The Cost of a Quality Website Sidestep sticker shock by creating a detailed budget for designing, building and launching your website.

Off-the-shelf content management systems and design templates have made building and managing a website easy and affordable for small-business owners with modest needs. Not counting your sweat equity, you can build and maintain a small website for less than $250. But, honestly, do you really want to bank your company's online presence and messaging on a low-cost website? Working with a full-service graphic design and web programming firm is a more savvy business decision.

Using a professional team, you can expect to pay from $1,000 for a very basic site to more than $50,000 for a larger site with custom graphics, programming and other options.

The cost of your website will be based on the size and complexity of the site required to meet your business-related needs. A five- to 10-page site introducing your business and the services you offer will cost considerably less to build than one that processes purchase orders, for example.