Web Design in Swords

If you take fewer than a handful of orders a week, a brochure site with a contact/order form or a payment link costs half as much and launches faster. Move to full e-commerce (cart, inventory, shipping rules) when order volume makes manual handling the bottleneck.

Use a builder if your budget is minimal and your needs are a brochure plus contact form. Hire a freelancer for a custom site with some business logic. Pay agency rates when you need strategy, copywriting, SEO and design under one contract with accountability. Many small businesses outgrow a builder in year one — budget for that path.

Five that separate pros from dabblers: Can I see 3 live sites you built and still maintain? Who actually does the work — you or subcontractors? Will I own the domain, hosting and code? What's included in the price and what costs extra? What happens if I want changes after launch?

A proper quote itemizes: number of pages, responsive/mobile behavior, number of revision rounds (2-3 is standard), CMS setup, basic on-page SEO (titles, metas, sitemap), browser testing, and what happens to hosting and domain after handover. If a quote is one line with one number, ask for the breakdown.

Freelancers typically charge €40-120/hr, with 5-page small-business sites at €1,500-7,000 and e-commerce from €4,000. Dublin agency rates run noticeably above regional freelancers.

Local Enterprise Offices co-fund up to €2,500 (50% match) for small businesses adding online trading — typically covering e-commerce builds, booking systems or digital marketing setup. You apply and attend a short information session before the build starts, so plan it into your project timeline.