What Does an Average Website Cost

When estimating the cost of producing an average website for initial publication on the Internet there are 3 principal cost considerations to take into account. These are as follows:

• Buying a domain name
• Web Hosting
• Website design and development

Buying A Domain Name

The first thing to understand is that you never actually buy a domain name outright, it is leased on a year in year out basis and as a result will need to be renewed periodically as the lease period expires. Having said that the costs are really quite affordable. For example a standard .co.uk domain name can cost as little as £3 pounds a year and a standard .com domain name will cost around £10 a year. There is also a minimum period that you have to register the domain name for, but typically it will be for no more than 2 years and is more likely to be only 1 year.

Hosting A Website

Websites need to be hosted on a server that is connected to the Internet permanently and there are many companies that offer a web hosting service. Moulin Website Design offers a reseller hosting package which makes web hosting both more affordable and available over shorter minimum periods so that the costs for small businesses just starting out on the Internet can be kept to a moderate level. For example a starter pack (more than adequate for virtually all small businesses) begins at £3 a month for a minimum period of 12 months, so the cost per year for hosting is only £36.

Website Design Costs

There are a few different approaches to creating a website, the traditional route is to ask a web designer to produce a bespoke design to meet your requirements in terms of functionality, style and appearance. This approach is likely to be the most expensive option but can still be very affordable depending on the specification required. The cost will be dependent on a number of variables that dictate the design’s complexity:

• How many pages are required
• How much content you can provide i.e. text and graphics (photos)
• Whether animation and/or video is required
• Whether the site is required to be an eCommerce site i.e. shopping carts for online purchases is required
• If a content management system is necessary

Once a specification detailing the requirements is established then a quote can be prepared to define the costs and time scale involved. But as a guide a simple website can usually be produced for anything from a £100 to £300 provided the required text and photographs are supplied.

To achieve the lower price it may be necessary to adopt an existing template which is populated with the text and graphics supplied and then modified to change the colours and font to suit individual tastes. Taking this approach generally means that the designer has far less work to do and can therefore charge less.

Finally with the development and greater sophistication of the blogging platforms now available, it is also very possible to utilise themes from programs such as WordPress to create a website, that for all intents and purposes, looks just like a bespoke website design. This is relatively quick and easy to set up and with a few modifications can soon be given a unique appearance. The added benefit of this is that they have a CMS (content management system) built in, making updates and modifications much simpler for the site owner and avoiding the need to pay the designer for any ongoing changes and updates.

So if you interested in making an investment in the future of your business, by giving it a 21st century marketing boost, then please get in touch via the Contact Us page. It doesn’t really matter where you are in the world, this is exactly the type of business that can be done over the Internet or on the telephone, all it takes is a short conversation or email to get started.