Our why
Why we started Sightly.
Getting a business online shouldn't be this hard, or cost this much every month.
In Paul's words
I've been the customer.
The website
When I started my own business, the website nearly did my head in. I tried Wix. I tried Fiverr. I tried mates, who boxed me into software they knew and I didn't. Changing anything was a mission.
The email
Then there was email. Free for the first year, then about $300 a year per inbox to keep the same addresses. I didn't own it. I was renting it.
The old price list
My dad's business website sat about 12 years out of date, with the old price list still up. Doing the tech yourself is demotivating, so it never gets touched.
The costs
When you're giving a business a crack, it's disheartening how expensive everything is. You'd think online would be the cheap bit. I hate the idea of paying for something every month when a once-off deal would do.
So Sightly is the company I wish I could have called. We do the whole job, and the website is yours.
Paul
Why it matters
A few numbers worth knowing.
Desktop still leads on page views in NZ. But phone use has grown a lot, Google ranks the phone version of your site, and a phone is what people have in their hand when they're out looking for a local business.
20% to 43%
The share of NZ web browsing done on phones roughly doubled in five years, from 2015 to 2020.
StatCounter
Phone first
Google ranks the phone version of your site. If it's clunky on a phone, that's the version Google judges.
Google, 2023
7 in 10
Visits to big websites worldwide now come from phones and tablets.
Contentsquare, 2026
Over half
Of Australian businesses with fewer than five people have no website at all.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2026
73%
Of Australian shoppers say they'll only buy online from a business that has a website.
auDA, the .au domain regulator, 2024
Your name
NZ's Domain Name Commission says the business, not its web developer, should hold the domain name. With us, it's yours.
Domain Name Commission NZ
A lot of the cost isn't the build. It's the monthly fees that keep going.
Published NZ agency guides put hosting at around $39 to $99 a month, with care plans of $50 to $300 a month on top. With us, domain and hosting is $99 a year.
Source: published NZ agency pricing guides
Figures as published by the sources named. Australian figures are the closest comparable data we could find.
Paul and Parry
Two people who like building useful things.
We share a love of tech, design and new ideas, and we have both worked with small businesses. Paul builds the sites. Parry meets the businesses. We are based in Auckland and started Sightly in 2026.
- A proper conversation before anything is built.
- The website is yours, and you keep access to it.
- Domain and hosting for $99 a year, with two small updates included.
- In person in Auckland, or on Zoom if that suits you better.
