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If you’re a small business owner on Long Island looking for a website, you may receive very different quotes because “a website” can describe anything from a lightly configured template to a custom content system or application.
The ranges below are the planning ranges I use for early Shissou Creative conversations. They are examples—not a market survey or a substitute for a written quote.
Quick comparison table
| Site type | Page count | Illustrative range | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brochure / starter | 5 pages | $1,000 – $2,000 | New businesses, freelancers, single-location services |
| Full small-business | 10–15 pages | $2,000 – $4,000 | Established local businesses, multi-service contractors, professional services |
| SEO-heavy / multi-area | 30+ pages | $4,000 – $7,000+ | Roofers, contractors, multi-town service businesses |
| E-commerce | 10–50 products | $3,500 – $10,000 | Local retail, custom-product brands |
| Custom web app | varies | $8,000+ | Booking systems, calculators, member portals |
These examples illustrate custom-project scope. Template and custom approaches have different trade-offs in initial cost, flexibility, maintenance, performance, and ownership.
The short answer
For Shissou Creative, an early planning range for a custom small-business website is often $1,000 to $7,000, depending on the agreed scope. A final proposal accounts for content, page structure, custom features, integrations, review rounds, and launch responsibilities.
Here’s roughly how it breaks down:
- Simple 5-page site (home, about, services, contact, privacy): $1,000–$2,000
- Full business site (10–15 pages with service pages, portfolio, blog, forms): $2,000–$4,000
- Large site with advanced features (30+ pages, multiple forms, animations, video, SEO-heavy): $4,000–$7,000+ — here’s how I built a 30-page roofing site at this tier
What Affects the Price
Number of Pages
More pages means more design, more content writing, and more development time. A contractor site with 9 service pages and 9 service area pages is a bigger project than a 5-page coaching site.
Custom Features
Contact forms are standard. But multi-step quote forms with file uploads, interactive galleries, booking systems, or AI chatbots all add complexity and time.
Content Creation
If I’m writing all your website copy (which I usually do), that’s factored into the price. Good content takes research — I need to understand your business, your customers, and what keywords people are actually searching for in your area.
SEO Setup
Every site I build includes the search foundations appropriate to the project: crawlable pages, descriptive metadata, a sitemap, mobile and performance work, and structured data when the visible content supports it. Broader work—such as original local-service pages, ongoing articles, measurement, or Google Business Profile guidance—adds to the scope.
Design Complexity
A clean, professional design is standard. Custom animations, video backgrounds, interactive components, or a full brand identity package (logo, colors, fonts) increase the investment.
What You Should Watch Out For
“Free” Website Builders
Wix, Squarespace, and similar platforms can be economical when their existing tools fit the job. Compare the current plan required for your features, transaction or extension costs, and what can be exported if you leave. I wrote a full comparison of custom websites vs template builders if you want the details.
Monthly Subscription Website Services
Some companies bundle the website, hosting, and support into a monthly subscription. Ask what happens if you cancel, what is portable, which accounts are yours, and whether routine changes are included. The model is not automatically bad; unclear exit terms are the problem.
Extremely Low Quotes
A very low quote usually means a smaller scope, a template, limited content work, or fewer review and support hours—but price alone does not prove quality. Ask for the exact pages, responsibilities, ownership terms, performance expectations, and post-launch support included.
What You Should Get for Your Money
At a minimum, a professional business website should include:
- A design approach appropriate to the brand and customer journey
- Mobile-responsive behavior tested on representative phone and tablet sizes
- SEO foundation — meta tags, structured data, sitemap, fast loading (see what every Long Island business site needs)
- Contact form that actually reaches you
- Google Analytics so you can see your traffic
- Security — HTTPS, security headers, spam protection
- Documented ownership and handoff for the code, design, content, accounts, and licenses included
The Real Question
The cost matters alongside what the website is expected to improve. A larger investment makes sense only when the scope supports a useful business outcome and the proposal makes that reasoning clear.
If you’re a small business on Long Island and want a straight answer on what your specific site would cost, get in touch. I’ll give you a detailed quote after we talk — with the scope and assumptions written down.