Consider All Website Costs
The web host is the company that handles the actual storage of the files for your site. They provide the capability for you to publish your page to the internet and other features that you may need such as support for your site, email accounts, etc. In most cases, the charge for this service is set up as a monthly fee. In other cases, it is charged annually. The fees can range from $1.99 per month (for specials), to $350 per year. Free web site hosts are available, but you usually don’t get all of the features that you do through paid host. Their name may appear in your URL and the search engines do not value it as high as a paid host. As usual, you get what you pay for. If you want to start a business online, then I suggest that you find a good paid host that provides all of the services that you want. Most domain name providers charge on an annual basis, although some provide discounts for multiple year commitments. You do not have to purchase a domain name before you develop your site plan. In fact, it may be best to research and determine which web host you want to use first, since some hosts provide a domain name as part of the cost of their package of services. Costs can run from $7.95 to $30 or more to register your domain name. You may want to register more than one domain name to protect your branding. Registering .com and .net under the same base name might bring more visitors to your site.
The cost for a web designer will be additional should you decide to use one. Prices will vary based on the services you want.
If you want to use off-the-shelf software to build your site, those software costs will be additional to your other web hosts costs. Some hosts have their own building blocks to place content, graphics, links, etc. on the net. In those cases, additional software is not needed. Most will also allow you to use your own purchased software and incorporate it in their system. Should you decide to set up an online store, you would need to have a mechanism by which your customers can make payments to you. In some cases, the web host may charge an additional fee for this service.
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