premium domain and the owner remains free to enjoy it alone.
The domain is registered in the client's name or company account. I can configure it, but I do not want to own the address on which somebody else's business depends.
Branded email setup
I will configure an address such as hello@yourbusiness.ca. That may be forwarding to an existing inbox or a paid mailbox, depending on what the business needs. If Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or another provider charges a monthly fee, that fee belongs to the provider. It does not become free because it appears beside the website.
Hosting, SSL, and launch
A straightforward static business site usually does not need an expensive server. I configure suitable hosting, connect the domain, add HTTPS, test the production build, and put the site live. If the project needs a database, user accounts, or server-side processing, we have left starter-site territory.
Basic search and analytics setup
The page gets a useful title, description, canonical address, social-sharing metadata, crawl settings, and a sitemap entry where appropriate. I can also connect basic analytics if the owner wants it. This is technical search setup, not a promise that Google will place a new business first because we filled in a description field.
Twelve months of support
Urgent website faults can be reported at any time during the first year. That means a broken form, failed deployment, expired certificate, or site outage can be raised at 2 a.m. It does not mean I run a staffed call centre, promise an instant response, or include unlimited redesigns until next August.
Small corrections and sensible help are part of the relationship. A new service section, rebrand, booking system, or complete rewrite is new work. Calling a rebuild "support" does not make it one.
What you need to provide
I need the business name, offer, contact details, service area, logo if one exists, and enough raw material to write or arrange the page. Rough notes are fine. A voice memo is fine. "You are the expert, make us sound premium" is not raw material. It is a request for a separate copywriting and positioning job.
I will help cut clutter and fix awkward copy. The starter price assumes the owner can explain what the business does without requiring six interviews and a stakeholder retreat.
What costs extra
- Premium domains and renewals: ordinary year-one registration is included; unusual purchase prices and later renewals are separate.
- Paid email accounts: setup is included; Microsoft, Google, or another mail provider bills its own subscription.
- Business phone service: I can configure a local or toll-free number, but number rental and call usage are third-party costs.
- E-commerce and payments: products, taxes, inventory, refunds, and payment processing turn a page into a system.
- Custom applications: logins, dashboards, customer portals, and unusual integrations need separate scope.
- Large copy and content jobs: writing twenty service pages or processing a crate of photos is not hidden inside the starter fee.
The cheap option is sometimes cheaper
If you are testing an idea for one weekend, use a social profile, a form, or a DIY builder. Do not buy custom work to discover whether anybody wants the product. If you already have a clear service and need a proper address, email, contact path, and something you own, the starter site begins to make sense.
Reduced rates may be available for individuals, first-time entrepreneurs, non-profits, and community organisations. Tell me the real budget. Cutting the scope honestly is much less painful than pretending everything fits and arguing about it later.
Before paying anybody
Ask who owns the domain, where the site will be hosted, what renews annually, what support means, and what happens if you stop working together. Get the answers in writing. A $300 site with clean ownership can be a good deal; a free site held inside somebody else's account can become remarkably expensive.