Website Costs: The "Price" You Have to Pay to Make Your Own Website!

Website costs should more appropriately be called website investments. Just like any other business, "going online" too demands some investments. Costs are something that is forcefully borne while investments are made on avenues that promise some returns.

No one ever makes her own website just to get done away with it because you-have-to-do-it attitude and so bear unwanted costs. Every one who has an online presence has done it with a view to get some reward or return from it and that reward could either be tangible or non-tangible. And hence she has rightfully invested in a website. To know what these rewards are read about the various rewards of owning a website.

What should be an average website cost? What is the minimum website estimate? How much will my website cost?

These are some of the questions that keep obstructing people from making their own websites.

Quite often people get themselves confused. Whenever they come up with a solid idea for a website they start looking at the top ten websites like Google, Yahoo or Microsoft, and get the false feeling of being overawed. They think that making their own website could cost a fortune and they drop the idea with jitters.

They fail to understand that all the top websites have had a humble beginning and it’s because of the novelty of their website theme or the quality of their service that has ranked them much above anyone else. It was only after they showed signs of growth that they leveraged themselves with heavy investments. They transformed themselves from costing a fortune to managing a fortune.

So website costs should not be a stumbling block. Don’t let that million dollar idea go waste. You never know a very humble, crude, immature, and a simple website of today could be a Google or Yahoo of tomorrow.

There is a whole paradigm shift.

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What Are The Various Website Costs?

• 1 - Recurring Costs
• 2 - Non-recurring Costs

1. Recurring Website Costs:

These are the ones that occur periodically like monthly or most likely annually. These are the most essential costs involved and perhaps the only ones necessary for any website to stay put.

These are:

• 1. Domain Name Registration.
  

  This is the charge you have to pay to register a domain name for your website.

  

  The average website domain cost can be anywhere between $10 and $30, annually. There are usually options attached to register it for a block of larger period like 2 years, 5 years or 10years, and get some overall discount. As long as you keep renewing it before getting lapsed you remain the owner of that domain name.

  The best and the World's Largest Registrar - GoDaddy.com charges nearly $10 for a dot.com domain registration.

  Don't get fooled by going for the costlier ones.

• 2. Web Hosting.
  This is the charge you pay to for booking a server space that launches your website. Normally it is charged annually but many web hosts have also included monthly plans to suit everyone’s requirements.

  Largely, website hosting costs differ a lot from one host to another. Basically this website cost is dependant on your personal needs of space and band width requirements. Most of them charge, on an average $10 - $30 on monthly basis or $150 - $300 annually. You can even find some hosts that might cost as low as anything less than $100 on an annual basis. But look deeper into what all you get and what all is missing.

  Quite often, though not always, your website domain registration cost might be included in the web hosting charges and you don’t have to bear that one separately.

•  Site Build It - SBI!
  This website is hosted by Site Build It - SBI! which charges $29 monthly or $299 annually.

  You get more than just a "site builder." You don't need to worry about looking for separate hosting, domain registration, paying for a separate keyword research tool, handling site submissions, integrating autoresponders, etc., etc. See the full list of features here.

•  GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans!

  Their Economy Plan comes for $4.99 monthly and the Unlimited Plan for $14.99 monthly. Subscribe for larger time blocks and you can get 5 to 15% discounts.

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2. Non-Recurring Website Costs:

These are the ones that you pay each time you require some particular service. What your requirement could be depends entirely on your website theme and your knowledge about that theme in addition to your computer expertise. Based on these you might require one or more or none of the following.

To name a few you could possibly require to:

• 1. Hire a web designer or buy a web template.
  This is a website cost that has the most ambiguity. The complexity of your website, your requirements and above all the size of your budget will eventually decide how much it is going to cost you. An "average" website could make a professional web designer richer by $250 to $1000. They charge you on hourly basis.

  If you can handle your own HTML, and I strongly recommend you to get hold of it sooner than later, you can buy a website template for a cost of about $25 to $50.

  That's the difference between deciding to learn and not deciding to learn. To know more about what to learn read about Computer Experience.

• 2. Buy graphics or photos to add to your website.
  You would definitely require to buy royalty free graphics or photos to add richness to the look and feel of your website.

  Excellent stock photos are available at as low as $1 per photo at Dreamstime and IStockPhoto.

• 3. Outsource for articles for your website content.
  It's not always because of lack of your writing skills or confidence that you would look to outsource website content. Your search for some technical content or for something you lack knowledge about can lead to get outside help. Perfectly all right. Need to rent a coding expert? Choose the perfect coder from over 10,000 at Rent A Coder. Cost depends upon the nature of your project and the bids received.
• 4. Use Mail Auto-Responders.
  AWeber is the best mail auto-responder and e-mail management services provider. Website costs can vary from $19 monthly to $194 annually for the starter plans.
• 5. Set up a shopping cart.
  A basic Shopping Cart comes free with your PayPal account and suffices many webmasters' needs. Customized Shopping cart costs about $35 to $99 monthly and upwards.
• 6. Create a Merchant account to process credit cards.
  PayPal offers the best service for which they don't have any setting up or monthly rental costs. They charge transaction fees which is 3.4% on low volumes and 2.4% on higher turnovers per month.
• 7. Submit your website to directories.
  Directory submission is a way to increase your website traffic. The necessity for this is your own judgement. Good directory service providers like Yahoo can cost your website $299 annually while the second rung directories can come much cheaper. Only you know can decide for yourslf which one if at all!
• 8. Enroll to learn online.
  Enroll for online tutorials to sharpen your knowledge. Lynda.com Tutorials enrollment costs $25 monthly to $250 annually for their various plans. They have some of the best online tutorials.
• 9. Buy software.
  You might require to purchase Dreamweaver for $399, and Photoshop for $199 for their Student Edition, to make your own website.

Note: You must have noticed that some of the above website costs have a recurring periodicity but still they appear in the Non-recurring Website Costs section. That is because they occur only for the duration you want them to repeat. Stopping those website costs doesn't make your website go off-line.

The website costs incurred depend entirely on your personal needs and no two websites have the same set of requirements. It is not at all extravagant to spend your valuable money on these items since they add value to the content of your web pages.

Just like any other business there can be unforeseen website costs that might demand your attention. Or there might be other website costs than that mentioned above which could be more specific to the need of your website.

But then that's the "price" you have to pay to go online!

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SBI! - All the Tools, All in One Place, All for ONE Low Price.

SBI! makes online business success do-able. Anyone can succeed with an all-in-one process, tools, and guidance.

You get more than just a "site builder." You don't need to worry about looking for separate hosting, paying for a separate keyword research tool, handling site submissions, integrating autoresponders, etc., etc. See the full list of features here -- pick the most relevant ones for you and your reader.

Since SBI! is compatible with popular HTML editors (ex., Dreamweaver) and image tools (ex., Photoshop, Flash, etc.), you can easily use advanced page-building techniques, if you like. This allows for maximum creative flexibility for all skill levels.

List-building and e-mail marketing are included (usually these expensive features are bought separately). Sign up visitors to your e-zine subscription list and then mail an issue to them. This repeat exposure builds a stronger bond with your visitors and allows for direct promotions to them. Deeper PREselling = More Monetization.

SBI! has a no-risk, 30-day money back guarantee. It's a risk-free decision that you can make with confidence and peace of mind.

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