We live in the time of free stuff: free websites, free hosting, free domain names and free site building tools. If we were to believe in all the hype, we would all have a website up and running without spending a single cent.
But everyone knows that a website will always cost you one way or another. If you’re sitting at your terminal everyday uploading content, installing features and tweaking apps – it is costing you. How much or how little is objective; but it doesn’t change the fact that there are costs involved whether directly or indirectly.
So, let’s have a look at the true overall cost of your business website:
Domain Name(s) ($10 – $50 per Year)
Some hosting providers offer free domain names when you sign up for one of their packages. But look closely and you will see that most of them will have a fine print that says you will either have to pay for the domain name when your time with them is up or forfeit it for good.
So, in truth, you really never owned the domain name.
Therefore, if you are to own your own domain name you will have no choice but to buy it outright. And if you want to keep squatters you will need to add a couple of more (if not all) TLDs with your name or brand in them.
Of course, if you have to bid for a domain name that has already been bought, you will need to cough up a lot of money.
Web Hosting ($60 – $120 per Year)
You can always opt to host your site on cheap hosting servers that cost you cents (or are even free), but it will always be a risky option.
You see, the less you have to pay for hosting, the less you can expect in terms of quality. Expecting a first class service at a budget price is just not feasible. You will be disappointed.
Your website will also reflect it – it will be slow, it will be unstable, it won’t be able to handle traffic surges/fluctuations, it won’t be easily scalable and it won’t be secure.
Your best bet would be to go for mid-priced hosting packages until you need, and can afford, better (read “pricier”) hosting.
Web Design ($100 – $1,000 not including support)
The face of your online business should always reflect professionalism to instill unshakable confidence in you customers. Shoddy workmanship in your website’s design will drive people away.
You can simply pick a free template or design one yourself using the free web designing tools that are on offer with many hosting providers. But, unless you are really good at designing and posses not only an artistic flair, SEO knowledge and technical programming knowhow, you will end up with an average website design.
By that it is meant that you will have a site that will eventually show a weakness. There will be problems with page loading, searching engines will find issues while crawling your site, apps won’t work well – and you won’t be able to resolve all or any of them.
It therefore makes sense to invest in a professional web designer or at the very least, buy a template that comes with warranties.
Content Writing (Couple of hundreds to thousands per year depending on expertise)
Your website is nothing without content. You will need to interact with your visitors using text or visual media. This is where your content writers come in.
If you are good at writing you might attempt to do all the writing by yourself. But unless you are dedicated to the job, it can actually be time and energy consuming. You can’t expect to do it all on your own.
Besides, just like any other skills, writing content too requires a certain kind of expertise. It is not just a matter of filling your site with words, images and videos. Your content should engage, and reach out to, your visitors. It should provide information. It should add value to your site. Then there is SEO that is needed to drive traffic.
All this requires expertise.
Functionality (Couple of hundreds to thousands per year depending on expertise)
Adding feature, gadgets and apps that provide service to your site is a technical job. Although you might get away by simply dragging and dropping a few common apps (that most likely don’t need any background tweaking or customization) the really sophisticated kinds of software will require the help of a software developer at some point.
Otherwise, you run the risk of your features underperforming, causing errors and even compromising your whole website.
Marketing ($120 – $1,000 per Year)
Once the dust has settled, you will need to push your website out into the world and let it be discovered. You will need to invest in advertizing it.
Google and Yahoo! (two of the most popular ad servers) offer prices that are based on bids for keywords. If you want your ads to show for relevant keywords you will have to compete with other companies for the right – it is a rather complicated process, and here too you will be well advised to hire an expert.
Maintenance (Salary/Payment varies depending on expertise)
Someone will need to overlook the whole running of your website. There is no website that you can just “turn on” and forget about. It will need administration and maintenance. It will need monitoring.
Again, this is a job preferably done by a webmaster.
And so, it is the summation of these prices that will determine the true overall
