As simple as it may be to get or build a website. This is a complicated process but that is the point of this website to help you sort through the options and choices. Because everybody got choices š
There’s many places to buy your domain name, there’s many places to get a hosting account to host your domain names. There’s plenty of software to build your website such as (WordPress, Shopify, Weebly, Squarespace) and the list goes on.
Since this is your business let’s talk numbers. If you want your process of building a website to be simple(saves time) you’re going to pay for it. If you want your process to take more time(saves money) because you’re in no rush and you want it done right then choose this option. Let’s put this in a practical scenario.
Shopify, as we write this blog post on 7-10-2018 THE BASIC MONTHLY PLAN is $29 per month. What are you getting for this $29/mo?
Here’s what you’re getting:
- An SSL certificate
- Domain name
- Hosting
- Tech Support
They do have more things listed but this is in a nutshell what you’re buying when it comes to the necessities. What’s an SSL? Here’s a definition from Globalsign.com
“SSLĀ Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser.”
What this means is, this will ensure that no ones important information like credit card information gets’s stolen while people are using or buying things on your website. We don’t want no problems! So get an SSL if you plan on selling things online!
Next we have the domain name. These are cheap. Normally we’ve seen domains run in between $10 to $15. This fee is paid on an annual basis. There’s no such things as paying a one time fee for a domain.Ā
Next is hosting, this is where your files are stored so the world can see them. Like Digitally Black, our files are stored on a computer somewhere, and then you visit our website that computer serves up all the images, video, code etc for your viewing pleasure. So, in essence, everyone needs hosting. The price of hosting ranges for mainly two reasons. What the company is charging and/or the size of your website needs a certain type of hosting. If you’re a small business most basic hosting packages or “shared hosting” packages will suffice.
Technical support, let’s say you did everything right and your website is looking great but there’s a hiccup in the process that neither you nor your website builder can do. That’s where the technical/customer support comes in. If the company doesn’t pick up the phone, has you on hold for 30 minutes to an hour, no one responds in the live chat box and so on and so forth. This is bad. You should never have to put up with that.
But before we run away on that topic let’s get back to the numbers. We’ve seen the price of SSL certificates range from less than $10 per year to over $160 per year. Again, if you’re a small business most likely the one under $10 will suffice. Hosting plans, we’ve seen range from $5 per month to as much $150 or more per month. If you’re a small business, you should be paying roughly $50 per year in hosting.
Let’s recap:
$10 per year for SSL
$12 per year for domain name
$50 per year forĀ hosting
The total per year for this isĀ $72. Not bad to say this is all that’s needed to start building your website without professional help and market your business.Ā
On the other hand with Shopify, we said earlier that the BASIC PACKAGE IS $29 per month. $29 times 12 months equals $348 per year. Nah Fam.
$348 per year or the roughly $72 a year. We’ll take the latter. Even if you’re paying $100 a year that still beats Shopify’s price by a long shot. But we will say, the process of going to a place to buy your domain, buy your hosting, connect your domain to your hosting, install the SSL onto your domain may not be an easy process for those who are not tech savvy or who have never done this before. But if you’re a DIY type of person you can easily find the steps on how to do this on YouTube. In the long run, we suggest going the longer route for the sake of keeping costs low in the long run. And even if you did stick with Shopify you may find Shopify’s website building software a little confusing and you may need to hire in some professional help. Either way, we’ve shown you a new way to go about this process.
Not to be a pain but notice that we didn’t cover anything about designing your website? This was simply the technical stuff before you can even design anything. Thus why we mentioned at the start of this blog post that building a website can be complicated. No worries! We’ll write another blog post to cover the designing part in detail. As always we hope you find this information useful and definitely compare what we said to others so that way you’re more informed on this topic for our main objective is to inform you the business owner so that way you can make a more comprehensive decision before you go into business with any tech company.
