Every modern company needs a website. But just how much should you be prepared to spend on your website? And how can you save costs without reducing quality? This post details some of the costs that come with running a business website so that you know how much to budget.
Hosting
To create a website, you need a website address and a server to host it on. This requires buying a domain from a domain registrar and then paying a hosting provider to store the data for your website.
The cost of buying a domain and hosting it can vary. The average business spends about $14.99 per year on a domain and $7.99 per month on hosting. Many people use popular hosting providers like Kinsta, although you may find that you can save money by using a Kinsta alternative. Shared hosting is typically cheaper than private hosting, although private hosting can be faster and more secure.
Design/development
Designing and developing your website is the next stage. You have several options as to how you do this, which can affect the cost and quality.
Most business owners on a tight budget will use a website builder. These are sites that allow you to build a website yourself (it’s all drag-and-drop, so you don’t need any programming knowledge). The likes of WordPress and Joomla are free - you just need to pay for a domain and hosting. Others like Wix and Squarespace cost between $12 and $19 per month, but include hosting fees.
DIY websites can save money, but you’ll be limited as to how you can design them. For a completely unique website, you’re better off building one from scratch, which requires hiring a freelance web designer or using a web design agency. This can cost anywhere between $200 and $10,000 upfront, depending on the level of complexity. Freelance website designers typically offer cheaper rates than web design agencies, but may not be able to produce your site as fast.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a marketing strategy that is used to help boost the rankings of your website on search engines. Investing in SEO is highly recommended as it can help you to increase traffic to your website and help you compete with other websites.
SEO is something you can’t do yourself - it typically requires a team of experts. Sadly, SEO fees aren’t cheap. Monthly costs for small businesses range from $200 to $3000 per month depending on the level of SEO you require. You can hire an SEO agency or digital marketing company to carry out this service for you. Alternatively, if you used a web design agency, they may be able to offer this service, along with maintaining your site. You don’t have to pay for SEO on an ongoing basis - some businesses prefer to pay for one-off SEO campaigns, which may help to provide a temporary boost of traffic.
Maintenance/redesign
Once your website is designed it may need to be regularly maintained to ensure that any bugs are ironed out and that necessary security updates are made. Website maintenance can cost anywhere from $35 to $5000 per month, depending on how complex your website is. A hosting server, website developer or web design agency can carry out this maintenance for you.
At some point in the future, you may want to redesign your website. As with initially designing your website, the cost of redesigning can vary. It is recommended that you redesign your website every five years.
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