Your Website Strategy

3. How Much Will It Cost?

Costs are determined by the level of sophistication you build into your website.

3.1 For a comparatively small, simple site, the costs will be modest.

• Registering your domain name, ie www.yourcompany.com, for two years could cost from £6.
• A web-hosting plan will make your site accessible on the internet. Hosting starts from £3 a month.
• You can create a basic site with a website builder. These use templates and hide the website code. Some hosting companies will sell a site builder with hosting and a domain name at a discount.
• If your business lacks the necessary in-house technical knowledge, it may be wise to hire a designer.

3.2 Costs will be higher for a more complex site, but the impact will be greater.

• Consider employing a website manager and a web designer, especially if you will make frequent changes to your pages.
• You will probably need a developer to add extra features to your site - such as search tools, or a 'shopping-cart' system for online sales.
• If you open an e-commerce site (see 4.1), additional costs may include commission on sales to a shopping software supplier and bank fees for processing credit cards.