Domain Name

This is the web address of your site, i.e www.overtdigitalmedia.com.

It goes without saying that this is an essential cost of your website. Domain names can cost anything from £12 per year to £1000s and beyond with some costing millions of pounds depending on how much in demand it is. For example, internet.com sold for $18m in 2017. 

You can usually get a good domain name for your website for under £20-30per year as long as you aren’t being too fussy. Read my previous blog on what makes a good website for some tips on deciding on a good domain name for your website.

Website Hosting

Hosting is where your website will live in on the internet. Remember your website is effectively a software program and it needs to sit on a computer (server) and have access to the world wide web, i.e. it’s on broadband. 

Hosting can be very cheap, a couple of pounds per month or even less, but, be warned you get what you pay for. If you are paying a few pounds a year you will be sharing our hosting with lots of other websites, maybe even thousands, and that can have an impact on speed and even security. In addition, it might not be the most reliable there is as well.

It is worth paying a little bit more for your hosting to ensure your website has a fast and reliable connection to the internet.

Search engines reward you for having a fast website and will push you up the rankings in the SERPS (search engine results pages) and is an affordable way to improve your SEO.

Security

Website security is a must, it will give your visitors confidence when using your website. Security is provided by an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) which is a small file that encrypts data, such as credit card information, when it is being transferred. 

Security is indicated by a small padlock icon at the beginning of your website url along with the prefix https, as opposed to http. Your SSL certificate will cost approximately £100.

Logo

A logo is an great tool in your marketing arsenal as it allows customers to identify and differentiate you from your competition. There are many templated services that can allow you to build a logo free of charge but if you want something more professional then be prepared to spend around £100 upwards.

Website Content

Content is King! It is what will convert your visitors in to leads for your business. Content includes Copy (text) and images. Make sure that visitors to your website can understand exactly what it is you do within 3 seconds of landing on your website. If not they will likely ‘bounce’ off it immediately. 

Your website is there to make you money and grow your business it can’t do that without good content. Unless you are experienced in writing good content then it is worth paying a professional to do so. 

Good content is more than just making sure you don’t have any spelling mistakes, it is about explaining what you do and why in a way that engages your customers. Think about the difference between a good book that you can’t put down and one you can’t get past the first page.

Many web designers do not have good copy writing skills or charge extra to do so. 

The other important consideration is making sure that you have the correct keywords and phrases in your website so that you rank highly in the SERPs. Good content is crucial for search engine optimisation (SEO).

Good website content be a significant cost but it is definitely a worthwhile investment. As a rule of thumb a copywriter will charge from £30 per hour upwards. The total cost of the content of your website will depend on the number of pages, amount of content on each page and how much research is need.

If you want to write your content yourself it is worthwhile taking some time to identify your perfect customer by completing a customer avatar and then understanding how your customer thinks and feels before they purchase from you and how you want them to feel afterwards. You can do this with a customer avatar matrix.  Read my previous Blog on tips to write good content

Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is about getting your website as high up in search results as possible. It doesn’t matter how great your website is if no one sees it. You do not want to be the best kept secret in town.

Search Engine Optimisation is a process and needs constant attention and work. There is a whole other industry around SEO with companies just providing this as a service it can be expensive and it is often prohibitive for small businesses. 

The average cost of an SEO service starts at £500 per month for a basic service. However, there are some companies that do provide an affordable SEO service specifically aimed at small businesses.



Website Design

You can design and build your website yourself, there are many cheap website building tools available and many people start down this road. Most websites that are started in this manner are never completed. Despite the marketing it is not an easy task to build a website even with a template.

There are many considerations and skillsets need to build even a basic website. To build a good website that is going to attract lots of traffic and convert leads for your business is a significant undertaking and it is best to engage with a professional web designer.

If you are planning to build your own website be sure to read my previous blog with tips on building your own website .

Conclusion

As you can see there are many factors to consider when building a website. A good website designer can help you navigate all of these but be aware that they will pass these costs on to you, normally along with an additional administration cost on top.

About Overt Digital Media

Overt Digital Media is a digital marketing agency based in Christchurch on the edge of The New Forest specialising in building websites for small businesses in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, The New Forest and Southampton. If you need help with a new website then please contact us for a free consultation.