How Much Does A WordPress Website Cost In The UK? A Straight Answer For Trades

WordPress is free software. Anyone can download it. What you pay for is everything around it:

• The build: someone designing the pages, writing or placing the words, and setting it up properly

• Hosting: the server the site lives on, paid monthly or yearly

• The domain: your web address, paid yearly

• Themes and plugins: some are free, some are paid, and some paid ones renew every year

• Upkeep: updates, backups and security, which WordPress needs regularly

A quote that only covers the build is not the full cost. Always ask what you will pay every month and every year after it goes live.

Do it yourself. You pay for hosting and a domain, pick a theme and build it. It is the cheapest in money and the most expensive in time. Most tradespeople who try it end up with a site that looks fine but does not bring in work, because the hard part is not the software. It is knowing what to put on each page so Google can match it to searches.

A freelancer. Prices vary a lot. A good freelancer can build a solid site. The risk is what happens next: who updates it, who fixes it when a plugin breaks, and whether you can get hold of them in a year.

An agency. Usually the most expensive, and often for things a trade business does not need, like long discovery meetings and bespoke design. You should be paying for a site that brings in calls, not for meetings.

The platform matters less than what is on it. Whatever you pay, make sure you get:

• A page for each main service, not one page with a list

• Pages for the towns you want work from

• Your phone number at the top, tap to call on mobile

• A quote form and, if you use it, a WhatsApp button

• The site connected to your Google Business Profile

• Basic SEO set up, and the site submitted to Google

If a quote does not include those, it is not cheap. It is incomplete.

WordPress is a good choice if you want to edit the site yourself: change prices, add job photos, update your opening hours, without asking anyone. It is also good if you want the site on your own hosting account, so it is fully yours.

It is not worth paying extra for if you will never log in. A WordPress site that nobody updates is a security risk, and it costs more to build than a modern site that does the same job.

We do both, with the price on our pricing page:

• Website, £499 one-off. Built on a modern platform, with a page for each service, area pages, basic SEO, and your Google Business Profile connected. Best if you would rather we look after it.

• WordPress website, £699 one-off. Everything in the £499 build, on WordPress, so you can edit text and photos yourself. It can be hosted on your own account if you prefer.

• Optional care plan, £30 a month. Hosting, your domain and the changes you ask for, with no contract.

With either one, you see a free draft first and pay nothing until the site is live.

• What will I pay every month and every year after launch?

• Who owns the site and the domain?

• Who updates it, and what does that cost?

• Will I have a page for each service and each main town?

• Is it connected to my Google Business Profile?

• Can I see a draft before I pay?

If you get clear answers to all six, you are dealing with someone you can trust.