The Most Expensive Sentence in Online Business
"I just need something up."
I've heard this dozens of times. Usually right before someone hands $500 to their nephew, clicks "publish" on a template they don't understand, or hires the cheapest Fiverr dev they can find.
Six months later, they're sitting across from me explaining why their site loads like molasses, why mobile users bounce immediately, and why they can't figure out how to update their own content without breaking something.
The cheap website wasn't cheap. It was a down payment on a much larger bill.
The Silent Tax You're Paying
Here's what actually happens with a cheap website:
You lose leads you never see. Someone clicks your link from Instagram or a referral. Your site takes 8 seconds to load. They hit back. You never know they existed.
You bleed credibility. A parent researching coaches for their kid lands on your site. It looks like 2014, half the images are broken on mobile, and your "Book a Call" button doesn't work. They move to the next coach. You think you just need more marketing.
You waste time on constant small fixes. Every time you want to update your pricing or add a testimonial, it's a 30-minute ordeal. Or you have to pay someone $75 to do it. So you just... don't update anything. Your site becomes stale, and you become invisible.
You can't test or improve. You have no idea which pages people actually read, where they drop off, or what's working. You're flying blind, making decisions based on gut feel instead of data.
This is the real cost. Not the invoice. The opportunity cost of running a system that actively works against you.
The Math Nobody Shows You
Let's talk numbers.
Say you're a coach or consultant. Your average client is worth $2,000–$5,000. You need maybe 1–2 new clients per month to have a solid year.
Your cheap website converts at 0.5% (which is generous for a slow, confusing site). A properly built site converts at 2–3%.
If you get 200 visitors per month:
- •Cheap site: 1 lead
- •Proper site: 4–6 leads
That's 3–5 extra conversations per month. If even one of those converts, that's $2,000–$5,000. Over 12 months, that's $24,000–$60,000.
Now compare that to the $2,000–$4,000 you "saved" by going cheap.
You didn't save money. You just moved the expense from visible (an invoice) to invisible (lost opportunities).
And here's the kicker: one properly structured client or sponsor relationship often pays for a premium site plus ongoing support for an entire year or more.
Why "I'll Upgrade Later" Is a Trap
The most common objection I hear: "I'll get a better site once I have more money."
But that's backwards.
The better site is how you get more money. It's not a reward for success—it's a tool that creates success.
Every month you wait is another month of:
- •Missed leads
- •Wasted ad spend (if you're running ads to a broken site)
- •Lost referrals who checked you out and moved on
- •Time spent fighting with a system that doesn't work
You're not "saving up" for a better site. You're paying a monthly tax in lost revenue and wasted time.
The 80/20 of a "Not-Cheap" Site
You don't need a $20,000 custom site with animations and fancy integrations.
You need four things:
1. Speed. Your site should load in under 2 seconds. Period. Every extra second costs you 10–20% of your visitors.
2. Clarity. When someone lands on your homepage, they should know within 5 seconds who you help and what you do. No mystery. No "scroll to find out."
3. Trust. Clean design, working links, proper mobile experience, real testimonials. You're asking people to give you money or their contact info. Your site needs to look like you have your shit together.
4. Simple systems. You should be able to update content yourself in 5 minutes without breaking anything. And you should be able to see what's working (traffic, conversions, popular pages).
That's it. Everything else is extra.
A site built on these four principles will outperform 90% of what's out there—and it'll pay for itself in the first 60–90 days through better conversion alone.
The Real Story: From "Good Enough" to Actually Working
I rebuilt a site last year for a strength coach who'd been running on a cheap WordPress template for 18 months.
He'd paid $600 for the initial build. Seemed like a win.
But his mobile experience was broken (60% of his traffic). His contact form didn't work on half of browsers. His site took 9 seconds to load. And he couldn't update his own content without calling his original dev and paying $100 each time.
He was getting maybe 1–2 inquiries per month from his site. Most of his business came from word-of-mouth, so he told himself "the site doesn't really matter."
We rebuilt it properly. Fast hosting, clean structure, mobile-first design, simple CMS so he could update everything himself.
Within 30 days: 8 inquiries. Within 90 days: he'd signed 3 new clients and had parents telling him his site "looked way more professional than other coaches."
The rebuild cost him $3,500. His first new client paid for the entire thing. The second and third were pure profit.
He told me later: "I didn't realize how much I was losing by having a site that just... existed. I thought I was being smart by going cheap. I was actually bleeding money every month."
Your 5-Minute Audit Checklist
Not sure if your current site is costing you? Run this quick check:
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Speed test: Go to PageSpeed Insights. Is your mobile score below 70? You're losing people.
- •
Mobile check: Open your site on your phone. Does everything work? Can you read the text without zooming? Are buttons easy to tap? If not, you're losing 50–60% of your audience.
- •
Clarity test: Show your homepage to someone who doesn't know your business. Can they explain what you do in 10 seconds? If not, you're confusing people.
- •
CTA test: How many different buttons or links are competing for attention on your homepage? If it's more than 2, you're diluting your message.
- •
Update test: When was the last time you updated your site? If it's been more than 3 months, you either can't update it easily (bad system) or you're letting it go stale (bad for trust).
If you failed 2 or more of these, your site is costing you.
The Shift: From Expense to Asset
Here's the mental model I want you to walk away with:
A cheap website is an expense that keeps costing you. A properly built site is an asset that pays for itself.
The difference isn't about fancy design or expensive features. It's about building a system that:
- •Converts visitors into leads
- •Builds trust automatically
- •Saves you time instead of wasting it
- •Gets better over time as you learn what works
When you think about it this way, the question isn't "Can I afford a better site?"
The question is "Can I afford to keep losing leads and time to a broken system?"
What to Do Next
If you're running a cheap website right now, you have two options:
Option 1: Fix the obvious issues yourself. Run the audit above. Improve your speed, rewrite your hero section for clarity, fix mobile, add one clear CTA. This won't solve everything, but it'll stop some of the bleeding.
Option 2: Rebuild it properly. Set a 90-day deadline. Budget $2,500–$4,500 (or whatever makes sense for your business). Find someone who builds lean, fast sites focused on conversion, not decoration.
The worst option is to do nothing and tell yourself "I'll deal with it later."
Every month you wait is another month of invisible losses.
The Bottom Line
Your website is like your shopfront on the busiest street in town. You can save money on the sign, the lighting, and the layout—but then don't be surprised when people walk right past.
Cheap websites aren't a bargain. They're a tax you pay in silence every time a serious client hits "back" instead of "book a call."
The safest financial move isn't the smallest invoice. It's the system that reduces leak points and makes sure you're not losing the opportunities you've already worked hard to create.
If you want help auditing your current site or exploring what a lean, high-trust rebuild could look like over the next 14 days, book an intro call. We'll look at your specific situation and figure out whether a fix or a rebuild makes more sense.
Either way, stop paying the silent tax.