Are you interested in starting your own website? Whether you want to express your creativity, share your knowledge or sell services and goods, building a website might not be as hard as you think. And with the array of site-building tools available today, you can get the ball rolling in no time at all.
Before you set up your website, you need to plan your budget, factor in domain registration, choose a hosting provider and do a few other things that we go over in this guide. Interested in learning more? Continue reading to discover what you need to prepare for if you are set on starting your own website in 2022!
Budget
First things first. If you want to launch a website of your own, you need to think about your budget. Building a website can cost next to nothing or a small fortune depending on whether you choose to employ a site builder or an experienced professional.
So, the first thing you need to figure out is what kind of site you want. Are you okay with using a template that’s been used before? If you are, you can save a lot of money by using a website builder. However, if you want something completely unique and custom to your specifications, and you decide to hire a professional, you are likely to pay $5,000 at a minimum.
Note that website maintenance costs money too, and, depending on your needs, you will have to pay monthly just to keep your website going. Let’s say you build a small to medium-sized website. In that case, you can expect to pay anywhere from $5 to $500 per month. Again, you need to carefully calculate what services you need and if your budget can handle them.
Domain registrar
Have you come up with a name for your website already? A domain name is an address for your website that visitors can easily remember. If we didn’t have domain names, visitors would need to type in long and complex numeric IP addresses. For example, instead of typing google.com into your search engine, you would have to type in 172.253.123.100.
Registering a domain name – the business card of your website – is not free. On average, you are likely to pay $10-$15 for your domain name per year. Do not forget about the annual domain name renewal fee. Without a doubt, these prices vary depending on the TLD domain extension (e.g., .com, .org or .net).
To register your domain name, you have to find a domain registrar. You can also use resellers, but a legitimate domain registrar is likely to offer much more than a reseller ever could. Bluehost, Domain.com, GoDaddy and Dreamhost are a couple of popular domain registrars that can offer domain registration services. Whichever one you pick, make sure you analyze pricing plans and compare them carefully.
Hosting provider
A hosting provider is a service provider that, quite literally, hosts websites. You can think of it as file storage for all your website needs. Basically, a web host is responsible for directing people to the right files via an internet browser – connecting visitors to your site.
Some hosting providers offer free domain registration services, but there are reasons why some recommend keeping the two separate. Of course, if your domain registrar and your hosting provider are different, the domain will need to be connected to the hosting provider via an A Record. Also known as an Address Record, it links the domain to the IP address of a computer that hosts that domain’s services.
Hosting, as you can imagine, is not free. If you choose shared hosting (when multiple sites use the same server and share costs), you might have to pay around $10 per month. However, if you opt for dedicated hosting (when the server is all yours), you might have to pay $100-$300 per month. Again, the prices depend on the hosting provider.
Website building platform
Once you register a domain name, choose a hosting plan and decide on the scale of your website, you need to start building it. As you probably know already, you can use professional services, self-code or use a website building platform.
A few popular examples of website building platforms include WordPress, Joomla or Wix. WordPress Pro ($15 per month) offers a free custom domain name for a year, 50 GBs of storage, unlimited plugins and Premium Support, among other benefits. Joomla Personal ($99 per year) offers access to all extensions, full support and updates. Wix Unlimited ($18 per month) proposes a free custom domain for a year, 10 GBs of storage, free visitor analytics for a year and other integrations.
There are many other website-building platforms to choose from, and what you choose should entirely reflect your budget, needs and future plans. While most platforms offer the same basic services, they all have unique offerings, and the pricing plans are different too.
Search engine optimization
Finally, you have to factor in SEO (search engine optimization) and marketing costs. If you are going to invest in building a website, surely, you want your investment to pay off. Unfortunately, the reality is that driving traffic to a new website is not easy, even when you offer something completely new and unique.
If you take the time to learn the ropes of SEO and marketing, you might be able to save a lot of money. Still, you would need SEO tools. Ahrefs, one of the most popular SEO toolsets online, goes for $99 per month. SEMRush, another comparable tool, costs around $120 per month.
Professional SEO services, needless to say, cost even more. So, again, planning your budget is crucial when starting your own website because you need to calculate the return on your investments before you put down the money.
Conclusion
Starting your own website is not a complicated or scary process, but you must plan ahead. Most importantly, you must plan your budget and estimate the return on your investment. How big is your website going to be? What purpose does your website serve? Are you planning to grow?
Once you have a plan in mind, you can start evaluating different services and pricing options to choose the most optimal course of action. Hopefully, the tips in this guide have helped you, and you are ready to dive deep into the world of website building.
