The short answer
Use Claude to build the new website first, move every old web address across so it points to the new one, and only then cancel the paid Yell package. You can still keep a free Yell listing. Greg at Area Entertainments in Hereford did it in that order and went from around £300 a month to £9 a month, a saving of nearly £3,500 a year, without losing the people searching for him.
Where this one came from
The SetUp Surgery is where you send us the job you'd love to hand over, and we reply with how we'd take it off your plate. This is our first Surgery session, and because we've only just opened the doors, it isn't from the inbox. It's a job Greg brought to us before the Surgery existed. Here it is, the way he might have sent it in.
Dear SetUp Crew,
I've been paying Yell around £300 a month for my website and online promotion for years. I've had very little say over how the site looks, and every update means waiting for someone else to make it. I know it's too much. What worries me is losing years of people being able to find us, and if I'm honest, I've been putting off the phone call to cancel.
Greg, Area Entertainments, Hereford
The job: a £300-a-month website he couldn't change
Area Entertainments has been doing sound, lighting and LED screens for weddings, parties, gigs and corporate events across Herefordshire since 1981. It's a well-run business. It just had one arrangement nobody had managed to unpick: a Yell package for its website and online promotion.
The real cost wasn't only the £300 a month. Every time Greg wanted to change something on his website, a new photo, a new bit of kit, he had to ask someone else to do it and wait. And the thing that kept him paying was a fear most owners will recognise: if I switch, will the people who find me now still find me?
There was a second thing too, which I think matters just as much. He was dreading the call.
What we did: moving the website without losing Google ranking
Mark delivers the change in our business, and this was his job. He brings years of experience working on big system moves in financial services, where the rule is simple: nothing gets switched off until the new thing is working. He did it the same way here.
Build the new website first.
Mark built the new site at areaentertainments.co.uk using Claude, set up so Greg can edit it himself.
Move every old address across.
Each page on the old website now points to its match on the new one (this is called a 301 redirect). So anyone who'd saved a link, or found Greg through Google, still lands in the right place.
Make it readable for Google and AI search.
The site is set up so Google and AI assistants such as ChatGPT can read it properly, and Mark updated Greg's Google Business Profile.
Then, make the call.
Only when all of that was in place did Greg ring to cancel. Mark sat in with him.
The call you keep putting off
That last step is the one that stands out.
“The thing that stops most owners isn't the money. It's the worry about losing what they've built, and the awkwardness of the conversation itself. It's easier for me to say no, because it isn't my account and I've got no history with it.”
A conversation designed to keep a long-standing customer doesn't work the same way on the person sitting next to them.
Greg kept a free listing on Yell, so customers can still find him there. His website now costs £9 a month to run, and he updates it himself whenever he likes. Read Greg's client story →
Now I've got a website I'm really proud of, I can change it myself whenever I want, and the money I'm saving goes straight back into the business.
Something you can try today
Before you do anything else, find out exactly what you've signed up to. Most people paying for a website deal haven't looked at the terms since the day they agreed them.
Open Claude (a free account at claude.ai is fine), paste in your latest invoice or contract, and copy in this instruction (or prompt):
I run a small business and I pay a company for my website and online promotion. Below is my contract or latest invoice. Please read it and tell me, in plain English: 1. What I'm paying each month and each year, in total 2. How much notice I have to give to cancel, and any renewal date 3. Whether I own my website address (domain name), or they do 4. Whether I own the website content (words and photos), or they do 5. Anything that would cost me extra to leave If something isn't clear from the document, say so rather than guessing, and give me a short list of questions to ask the company. [paste your contract or invoice here]
Point 3 is the big one. If your website address is registered in their name, not yours, sort that out before anything else.
Worth doing?
If you're paying a few hundred pounds a month and you can't change your own website, almost certainly yes. If you're paying a small amount, you're happy with it and you can make your own changes, leave it alone. Not everything needs fixing.
Questions people ask
Will I lose my Google ranking if I move my website?
Not if every old page is pointed to its match on the new site before the old one is switched off. That's what Mark did for Greg, so people searching for Area Entertainments still land in the right place.
Can I keep my Yell listing if I stop paying for a Yell website?
Greg did. He cancelled the paid website and promotion and kept a free listing on Yell.com.
How much does a small business website cost to run?
It depends on what you need, but it doesn't have to be hundreds a month. Greg's new website costs £9 a month to run.
Do I need to be technical to update my own website?
No. Greg's site was set up so he can change words and photos himself, without asking anyone.