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5 Commonly Overlooked Website Costs

Posted at Jun 25, 2019 3:19:00 PM by THAT Agency | Share

Website costs are generally straightforward. If you have a website design company or marketing company creating your website, costs should be rolled into the plans they build for you. There may be adjustments if a new plugin is needed, but all new costs should require your approval first. From a web hosting cost to plugin costs, it's important for you to ensure nothing gets overlooked. Be sure to ask whoever you're working with whether these costs have been factored in.

Website Costs | Web Hosting Cost | THAT Agency of West Palm Beach, Florida 

1. Web Hosting Cost

This gets overlooked surprisingly often, especially by smaller organizations. Website hosting won't be provided by your website design company. Instead, that company will have relationships with various web hosting vendors.

It's actually important to have a web host who's different from your website designer. You may have a need to change hosts down the road without alienating your designer. Alternately, you may rely on a host longer than you do a designer.

There are different types of web hosting that will suit different speeds and bandwidth needs. Web hosting usually starts at $35 a month for a shared hosting account, but look to spend slightly more so that you aren't limited to the bare minimum.

2. SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is needed if you're going to be conducting eCommerce on your website. An SSL certificate means that data being sent between your site and the web host is encrypted. This is a must to keep transactions secure.

Beyond this, search engines led by Google are adopting a preferential stance toward https-enabled websites that have SSL certificates. This is part of an effort to ensure better security. After all, it doesn't look good for search engines if they've led users to sites where their transactions aren't secure.

An SSL certificate starts at $100 a year.

3. Domain Names

Securing a domain name is important. Many companies buy up likely domain names in the hope that they can sell them later at an inflated price point. Once you're certain of the domain name you want, purchase it. Don't wait until the last second; it's very likely it will have been swiped out from under you.

Domain names are important when it comes to SEO. If a domain name includes an SEO keyword, search engines will still prioritize it. Domain names start at $15 a year, but if someone else has snapped the one you want up, it becomes whatever price they put on it. If this stretches too far outside your website costs, you may also want to have a backup domain name.

4. Themes

Let's say your website is based around a custom WordPress design. There are a number of free themes available, but these risk making your website look like many others. Beyond this, they don't always get the same level of polish that paid themes receive.

Paid themes will usually run you between $60-70. Ensure that the theme is in your name. This way, if you move to another developer, they'll still have the access needed for updates.

5. Plugins

Many of the plugins you use will be free. Others will be plugins your developer has a license for. These may not cover all your plugin needs. Plugins that interact with other businesses, such as receiving shipping quotes, usually have a cost. Custom plugins will also have a price.

These prices are usually pretty reasonable and will scale to the complexity of the plugin itself, or the size of the user base the plugin has. Like themes, make sure the plugins you use are in your name so that you don't have trouble using them down the road.

Plugins start from $20 each.

The good news: when you offer a great, informative user experience, these website costs pay for themselves.

Website Cost Calculator | Web Design Pricing | FREE Estimate | THAT Agency of West Palm Beach, Florida

Tags: Web Development, Web Design

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