Your website is the cornerstone
of your entire online public image. 24
hours a day, 365 days a year, your potential clients use Google to find your
business, whether it’s off or online. Your
website address is also on your business cards and in your email
signature.
No matter how you slice it, your
potential clients are all heading to your website to find out more about you.
It goes without saying, then,
that it’s not enough to have any old website. Your website has to:
· Demonstrate how your products and services will
help your potential clients
· Tell your potential clients who you are and what
you do
· Show that other people are listening to what you
have to say through testimonials, “as seen in” logos, or social media icons
· Be clean, professional, organized, and
interesting
And if that wasn't daunting
enough, there’s the even more basic matter of how much this fabulous website
will cost.
Basic Website Costs
There are three basic costs to starting
any website: hosting, a domain name, and a pre-built design. The great news is that you can buy all three
of these for less than $200.
The downside to keeping yourself
to a $200 budget is that you will have to do all of the installation and
website creation work yourself. All of
which is definitely possible, especially if you’re willing to Google for free
resources or get on the phone with your hosting company.
Let’s delve deeper into each of
these three necessary costs.
Cost of a Domain Name - $10/year
Your domain name is the name of
your website (like www.google.com). It’s
often the name of your company or a few key words that describe what your
company does. If you’re not sure about
your business name, use your own name as your domain name. That way, if your business name changes, you
won’t need to change your domain name.
Your domain name should cost no
more than $10 per year, and must be renewed every year. I recommend purchasing your domain name (and
your website hosting) through Host Gator. Their prices are beginner-budget friendly,
and their awesome customer service is available 24/7.
Cost of Website Hosting - $100/year
Website hosting is the fancy term
for the place on the internet where you set up your website. Think of it in terms of building a house in
the country: you’ve already bought your address (your domain name), and now you
need some land to set up shop. Your
website hosting is the site of your future home.
Your website hosting should cost
no more than $100 a year. Some companies
will discount this per-year price even lower if you purchase a two or three
year package. I recommend purchasing
your website hosting (and your domain name) through Host Gator. Not only do they have an excellent track
record, but their prices are easy on a tight budget, and their customer service
staff is available every day (and night).
Note that there are website
hosting companies that will charge you $50 or more each month. Don’t be fooled – there’s no reason to spend more than $100
a year on website hosting when you’re first building your website.
Cost of Website Software – Free!
Thanks to the invention of
Wordpress, website design has become a lot less expensive than it used to
be. Sticking to the building a house
example, Wordpress is a free website design software that will lay your
foundation.
Aside from being free (always a
plus!), Wordpress allows you to build and update your website with minimal
technical skills. If you can type up a
Word document and insert pictures, you can use Wordpress to build and update
your site! And if you get stuck, there
are a ton of free resources online to teach you how to use it!
Cost of Website Design - $75 or less
By far the best thing about
Wordpress is the invention of themes. Think of a Wordpress theme as the
blueprints for your house – it lays out the walls, the paint colors, and the
roof!
There are many free Wordpress
themes available on the internet. One or two will come pre-installed when you
install Wordpress on your website.
However, if you’re looking for
customer support, a help forum, and something a little more flexible than a
free theme, I recommend purchasing a theme from a theme designer.
You will pay a one-time license
fee for a theme, and that fee will also entitle you to email their customer
support team when you get stuck or have a problem.
Here are a few of my favorite
Wordpress theme design companies. Each of these companies has themes for under
$75, and many are in the $35 - $50 range.
Picking your theme is the most
challenging part of building your website. Be sure to spend some time finding
the theme blueprint that best fits what you want your website to look
like.
Remember - it’s easy to paint
your walls a different color. It’s not as easy to knock down a wall or remodel
your whole house.
Your Turn
What do you wish you’d done
differently with your very first website? Let me know in the comments below!
~ Felicity
Marketing coach Felicity Fields helps entrepreneurs build awesome businesses by rocking their online marketing. Grab her weekly short ‘n’ sweet online marketing tips or check out her awesome blog at www.felicityfields.com.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7658159678/
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