Why Cheap Websites End Up Costing More
The Tempting Calculation
CHF 500 for a complete website. Or CHF 12 per month for a builder. Sounds like a great deal — especially when you're starting a business and every franc counts.
The problem: this calculation is wrong. It only shows the entry price, not the total cost. And the true costs of a cheap website only appear months later — when clients don't come, Google ignores you, and you end up starting from scratch.
What "Cheap" Really Means
Cheap websites come in three flavours:
The Fiverr Website
A freelancer builds you a website in 3 days for CHF 300–800. What you get: a template filled with your colours and text. No SEO, no strategy, no understanding of your market. And after delivery? No support, no updates, no adjustments.
The Builder (Wix, Squarespace, Jimdo)
You build it yourself — with drag & drop. Sounds simple, but you invest dozens of hours into a tool you don't know. The result looks "okay" but not professional. And you have no control over performance, SEO, or loading times.
The Budget Agency
CHF 2,000 for a "professional" website. In practice: a WordPress theme from a catalogue, hastily assembled, without SEO strategy and without mobile optimisation. After handover, every small change comes with an invoice — CHF 120 per hour.
The 5 Hidden Costs
1. Performance Costs
Cheap websites are slow. Bloated code, unoptimised images, cheap servers. Every second of loading time beyond 3 seconds costs you 7% conversion. With 1,000 visitors per month and an average order value of CHF 500, that can quickly mean CHF 3,000–5,000 per year in lost revenue.
2. SEO Costs
A website without SEO is like a shop without a sign. Cheap websites typically have: no meta tags, no structured data, no internal linking, poor URL structures, and duplicate content. The result: Google can't find you, potential clients can't find you.
Retrofitting SEO costs CHF 2,000–5,000 — more than many paid for the entire website.
3. Security Costs
WordPress sites without regular updates get hacked. It's not a question of "if" but "when". A hacked website costs you: customer trust, Google rankings (blacklisting), cleanup costs (CHF 500–2,000), and in the worst case, GDPR fines.
4. Scaling Costs
Your business grows — but your website can't keep up. New features? Not possible. Multilingual? Not supported. Integration with your CRM? Forget it. So you rebuild from scratch — and pay for everything again.
5. Opportunity Costs
The most expensive line item: missed chances. Every visitor who bounces because of bad design, slow loading, or lack of trust is a potential client you lose. These costs don't appear on any invoice — but they're real.
The Real Calculation
What does a website truly cost over 2 years?
Creation
Hosting & Domain
Security Updates
SEO Retrofitting
Adjustments (10 hrs)
Redesign after 1–2 years
Total over 2 years
The supposedly cheap website ends up costing the same — or more. And delivers worse results in the meantime.
When Cheap Is Fine
To be fair: not every project needs a CHF 10,000 website.
- You're testing a business idea and need a quick landing page
- You have a hobby project with no commercial intent
- You need a temporary page for an event or campaign
In these cases, a builder or simple solution can work. But as soon as your website needs to win clients, build trust, or generate revenue, "cheap" is the most expensive option.
The Smart Alternative: WaaS
What if you don't want to invest CHF 10,000 upfront — but still need a professional website?
That's exactly what our WaaS model (Website as a Service) is for: you pay a fixed monthly fee and get everything — design, development, hosting, SSL, security, updates, and ongoing adjustments. No hidden costs, no surprises.
The advantage: you start with a professional website, without financial risk. And your online presence grows with your business — because we take care of it continuously.
Conclusion: Cheap Is What Works
The price of a website isn't what you pay at the start. It's what it brings you — and costs you — over its entire lifetime. A website that wins clients is always cheaper than one that just exists.
Invest in a website that works — not one that just sits there.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Web Design
The most important answers about Web Design and what you should know.
Depending on scope and complexity, between CHF 5,000 and 15,000 as a one-time fee. With a WaaS model (Website as a Service), there's no large upfront investment — you pay a fixed monthly fee that includes design, development, hosting, updates, and support.
Fiverr websites are almost always based on pre-made templates with minimal customisation. The results often look generic, are poorly optimised for SEO, slow, and not built to Swiss standards. Add communication issues, no support, and no long-term maintenance.
For a hobby or blog, a website builder can work. For a business that wants to win clients through its website, builders quickly hit their limits: restricted SEO, limited design, poor performance, and no individual consulting.
With the WaaS model, you don't pay a large sum upfront. Instead, everything is included in a predictable monthly fee: design, development, hosting, SSL, updates, security, and content changes. You get a professional website with no risk.
Ready for the next step?
In a no-obligation conversation, we'll find out how we can move your project forward.