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How Much Does It Cost to Set Up a Website?
Since those asking this question are obviously people who have not yet started a website, I should mention that this article follows my Beginner’s A-Z Guide to Starting/Creating Your Own Websiteclosely. You should consult that guide for more details so that you will have a clearer idea of what is involved in creating a site.
Cost Breakdown for Setting Up a Website
Since prices of the various components change from time to time, I have linked to the pages providing the prices in addition to mentioning a general figure here. You should always follow the links to the vendors’ sites to get the latest up-to-date prices, since the ballpark figure I list here may no longer be accurate by the time you read this. (Prices are stated in US dollars.)
1. Domain Name
A basic “must” in creating a website is buying your own domain name. There is simply no substitute. The prices for domains vary from registrar to registrar, and are (at the time I wrote this article) around $10 or so per year. You can find the exact price of a domain for some popular registrars in the article How to Register Your Own
Because a domain name is a necessity for the health and longevity of your website, this price must always be factored into your budget when planning a website. Almost everything else can have substitutes if you have no money, but my rule-of-thumb is to never start a website without a domain name. Websites that don’t have their own domain name have to use their web host’s subdomain name (eg, your-site-name.example.com where the web host’s name is example.com). Such sites are totally at the mercy of that web host. When the latter closes, your site is gone. If the host suddenly decides to charge you an exhorbitant price for hosting your site, you will have no choice but to comply.
2.Web Hosting
If you want to use a commercial web host, you will need to factor in the cost of web hosting as well. This is a monthly fee that you have to pay to the web host. Some hosts also offer discounts if you pay a year (or more) in advance. Prices vary from web host to web host but are usually (at the time I wrote this article) around $10 per month if your website is new and doesn’t have much traffic or data. You can find the real prices charged by a number of web hosts on the Budget Web Hosting page. As your website gets more traffic, or if you need to put a lot of big files on your website, you may have to upgrade your site to one of the web host’s higher-priced plans.
Those who are not earning an income (for example, students) and are merely creating personal websites or hobby sites that will not earn any money can also consider using a free web host that provides free domain hosting. Such web hosts will allow you to host your domain with them without charging you any hosting fees. In exchange, most of them will also place advertisements on your website to recoup their costs of hosting your site. (There may also be other limits, but as they say, beggars can’t be choosers.)
Note, though, that hosting with a free web host is a risky proposition. The free web hosts I have tested have frequent “down” times, times during which your site is inaccessible. One of them had a server that was down for nearly two months during December last year to January this year, the peak business period for many websites. Needless to say, when your site is down, you will receive no visitors nor make any money. If you run a web-based business or are earning from your website through advertisements, you should not use a free web host.
3. Software
The exact software you need for your site depends on the type of website you want to set up. If you are running a blog, you will probably do fine using only free software, such as the ones found on the Free PHP Blogging Software page. However, if you have sufficient funds, you may want to choose the software not based on its price tag (or lack thereof) but on its features and whether it suits your needs. In such a case, you may want to look at my brief comparison of three such software: WordPress Vs Drupal Vs Expression Engine: Which Blog Software Should I Use?
The above review is also relevant for people who want to set up a content management system, or “CMS”, for your site. CMS software allows you to manage your website directly from a web browser without using a web editor. Free CMS scripts can be found on the Free Content Management Systems (CMS) PHP Scripts page.
Whether you use blogging or CMS software, you will need an FTP client, a program that allows you to transfer files from your own computer to your web host’s computer. There are many free FTP programs available (as well as commercial ones). Naturally, if you use a free FTP program, it won’t cost you a cent.
Designing your Web Pages
Once you have settled your domain name and web host, the next step is to design the web site itself. In this article, I will assume that you will be doing this yourself. If you are hiring a web designer to do it for you, you can probably skip this step, since that person will handle this step.
* Although there are many considerations in web design, as a beginner, your first step is to actually get something out onto the web. The fine-tuning can come after you’ve figured out how to get a basic web page onto your site. One way is to use a WYSIWYG (”What You See Is What You Get”) web editor to do it. Such editors allow you to design your site visually, without having to muck around with the technical details. They work just like a normal wordprocessor.
There are many commercial and free web editors around. For those who don’t mind spending money on a good commercial web editor, one of the most highly-regarded WYSIWYG web editors is Dreamweaver. If you are planning to use this editor, thesitewizard.com has an online tutorial on How to Create a Website with Dreamweaver CS4 (Dreamweaver Tutorial). The tutorial takes you through all the steps of creating a fully-functional website with multiple pages and a feedback form, and provides you with the theoretical and practical foundation that will help you create and maintain your site.
If you prefer to use free software, you can find a complete tutorial on using KompoZer, a free WYSIWYG web editor, in the article How to Design and Publish Your Website with KompoZer. Like my Dreamweaver tutorial, this one also guides you through the process of creating a website that has a home page, an about page, a site map, a links page and a feedback form. It also shows you some of the main features of the KompoZer software so that you can go on improving and updating your website on your own.
There are many other web design software around. If you prefer not to use either of the above, you can find some others listed on thefreecountry.com’s Free HTML Editors and WYSIWYG Web Editors page
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After you have followed my tutorial, and are on the way to designing your website, you might want to read the article Appearance, Usability and Search Engine Visibility in Web Design as well. The article takes a brief look at some of the real world issues that every web designer must deal with.
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An integral part of web design is search engine readiness. Search engine promotion does not start after the web site is made. It starts at the web design stage. The article 6 Tips on How to Create a Search Engine Friendly Website is a must-read. My article on How to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking on Google is also important for the simple reason that Google is the most popular search engine around, at least at the time this article was written.
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There are many other issues regarding the design of web pages. The above will get you started. However, if you have the time after you get something out onto the web, you may want to read my other articles on Web Design and Website Promotion and Search Engine Ranking.
Ways To Improve Sales Through Your Website
Anyone who has been marketing online knows that the lifeblood of a business is the traffic of a site. More visitors equal more sales. However, here are some ways that you can tweak your sites with to improve sales without the need to get more visitors.
The first method is to weave in your personal touch in your sales message. Nobody wants to be sold to by a total stranger, but many people will buy what their close friends recommend to them. If you can convince your audience that you are a personal friend who has their best interest at heart, they will be convinced to buy your products. Remember to speak to an individual in your salesletter, not to your whole audience.
The second method is to publish testimonials and comments from your customers. A good idea would be to publish both good and bad comments; that way prospects will be really convinced that these testimonials are real. When prospects see testimonials on your website, they will have the confidence to buy from you because human beings follow the herd mentality; when others have bought and proven it authentic, they will jump on the bandwagon and buy too.
Use visual representations for the problems and solutions that your product offers. Not everyone will read your text copy from the head to the tail, but most people will pay attention to images on your website.
Offer quality bonuses to accompany the product. When you offer bonuses that complement your product, your prospects will feel it’s a very good deal and it would be stupid to miss it. Be sure to state the monetary value of your bonuses so that people will be even more compelled to grab your good bargain.
Lastly, ask for the sale! Many people entice their prospects with the benefits of their product, sell to them with stories of how it has solved many problems, even offered killer bonuses but forget to ask for the sale. Give a clear instruction on how to buy your product (e.g. “click the button to buy now!”).