Website for professional services firms: cost and what it needs

en 2026-09-26 7 min read

A professional services firm with several services, a team clients ask for by name and enquiries that should reach different people needs step 03, a business website at EUR 1.500 to 3.500, built in 3 to 6 weeks. A solo practice or a firm with one offer is well served by step 01 at EUR 600 to 900 or step 02 at EUR 900 to 1.500, and a client portal or paid consultations take it to step 04 at EUR 3.500 to 7.500.

Behind those numbers is less a feature list than the content a firm selling expertise has to put on a page.

The problem with selling something you cannot show

An accountancy, a law practice, an engineering consultancy or an advisory firm sells judgement, and the buyer cannot inspect judgement before paying for it. So they inspect what surrounds it: who the people are, what problems the firm takes on, whether anyone comparable has trusted it, and what happens after they get in touch.

A site works when it answers those in that order. It fails in a recognisable way: a homepage full of values and a services list so broad it could belong to any firm in the city.

What the site needs to carry

Service pages with a buyer each

Give a service its own page when it has its own buyer and its own search terms. Employment law for employers and property law for home buyers are different readers who need different arguments. Splitting one service into five thin pages does the opposite: they repeat each other and compete for the same searches.

People, not a team photo

Expertise is bought from people. A profile for each person a client might deal with, stating their specialism, background and how to reach them, tells a reader far more than a group photograph. In a CMS, a new hire can go live the week they start and a departure comes off without a support request.

Proof you are allowed to publish

Confidentiality limits what a firm can say. Anonymised case descriptions still work: the kind of client, the problem, the approach and what changed, without anything that identifies them. Professional registrations and memberships belong here too, where they apply.

A clear first step

Say what happens after someone makes contact: who replies, whether the first conversation is charged, and what to prepare. A form that asks which service the enquiry concerns can route it to the right person, and booking a first call directly is part of step 03. A contact form is no place for sensitive documents, so ask only for what is needed to reply.

Writing all of this is the hard part. That text has to exist before the pages are finished, and it is the part that waits on you.

What moves the quote

• Services that earn their own page. Step 03 covers 4 to 7 pages. A long list of services has to be cut to those with a distinct buyer before the site can be priced.
• Team size. A handful of partners is simple. A larger team with specialisms and offices needs its own template and filters.
• Insights and articles. A publishing CMS earns its place if someone at the firm will write. If nobody will, it is a section that stays empty.
• Languages. International clients may mean Dutch and English. Each language is another full set of text to write, review and keep current.
• Anything that needs accounts or money. A client login, secure document upload, intake that feeds a CRM, or payment taken at booking moves the project to step 04.

Which step fits which firm

The full ladder is on the packages page. For a firm selling expertise it maps like this.

Process and timeline

1. Scoping. Which services get pages, who appears, what proof you can publish, and where enquiries go. A fixed quote follows.
2. Content. Service text, profiles, photographs and case descriptions. This waits on you, and on each partner approving their own profile, so start early.
3. Structure and design. The order a reader meets the argument in, the templates and the enquiry path, treated as one job under design and engineering.
4. Build. Templates, CMS collections for people and cases, forms and booking.
5. Testing. Every form and booking route tried on phone and desktop and checked where it should land.
6. Launch and handover. Your team gets CMS access to edit services, profiles and articles.

Step 01 runs 1 to 2 weeks, step 02 runs 2 to 3 weeks, step 03 runs 3 to 6 weeks and step 04 runs 6 to 12 weeks. Where your project lands inside its range depends on when the content arrives.

Ownership, care and search

You own the code, the repository and the database. We can host the site too, and that is agreed per project. Care runs EUR 100 to 300 per month for updates, monitoring, backups and small fixes. It does not cover a redesign or new features.

SEO foundation is a one-off EUR 450 to 750 covering Search Console, analytics, indexation, technical hygiene, titles, internal links and a 3 to 6 month plan. SEO growth at EUR 500 to 800 per month carries that plan out: technical and on-page work, service and location pages, internal links and reporting. If your clients search by service and city, those pages are where the monthly work goes.

When to spend less

If your work comes by referral, the site is where people check you, not where they find you. A step 01 page at EUR 600 to 900 that states the offer, shows who you are and ends at a form does that job. A larger site does not make the referral warmer.

Spend less, too, if the content will not exist. A step 03 site designed around case descriptions and articles, launched with none, looks emptier than a smaller site that is complete. Start at step 02 and add the CMS or blog module, EUR 300 to 600, when the material is there.

And if you cannot yet say in one sentence what the firm does and for whom, no build fixes that. Settle the offer first.

Questions firms ask

We cannot name clients. What do we show?

Describe the work instead of the client. An anonymised case stating the sector, the problem, the approach and the result, in terms you are free to share, tells a reader whether you handle problems like theirs. Where a client agrees to be named or quoted, get that permission in writing first.

Should we publish our fees?

That is your call, and some engagements cannot be priced before scoping. You can still explain how fees are set, whether the first conversation is free, and what an engagement includes. A reader who finds nothing about cost has to ask, and may ask another firm instead. That is why we publish our own prices.

Can clients book and pay for a consultation online?

Booking a call is part of step 03. Taking payment at the moment of booking is step 04 at EUR 3.500 to 7.500. If first conversations are free, you do not need it.

Do we need a client portal?

Only if the website should become where the client relationship runs. A portal with logins and document upload is step 04. If your firm already exchanges documents through a secure tool it trusts, a portal duplicates it.

Who keeps team profiles up to date?

Your team, in the CMS, without a developer. Care keeps the site maintained, but editing a profile or adding a colleague is something you do yourself.

Tell us the services, the people and where enquiries should land, and we will scope it and quote a fixed price. Start here.