Home: Message List - Web Site Start Up Costs??

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

Symphony — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:50:20 GMT

When I started my business, I was on a very controlled budget as I'm sure a lot of startups are. I didn't know one thing about how to do a website. I purchased my domain name through Yahoo, and also built my website myself through Yahoo. They have an excellent step-by-step process you follow that is so easy. If I can do it, anyone can. The price for my website is approximately $13 a month and the building of the website was free.

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

Maxlingo — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:30:52 GMT

Crushbranding, I think you need to work on your website. It takes forever to load.

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

xenopod — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:43:41 GMT

Another CMS platform I would encourage you to consider is Drupal: http://www.drupal.org

It provides a wide array of modules to tie it into other systems (like shopping carts and message boards) there is also a large network of developer's that you can utilize to either help you setup the site (not free) or to simply answer questions (for free via mailing lists and forums) you have. It is also easier to manage for many people compared to the Joomla! platform.

One thing I did not see others mention (and I apologize if I just missed it when reading the previous posts) is if you plan on selling things or simply want/need high level security for your website then you will need to purchase an SSL certificate. GoDaddy.com also sells these for varying prices depending on the specific cert your site needs (which you should plan out on how many parts of your site need the security before making the actual purchase).

If you need any more assistance (since you've listed this question as already answered) I hope you feel free to posting another question on the forums or if you wish to privately discuss more details go to: http://www.xenopodinc.com and click on the contact link. Good luck!

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

CrushBranding — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:31:43 GMT

The expense of acquiring your URL and paying for a hosting account is quite minimal. I would recommend someone like godaddy.com for that.

The cost to design the site depends on a few major things:

1. The size of the site
2. The complexity of the site (any programming involved?)
3. Do you have a logo/identity already or will that need to be developed as well.

A few recomendations for you as well...get a designer that understand SEO and is willing to provide you with design mock-ups so you know what you will be paying for.

Costs will vary widely -for a generic, template based site you will probably spend in the range of $600-$2,000. Custom work with a lot of FLASH integration will most likely run $4,000+. Prices vary widely in this industry so check your web designers references and get several quotes.

A good designer that understands SEO will be well worth the $4,000...your improved web rankings will likely more that make up for the cost differential. Also, DIY site builder are generally a bad idea...your clients will know that you didn't invest much into the site and subconciously will not likely view you as a credible business.

All the best,

Kevin Stuteville
Crush Branding & Design
http://www.crushbranding.com

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

GroupSwim — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:21:01 GMT

This is a great list. Another option for a online forum that is very compelling, cheap, and hosted so you don't need to do anything other than configure it and respond to your community is GroupSwim (full disclosure - I work there). The main issue with "free" solutions are they are never free. While the software itself may be opensource and free, the costs of installing it, maintaining it, maintaining the hardware, etc. can add up. A really strong hosted solution if community is something that is key to whatever business you are starting is a great option that you should investigate.

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

Maxlingo — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:57:08 GMT

A lot of advise will confuse you. Different people will tell you different things. Why dont you schedule a one hour free consulting meeting with me. I will tell you everything you need to know about websites and will give you direct quotes from $500 to any amount depending on your needs. We can do phone meeting as well if you are outside protland. Please call me at 971-322-3305 and I will be glad to help you with this free of charge. Otherwise you are going to spend so many hours reading these postings and loosing valuable time that you would have used to do other important things.

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

stukie — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:51:28 GMT

Check out http://www.360websolutions.net

Don't opt into the site builder, I'm not a fan of it, so I offer the same service for about the same price, besides which you pay for additional pages and the templates are no where near as nice as mine.

With the regular hosting plans, and whatever bells and whistles you want, the overall cost through this site should be one of lowest you'll find.

Send me an email with your site's "vision" and I will reply with what I suspect the best set up for you would be - cost and time - and also what maintenance (sustainability - yearly cost after the initial) would run you.

It's my site, part of my small-business resource offerings to community businesses where I live and work, but you are welcome to use it too. Let me know if I can help. I've got over 100 sites hosted with this company, all small to mid-sized businesses and Professionals. Most of my sites are on there too. I've been with the company since they were about a year old, know them well, and have total faith in them.

Stukie
bluerhino@bresnan.net

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

websignia.net — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:25:38 GMT

Great feedback Brian, I totally agree.

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

WEBillions — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 03:28:40 GMT

To give you an idea of what things cost, let me give you a run down of my expenses. I am starting a large scale social networking website, designed to get people thinking about their life goals. Forums is just the start of it.

I've incurred about $150 on paperwork, like business license fees. I had to see a laywer about writing up a nondisclosure agreement for my website which cost $825, which is a steal from what I'm told. I paid GoDaddy I about $300 for 10 years at webillions.com, .net, .org, and .us. I also get hosting from DreamHost for about $5 a month, which has really worked out for me. If you happen to be interested in Dreamhost, I can get you a $50 discount if you use my code WEBILLIONS. We've bought a few cheap books for research for programming and advertising. Advertising is the main cost I'm looking at now, but there are a lot of things you can do for cheap or free. I hope this gave you a good idea.

Re: Web Site Start Up Costs??

dezjad — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:05:01 GMT

The biggest cost involved in website start up will probably advertising and marketing your site. The theory is oposite of the saying "you build it they will come". That is not the case here, you build the website and you will have get people to come to it, promoting a website can be quite expensive. It will also depend on what you are doing with your site.