A domain name
Your web address. A .com usually costs $10 to $25 a year, depending on where you register it. Ours, getbrandlift.com, costs $10.46 a year.
What you are actually paying for. Six costs, whoever builds your site.
Hosting and SSL
The server your site runs on, plus the padlock that keeps form details private. On a do-it-yourself builder this is part of the monthly fee. On a one-time build it is usually a separate bill.
Design and build
The work before launch: planning pages, designing them around your business and connecting forms. On our plans this is the setup fee, $249 to $799 at founding rates.
Updates
Hours change, prices change, photos get old. Someone has to make those edits. Our plans include 2, 4 or 8 small updates a month.
Search work
Clear page titles, structured data, a sitemap, local listings and tune-ups over time. It is what lets nearby customers find you, and it is never really finished.
Your time
The cost nobody lists. A do-it-yourself builder is cheap in dollars and expensive in evenings. Count the hours before you count the savings.
Three ways to pay for a website. Each one moves the cost to a different place.
Build it yourself
You pay a builder platform each month and do the design, writing, updates and search setup yourself. Lowest cash cost, highest time cost, and the result depends on your skills.
Pay once for a build
You pay a designer up front and own the finished site. Hosting, updates and fixes after launch are usually billed separately, so ask what happens the first time something breaks.
Pay monthly
A smaller setup fee, then one monthly price for hosting, updates and search work. You are not left on your own after launch, but you keep paying for as long as you use the service.
What a BrandLift site costs over time. Every number below comes from our published plans. Totals include the one-time setup fee and are what you would pay us, before any tax.
| Founding rates (first 3 clients) | Starter | Growth | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-time setup | $249 | $449 | $799 |
| Monthly | $50 | $75 | $150 |
| 6-month minimum, setup included | $549 | $899 | $1,699 |
| First 12 months, setup included | $849 | $1,349 | $2,599 |
| Regular rates | Starter | Growth | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-time setup | $499 | $899 | $1,499 |
| Monthly | $99 | $199 | $349 |
| First 12 months, setup included | $1,687 | $3,287 | $5,687 |
| First 24 months, setup included | $2,875 | $5,675 | $9,875 |
Founding rates are locked for 12 months with a 6-month minimum, in exchange for a short testimonial and permission to show your site in Our Work. Starter covers up to 5 pages and 2 small updates a month, Growth up to 10 pages and 4 updates, Pro up to 20 pages and 8 updates. A small update is a change like new text, prices, hours or swapped photos. New pages, redesigns and new features are quoted separately.
See what each plan includesAsk these before you pay anyone. Including us.
Who owns the domain?
Find out whose account the domain is registered in. If it is not yours, ask how you get it back if you leave.
What happens if I stop paying?
Ask what you keep: the domain, your text and photos, the design files. Get the answer in writing.
What counts as an update?
Ask how many changes a month are included and what an extra one costs, so a new price list does not turn into a surprise invoice.
Who do I contact?
Ask who answers when the site goes down or a form stops sending, and how quickly they reply.
Will I see results?
Ask whether you get a regular report on visits, searches and how many people reached out.
Do you guarantee rankings?
If the answer is yes, walk away. No one controls where Google places a site. The honest promise is the work, not the position.
Cost questions, answered.
Is a monthly website plan worth it?
It is worth it if you want someone else to handle hosting, updates and search work, and you would rather not pay a large amount up front. If you have someone on staff who can run the site, and you are happy to pay once and handle the rest yourself, a one-time build can cost less over several years.
Why is there a setup fee as well as a monthly price?
The setup fee covers the design and build work that happens before launch: planning the pages, designing them around your business, writing the structure search engines read, and connecting your domain and forms. The monthly price covers keeping the site online, updated and tuned after that.
How much does a website cost for a contractor?
A typical contractor site needs a home page, a page for each main service, a service area page, an about page, a contact page and a gallery or reviews page. That is usually 5 to 10 pages, which is our Starter or Growth plan: $849 or $1,349 for the first year at founding rates, setup included.
Will these prices go up?
Founding rates are for our first 3 clients and are locked for 12 months, with a 6-month minimum. Regular rates are $99, $199 and $349 a month, with setup fees of $499, $899 and $1,499.
Tell us about your business.
A few lines is plenty. We reply by email with next steps and a plan that fits.
Your message goes straight to the BrandLift inbox.No mailing list, no sales calls you didn't ask for.
Prefer more detail? Use the full contact form, or email brandliftdigitalcompany@gmail.com.