You lost money on a cheap website — the real cost of cutting corners
I lose quotes to people who charge 3,000 DKK for a website.
It happens regularly. The client has a quote from me for 18,000-25,000 DKK and one from someone else for 3,000-5,000 DKK. The choice seems obvious — why pay five times more for "the same thing"?
6 months later, the client calls me.
It has happened four times in the past year
The story is always the same. Almost word for word. And that is what makes it frustrating — because it does not have to happen.
Here is the typical sequence of events:
The client picks the cheapest quote
It makes sense. 3,000 DKK versus 20,000 DKK is a massive saving — at least on paper.
The site gets delivered — it works
The client has a website. It is online. There are images and text. Everything looks fine... on the surface.
The problems start showing up
The site takes 6-8 seconds to load. It looks strange on mobile. Google cannot find it. The contact form does not always work. And the "developer" no longer replies to emails.
The client calls me
Now everything needs to be rebuilt from scratch. The old site cannot be saved — it was built on a questionable foundation with conflicting plugins, a theme that has not been updated in two years, and no security measures.
Total price? Double what it would have cost to do it right from the start.
The most expensive website is the one you have to build twice
I have seen this pattern enough times to say it with certainty: a cheap website is rarely a saving. It is a deferred expense — with interest.
The four problems that always recur
1. The site is slow
A professional website loads in under 2 seconds. The cheap sites I have taken over typically load in 5-10 seconds. This is usually caused by:
- Unoptimised images (often 3-5 MB per image)
- A bloated theme with features that are never used
- No caching or performance optimisation
- Cheap shared hosting with 47 other websites on the same server
Google penalises slow sites. Your visitors leave them. You lose customers without knowing it.
Want to know if your site is too slow? Read my guide on why your WordPress site is slow.
2. The mobile experience is terrible
"It's responsive" is the most misused promise in web development. The fact that a theme technically adapts to the screen size does not mean it works well on mobile.
The typical problems:
- Text that is too small to read
- Buttons that are impossible to tap with a finger
- Menus that do not work properly
- Images that break the layout
Over 60% of all web traffic in Denmark comes from mobile devices. If your site does not work perfectly on a phone, you are losing more than half of your potential customers.
3. No SEO setup
A website without SEO is like a shop without a sign. It exists, but nobody can find it.
The cheap solutions typically lack:
- Meta titles and descriptions
- Correct heading structure (H1, H2, H3)
- XML sitemap
- Schema markup
- Optimised URL structures
- Alt text on images
Setting this up properly takes time. Time costs money. And that is the core of the problem.
4. The developer has vanished
The most frustrating problem of all. You need a change, an update, a bug fix — and nobody answers.
Cheap developers often work with an enormous number of clients to make ends meet. That means minimal support, no maintenance, and no long-term relationship.
What does it cost to do it right?
A standard website for a small business typically costs 18,000-30,000 DKK. That includes professional design, mobile optimisation, SEO setup, and a site that loads in under 2 seconds. Read more about what a website costs in 2026.
What you are actually paying for
When you pay 18,000 DKK instead of 3,000 DKK, you are not paying "more for the same thing". You are paying for fundamentally different things:
| Cheap solution (3,000-5,000 DKK) | Professional solution (18,000+ DKK) | |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Standard theme with logo | Custom design for your business |
| Speed | 5-10 second load time | Under 2 seconds |
| Mobile | "Responsive" theme | Tested and optimised on real devices |
| SEO | No setup | Full technical SEO setup |
| Security | No security measures | SSL, security plugins, backups |
| Support | No guarantee | Dedicated point of contact |
The difference is not cosmetic. It is the difference between a tool that works for your business and an expense that holds it back.
Three questions to ask any web developer
Whether you choose an expensive or cheap option, ask these three questions:
- "Can I see the load time on your recent projects?" — If the answer is vague or evasive, that is a red flag.
- "What happens after launch?" — A professional developer has a plan for maintenance and support.
- "Who owns the code and domain?" — You should always own your own website. Always.
If you want to learn more about what to look for, I have written a comparison of website prices that gives a good overview.
The bottom line
I completely understand the temptation of a cheap website. 3,000 DKK versus 20,000 DKK is a significant difference for a small business.
But the maths does not add up. Not when you factor in lost traffic, lost customers, the time you spend fighting with a site that does not work — and the final price of having it redone.
The four clients who called me after 6 months? They all ended up paying more than double my original quote. Not because I charged more — but because cleanup work is always more expensive than building it right from the start.
Invest in your website for what it is: your most important marketing tool.
