What's Actually Inside a R7,900 Website in South Africa
TL;DR
R7,900 gets you a real five-page custom website in South Africa: mobile-first, SEO-ready, contact form, Google Maps, Google Business Profile setup, one month of support, and full ownership of domain, hosting, and code. It is not a template. It is not a R299 per month rental. It is yours, forever, at launch. Here is exactly what is inside, and what is not.
When a South African small business owner asks us for a website quote, the first question is almost always the same: "What does R7,900 actually buy me?" The honest answer is "more than most installers would guess, less than a R50,000 build." This article breaks down exactly what is included, what is not, and how to tell whether R7,900 is right for your business.
The five things included at R7,900
1. Five custom-designed pages
Not five template pages. Five pages designed from scratch to match your brand, your customers, and your specific service or product offering. The typical layout is: Home, About, Services, Portfolio or Gallery, Contact. We can flex that based on what you sell. One page, some businesses need twenty. We quote accordingly.
2. Mobile-first responsive design
Over 70% of South African website traffic is mobile. Every site we build is designed on mobile first, then scaled up for tablet and desktop. Core Web Vitals tuned so your site loads in under 2 seconds on a 4G connection. Nothing breaks on an iPhone, a Samsung, or a budget Huawei.
3. Local SEO baseline
On-page SEO (titles, meta descriptions, headings, alt tags), schema markup, Google Business Profile claim and optimisation, sitemap.xml, robots.txt, Search Console registration. This is the SEO foundation, not ongoing SEO work. It is what gets you eligible to rank. Sustained first-page rankings for competitive keywords still need an ongoing content and link-building strategy.
4. Contact form + Google Maps + WhatsApp button
The things that actually generate leads. A simple contact form that emails you (no database needed at Starter tier), Google Maps embed showing your location, and a floating WhatsApp button because most SA enquiries come via WhatsApp, not email. This alone converts better than 80% of template websites.
5. One month of support + full ownership
Thirty days of post-launch support for content tweaks, questions, and minor adjustments. At handover you own the domain, the hosting account, the source code, and all brand assets. Nothing rented. Nothing locked to us. If you ever want to leave, everything transfers cleanly.
What is NOT in a R7,900 website
- Custom CMS or blog platform. If you need a blog where you can publish articles yourself, that is the Professional tier (R14,900).
- E-commerce functionality. If you want to sell products online with payments, cart, shipping, that is a separate build starting from R14,900.
- AI chatbot or WhatsApp bot. Available as an add-on from R5,000 or bundled into the Professional tier.
- Ongoing SEO. The SEO foundation is included, but sustained ranking work is a separate retainer from R3,500 per month.
- Copywriting for more than five pages. We write the copy for the five core pages. If you need 15 pages, that takes more time and is quoted accordingly.
- Professional photography. We use your existing photos or curated licence-free stock. Brand photography shoots are a separate line item if you need them.
Who R7,900 is right for
The Starter package is genuinely perfect for three types of South African small businesses:
- Service-based local businesses like electricians, plumbers, physiotherapists, dentists, accountants, lawyers. You need to be findable and credible. You do not need a product catalogue.
- Early-stage businesses just starting out. Get a real website up fast, start capturing leads, upgrade later when revenue justifies it.
- Businesses replacing a template site from the 2010s. You already have a rough idea of content, you just need a modern custom site that actually loads fast and converts.
Who should go to R14,900 instead
Professional at R14,900 makes more sense if you need blog publishing, AI chatbot integration, ten or more pages, advanced analytics, or deeper SEO work out of the gate. It also makes sense for professional services where credibility is everything and the extra design polish pays for itself in one signed client.
Why we do not sell R2,000 websites
You can find R2,000 websites in South Africa. You can also find R299 per month rentals that never end up in your name. We do not build either. Here is why: a properly designed custom site takes around 40 to 60 hours of work. At any reasonable hourly rate that is R7,900 to R15,000 of labour minimum. Anyone quoting less is either charging you monthly forever, using a template you can buy for R400 yourself, or outsourcing to someone who will disappear.
R7,900 is the floor where you get real design work, real code ownership, and a real human in South Africa answering your questions. Below that price point, someone is making up the difference somewhere, and it is usually you.
Payment terms
Fifty percent on approval, fifty percent on launch. No monthly subscription. No surprise invoices. We invoice you twice, you pay twice, you own the site. That is it.
Want a quote for your R7,900 site?
Book a free audit call. We will walk through your business, recommend the right package, and send you a fixed-scope quote within 48 hours. Zero pressure, zero lock-in conversations.
Local versions of R7,900 packages
We offer the same Starter package priced identically across all our service areas:
Pricing is identical regardless of location. We charge for the work, not the drive. Sandton gets Premium-tier positioning starting at R14,900 because Sandton audiences typically need that depth, but the Starter option is still available if that suits your situation.