A template-based site on a website builder can cost little beyond the subscription, while a custom-designed site from an agency usually runs from a few thousand dollars for a small business site to tens of thousands for larger, conversion-focused or ecommerce builds.

CRO is the process of increasing the share of website visitors who take a desired action, such as buying, booking or filling in a form. It relies on analytics, user research and A/B testing to find and fix what stops people converting.

A builder such as Wix or Squarespace suits simple sites with a small budget and someone in-house to maintain them. An agency makes sense when the site needs custom design, integrations, strong SEO foundations or is a main source of leads and revenue.