Choose us if...
- You would rather hand the whole launch over than assemble it yourself.
- You want to look established from the first day you trade.
- You need to be findable in search and on the map.
- You want one bill to pay and one person to ask.
Comparing your options
What the alternatives actually cost you.
There are four sensible ways to get a business launched online. Three of them are not us, and one of those three might be right for you. Here is an honest account of each, in money and in hours.
01
Doing it yourself
The cheapest option on paper, and the one that most often stalls.
What it genuinely suits
People who enjoy this sort of thing, and businesses where the website is close to irrelevant. A trade that runs entirely on word of mouth and has no intention of changing that.
What it costs
Not one bill, but six or seven. A domain. A mailbox subscription. A website builder subscription, usually billed annually and usually a tier above the one advertised once you want your own domain on it. A logo from somewhere. Hosting, if the builder does not cover it. Stock images, if you cannot use your own.
Individually each is small. Together they are a running cost you did not plan for, spread across separate accounts, renewing on separate dates, on separate cards.
The real cost is the other one. Writing the words for your own business is hard, and it is where DIY launches die. Not at the design. At the blank page. A site that is eighty per cent finished for nine months has cost you nine months.
Where it leaves gaps
Usually the unglamorous things: the search set-up nobody thinks about, the Google Business Profile that never got verified, the contact form that quietly stopped sending. Nobody is watching, because nobody is responsible for the whole.
What you own at the end
On a builder platform you are renting. The site exists inside their editor and nowhere else, and the day you stop paying it goes dark. A logo from a generator arrives as a PNG: not a vector, not a favicon, and nothing an embroiderer or a signwriter can work from. You find out which of those you needed later, usually at the worst possible moment, when somebody asks you for “the file”.
None of this is an argument against builders. They are genuinely good at what they sell, which is capability. What they cannot sell you is completion, and the distance between the two is usually about six months of a founder’s evenings.
02
Hiring a freelancer
Often excellent work, usually in one discipline.
What it genuinely suits
A business that already knows what it is, has its brand settled, and needs one specific thing built well. If you can brief precisely, a good freelancer is hard to beat on that brief.
What it costs
More than DIY, less than an agency, and it varies enormously with experience. The number you are quoted is normally for the thing you asked for, a website, rather than everything around it.
Where it leaves gaps
Around the edges of the brief. A web designer is not necessarily a copywriter, and few are keen to write your pages for you. Who sets up the mailbox on your domain. Who claims and verifies the Google Business Profile. Who is available when the contact form stops working eight months later, on a Sunday, when they are mid-project for someone else.
None of that is a criticism of freelancers. It is the nature of hiring one person for one job: the job gets done, and the surrounding work stays yours.
03
Going to an agency
Genuinely the right answer for some businesses. Possibly yours.
What it genuinely suits
Funded businesses, businesses with a complex product, and anyone whose success depends on getting the brand exactly right at scale. If you are raising money, entering a competitive market with a real budget, or need custom software rather than a website, an agency is the sensible route and we would tell you so.
What it costs
A different order of money, and usually a different shape too: a project fee, then a retainer, often with a minimum commitment. That buys a team: strategist, designer, developer, account manager. For the right business it is worth every penny.
Where it leaves gaps
Only in fit. The problem is not that agencies are bad value; it is that the model assumes a budget most businesses do not have in their first year. A launch that consumes the money you needed for stock, tools or advertising has not helped you, however good it looks.
04
SohoSumo
One arrangement covering the whole launch.
What it genuinely suits
A new business that needs the whole thing: name, brand, words, website, mailbox, hosting, search and a map listing. And would rather approve work than assemble it.
What it costs
£379 one-off and £25 a month for months 2 to 12, including VAT. One fee, one monthly plan, one person to ask. Any advertising spend is paid by you, direct to the provider, with no margin added. Your domain renewal is included for as long as you stay with us.
Where it leaves gaps
Deliberately, in three places. It is three pages, not fifty. It does not cover online shops, booking systems or custom software. And it is a launch, not an ongoing marketing campaign. That starts later, if and when it is worth it.
The argument is not that this is cheap. It is that it is one arrangement instead of seven, with somebody responsible for the whole of it.
Side by side
The same launch, four ways.
What each route covers, and what stays on your desk afterwards.
| Do it yourself | Freelancer | Agency | SohoSumo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domain and business mailbox | You arrange it | Usually you | Included | Included |
| Brand and logo files | You buy or make it | Sometimes | Included | Included |
| The words on the pages | You write them | Usually you | Included | Included |
| Website built for you | You build it | Included | Included | Included |
| Hosting and updates | You manage it | Usually you | Often a retainer | Included |
| Search set-up | You learn it | Sometimes | Included | Included |
| Google Business Profile | You claim it | Rarely | Included | Included |
| Someone to call when it breaks | Nobody | If they're free | Account manager | Included, twelve months |
| Number of bills | Six or seven | Two or three | One or two | One, plus a monthly plan |
| Your time | Weeks of it | Briefing and writing | Meetings and approvals | Approvals |
Every route above can produce a good result. The differences are in what is covered, what is left for you, and what happens six months later.
Choose something else if...
- You need a complex e-commerce platform or custom software build. That is agency or specialist work.
- You are looking for a full ongoing marketing campaign rather than a launch.
- You would rather build, host and maintain the site yourself, and you will enjoy it.
- You expect guaranteed sales or a guaranteed ranking position. Nobody can honestly promise either.
If that sounds like you
Start with the part that costs nothing.
You have just seen what the alternatives cost in money and in your own time. This is the step that costs neither: three lines now, and you see the full price on the next page before anything is charged.
Still deciding
Not sure this is the right route?
Tell us what you are building and we will tell you honestly whether the launch package fits, including when the answer is that you would be better off with an agency, or doing it yourself for now.
See the detail first
The full package page lists every deliverable with its limits stated, and the FAQ answers the questions people ask before they commit.
Or read the frequently asked questions.