How Much Does It Cost to Build a Basic Business Web Site?
Now that you are ready to build your own business Web site, you’re no doubt wondering how much this is all going to cost. As with all things, the cost will vary depending on your particular needs. But here’s an overview of the possible expenses:
First, if you don’t have one, you will need to purchase a domain name. Domain name registration has become quite cheap lately, and you should be able to register your name for less than $10.00 per year.
Once you have your domain, you’ll need to find a Web host. Your Web host will provide space on its servers and will be where your site “lives.”
Hosting fees can vary wildly, depending on the options you’ll need. For most businesses, a middle-of-the-road site with basic e-commerce functionality, secure socket layer encryption, and a reasonable amount of disk space and bandwidth will generally cost less than $30.00 per month.
The cost of the actual design and construction of your site can also run the gamut, from free to thousands of dollars. Some vendors offer free basic Web site templates, or you could spend $200 or more buying a premium template.
If you’d rather hand off the entire project to a designer, you could easily spend anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 on a basic site, with or without e-commerce capability. Your options are quite myriad at this step, and your needs (and budget) will determine what’s within your reach.
Site content – the actual words on your Web pages — is one element of site building that often gets short shrift. But sales copy is essential to success on the Internet, and you should commit to making it the very best it can be. If you don’t have the time or skill level to develop your own content, a professional copywriter will typically charge $25.00 to $35.00 per page for your site. While this may seem expensive, well-written sales copy can increase your sales exponentially.
All told, you can expect to spend more than $1000 for a small, professionally designed Web site, or as little as $50 if you decide to build it yourself. You’ll need to keep in mind recurring fees, such as monthly hosting charges, domain renewals, and merchant account fees (if applicable).
Don’t be afraid to shop around for the best deal before settling on the designer, template provider, or Web host. The market is extremely competitive, and you can find great deals if you are patient and do some research.
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Comments (72)
Some domain registration companies offer free hosting and website builder for as less as $10. Its the professionally designed sites that costs a bomb
http://www.domain-and-host.net
Certainly, prices are all over the board, but realistically to build something that looks good, presents your company well, converts the brides that visit into inquiries and sales – and of course is findable at Google, MSN, and Yahoo! – isn’t going to be $500.
You get what you pay for and your “cousin” who builds websites will cost you more sales than you want to even think about.
Even “do-it-yourself” is becoming less effective and I’m getting a lot of calls from those people saying “I used to get a lot of inquiries.”
It only takes one competitor to build and promote a better website than yours – and you’ll see your market-share slip away very quickly. I’ve seen this happen to 20 year veterans in the industry. It’s pretty horrible.
1) Web Design
A talented designer with online graphics experience will probably put a minimum of 15 to 20 hours into a design or re-design.
As long as they know their stuff and have online experience, the investment is a no-brainer. Your designer will also work closely with a programmer who understands how to write standard code that is optimized for performance, functionality, and of course, search engines. Your designer will work with your online marketing person to integrate the marketing copy and keywords/phrases that are required if you want any chance at a top-ranked website. Investment: $2,000 and up
2) Programming
Make no mistake, if you don’t have clean, fast-loading, search engine friendly code behind the scenes at your website you’re in trouble with search engines – and brides.
Recently I wrote about “4 seconds” being all you have before visitors start to think about leaving a website! These issues will have brides heading for their back-button faster than you can say “don’t leave yet! Your programmer will also have to make sure all the proper keywords, keyword phrases, headings, marketing copy, alt-image tags, and page title tags – usually developed by your online marketing person – are properly installed. Investment: $750 to $1,500 (and up)
3) Technical
It all comes together and is placed on a hosting server with your domain name tied to it. Usually, your hosting server also manages your incoming and outgoing email.
I talked with a woman last week who hadn’t received any email from her website for almost a week. She figures it cost her over $3000 in lost sales – at least – and it might have cost her a $15,000 catering job. Her hosting server was the problem and she opted for one of these $9.95/month hosting solutions. You get what you pay for and when it comes to hosting and technical support so I recommend you avoid the the lowest-cost-provider.
Put another way, putting your website on cheap hosting is like building a house on sand. Investment: $400/year
4) Online Marketing
An online marketing person worth their salt is going to run you $2500 to $5000 or more. They understand design and usability issues, the importance of page copy (marketing communications), traffic development strategy, search engine optimization, search engine marketing (pay-per-click), and conversion (turning the brides who visit your website into inquiries and sales). Your online marketing person is also going to keep you out of trouble and keep you from wasting money (and time) because they know what really works and what doesn’t. They will help you design an online marketing plan (or review your current website and strategy) and then work with you to execute the plan. Your online marketing person should also be your online business coach – and available to you 24/7. Investment:$2,500 and up
5) Total Investment: $4000 to $6000+
If designed correctly, and integrated with an effective online marketing strategy, your website should generate 70 to 90% of your new business (after word-of-mouth). It should be the most cost-effective advertising and marketing you’re doing for your business. If it isn’t – something is wrong.
Your website should generate three to five inquiries a day (minimum) – especially if you’re in a big market area (i.e. Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando). I know that they can – because I see this first hand with many of my client’s websites. If you’re not getting those type of results you have to ask yourself: Why not?
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