Before You Spend £10k on a New Website, Check the Message

A new website can be a sensible investment. It can also be an expensive new home for an unclear offer. Before you commission a new website for a small business, ask whether the current problem is really the design, or whether customers cannot understand why they should choose you. The £10k in the headline is an illustrative project budget, not a typical price or a quote. Whatever the budget, the same questions deserve an answer first. ## Check what a visitor must understand Can someone tell from the first screen who you help and what they can ask you to do? Are your main services explained in the language customers use? Are prices, process or next steps clear enough for someone to decide whether to enquire? Look at real sales questions and lost enquiries rather than guessing from internal preferences. Ask a few people unfamiliar with your business to describe what they think you offer after looking at the site. Do not coach them. Their confusion is useful evidence for the brief. ## Find the problem behind the page A website may be slow, difficult to update or hard to use on a phone. Those are valid reasons to improve or rebuild it. But if the offer is muddled, a better template will only present the muddle more attractively. If enquiries arrive but go unanswered, the follow-up process needs attention too. AI can help organise feedback and suggest clearer wording, but it should not invent proof, testimonials or a promise your business cannot keep. Let the owner and people who speak to customers decide what the message needs to say. ## Brief the right work Write a short brief covering the audience, the action you want them to take, the questions the site must answer and how you will judge success. Then ask whether targeted improvements, clearer copy or a full rebuild best solves the problem. A designer, agency or consultant can each help in different ways; give them an honest account of what is and is not working. If you need direction before design, start with [strategic direction versus execution](/insights/marketing-strategy-versus-execution/). Our [AI marketing support](/ai-marketing/) looks at the commercial goal before recommending tools or a new site. ## FAQs ### Is £10k the usual cost of a small business website? No. It is an illustrative figure. Costs vary with scope, content, design, integrations and who does the work; get a clear brief and comparable quotes. ### When is a full website rebuild worth it? When problems with structure, performance, usability or maintenance cannot be sensibly fixed in the existing site, and the new site has a clear job to do. ### Can AI write the new website copy? It can assist with drafts and structure, but the business must supply accurate offers, customer insight and evidence. A human should approve the final message. ### What should we fix before asking for quotes? Clarify the customers you want, your main offer, the questions visitors ask and the action the site should prompt. That makes quotes and outcomes easier to compare.

This article was written by Peter Lowe. The ideas and opinions are his own; AI was used to assist with drafting and editing.