How Can We Estimate The Cost Of Developing A Website?
Due to technological advancements and ease of web development, every business wants to show its cyberspace presence. The factors to estimate the cost of developing a website remain an important question that needs to be addressed. An appealing, user-friendly website not only helps to drive sales but also customer retention rate increases. The more your customer stays on your website, the more bucks you might able to generate.
Latest technologies with few impressive features make it easier to create a website free of cost, but some drawbacks are inherent to using those platforms. Some features are free to use within these platforms, but one has to pay for premium tools to enjoy the full benefits. If you want to get features loaded website, you must know the tools you might want to purchase before you move towards estimating the cost of creating a website.
Source: Unsplash
But, how can we estimate the cost to build a website? To answer this question, we should understand the elements that come into play and create a website. Website making cost comprised of below mentioned significant factors.
Domain Name: E.g., Wondershare.com
Website Builder: E.g., WordPress, Shopify (For e-commerce), Weebly, Wix
Website Design Prototype Tool: E.g., Mockitt, Figma
Website Hosting: E.g., Hostinger, Blue Host, Hostgator, (With Wix as a Website Builder, you are not required to pay for Separate hosting)
Source: WordPress
There are undoubtedly other expenses you have to address before calculating the cost of setting up a website. And, those expenses which can be incurred are discussed below.
- SSL Certificate: Without this, your website can be functional, but developers and Digital Marketers recommend including an SSL certificate to build customer trust and improve SEO ranking.
- Premium Plugins and Templates/Themes: You may use free themes and plugins as well. But Paid themes and Plugins have extensive functionalities and have good customer support.
- Website Content: You might need to hire a professional copy and content writer to include some persuasive text within your website.
- SEO and Marketing: You certainly are building your business website so that whenever any user searches for any product or service you are offering, your name should appear within the search result's top pages. And to achieve that, Search Engine Optimization should be your priority after you complete your website.
We have discussed all those significant website development elements, and now we shall look into the detailed analysis.
The truth is that cost of creating a website is entirely dependent upon personal goals and budgets. For instance, not everyone would want to pay extra for an SSL certificate, so their website functions without it. Multitudes of business owners who have budget constraints won't buy premium themes or plugins and use free resources. Some might want to write their website content themselves and do not want to hire a professional writer. Similarly, SEO can be postponed if the budget is getting tighter.
Note: You can always use Wix to create a website free of cost with limited resources. With Wix, blogger, and Wordpress.com (Not wordpress.org), you can still make your free blog with a subdomain.
Source: WordPress
We shall discuss some critical tools in detail which one should have to purchase if they are serious about building their brand identity.
Domain Name
In wondershare.com, wondershare is the domain name; similarly, in BBC.com, BBC is registered as a domain name. It is the address which your customer would type into their browser to access your website.
You can use that domain name for as long as you keep paying for it. You can always get rid of that domain name if you change your business type or lose your interest in keeping that name.
Source: Wix
Website Builder
This tool makes it easier to build a website if you are an amateur website developer and designer. You are not required to be tech-savvy to use that website builder. For instance, you can go with the self-hosted word press. More than 30% of website owners use WordPress to create their website. You need to pay for the domain name and hosting to install WordPress.
Source: WordPress
Wix is also a website builder that enables you to create a website free of cost, and you are not required to purchase separate hosting like you need to buy for self-hosted WordPress (wordpress.org). But Wix doesn't offer fully functional website features, and to achieve that, you have to pay for the premium resources.
Source: Wix
Shopify is a paid tool to build an e-commerce store, and instead of that, you can use WooCommerce (WordPress plugin) to create your store website. WooCommerce is freemium as we all as a premium plugin.
Website Design Prototype Tool
You may want to design your website prototype before creating it in website builders. Wondershare Mockitt is an online prototype and collaboration tool that enables you to create a design prototype and collaborate with all of your stakeholders to have their input. There are other tools available in the market, but Mockitt has an added advantage over other prototype tools as one of the most user-friendly and uncluttered prototype tools.
Website Hosting
You need a platform that can store your website content, and to serve the purpose, website hosting is a must. When a visitor types your website address, they are directed to that hosting server where your files are stored. There are a couple of hosting plans, but as a beginner, we would recommend you to go with shared hosting as it is affordable compared to others. When you become a big brand, you can always change your hosting plans and even your hosting service provider as per your requirements.
Source: Godaddy
Cost Of Setting Up A Website
We have discussed all of the significant factors essential to consider while estimating the cost of developing a website. The actual cost of these tools varies from region to region because of the dollar price. Next time, if someone asks you how you estimate the cost to build a website, you should consider all of the factors mentioned above and calculate the price accordingly.
