Looking to create a website for your business or blog? Hence, the question: how much does website cost? In this article, we will learn how much does it cost to get a website, with domain and hosting.
Cost of Website Depends on Type of Website
If you need a website, you must decide what is the objective of the website and what all features do you need. If you need some high-tech website developed with custom features and functions, you will have to get the website created by a professional web developer.
For most people, a personal blog or business website is the general requirement in terms of a website. We will focus on the cost of website for personal needs and that for basic business websites.
Website Cost: Two Main Components
For any website or blog, there are two main components.
- Website domain or the url identity such as speckygeek.com – $10 onwards
- Web hosting space to store and deliver your website to the world – free onwards
- Total website cost: $10-100 for 1 year
Unless you need anything not covered by free website tools such as WordPress, you don’t need to hire any web developer. So, the only cost of website is the domain and website hosting.
For any small business website, the cost will be $10-100 annually. This also applies to large business websites and personal blogs.
Cost of Domain
When you are starting a website, you need to register a domain name, or the URL that the rest of the world uses to reach your website. It is the identity of your website. Without a domain name URL, your website can only be accessed via a cumbersome IP address of the web hosting computer that serves your website to the world.
A domain name is a recurring cost, which is paid annually to the domain registrar such as Godaddy. The domain registrar maintains your domain name and keeps it linked with the web hosting server details. This allows your website to be accessible by typing the domain name in the Internet browser.
Domain name registration cost varies for different domain TLDs, or types. General .com domains cost around $15 per year.
Cost of website hosting
Once you have a domain name, you need to point it to your website hosting server, or the computer which stores and handles your website.
There are many free web hosting services such as Blogger.com (primarily for personal blog websites) and many more. You can use these hosting services by simply pointing your domain to their servers following their instructions. Learn how to create website using free Blogger.com hosting.
More popular option is to buy website hosting space from web hosting companies, and create your website there. It allows for better control and management as you have full control of your website files and content.
Generally, shared web hosting costs $5-25 per month.
WordPress for Personal & Business Websites
If you can afford to buy web hosting space, go for share web hosting on Linux operating system. This will allow you to use the world’s most popular content management system used for easily creating and managing website content.
WordPress is the platform used by a vast number of websites on the Internet, many of which are hugely popular news and business websites.
WordPress system is absolutely FREE. You can head over to WordPress.org and download the WordPress system. It’s also easy to install and use. Most good web hosting providers have automated tools to help you install WordPress on your website. It’s just a few clicks, and your website is ready. Simply customize the website to your requirements and get started.
Now you know it doesn’t really cost much to get your website. Depending on your requirement, you can start with just domain and free website on Blogger.com, or get your own hosting and install WordPress for more control and sophisticated website.
You can learn how to create your website using WordPress and own hosting in this easy, and comprehensive tutorial. Get your website ready in the next 30 minutes.