One of the most important aspects of taking your business online is the cost involved. And while this depends largely on your own goals, it is essential to have an idea of how to budget for your new eCommerce website.
There are several aspects to consider when determining the full cost of website ownership. From securing a unique domain to maintaining your live website, there are many parts necessary to ensure a successful website online. These should be included in your eCommerce strategy and budget to conclude the real cost.
No website can be hosted without a unique domain. A domain is your website’s address online. To secure a domain, you have to buy one from a seller or registrar. Some web design companies and hosting providers include domains with their packages. This is a convenient option for smaller businesses looking for an easy way to manage their websites and to save extra costs.
On average, registering a domain can cost between $20 and $200 a year. However, the cost depends largely on which registrar you use, and what type of domain you want to register. Addresses with popular keywords or top-level domains (TLDs), such as .com or .org, can be much more expensive.
Websites cannot exist online without reliable web hosting. Web hosting is where your website’s content and files are stored. Hosting is often rented out by companies with servers to ensure your website is always available online.
The type of hosting you choose depends on the type and size of the website you want. These include:
Shared hosting is often used by smaller, basic websites, while VPS and dedicated hosting are ideal for larger and more complex sites. The average monthly costs of these web hosting solutions are:
Deciding how to host your website will determine the type of licensing costs involved. Most content management systems (CMSs) and eCommerce platforms, such as BigCommerce, Shopify and Magento Commerce, have specific software licenses that need to be bought to use the platform fully. Other platforms may require you to buy certain plugins or extensions to improve your website’s functionality and to create more advanced user experiences.
Licensing, plugin and extension costs vary largely, and it can be difficult to determine exactly how much you will spend on these tools. However, when working with a web development agency, your dedicated team can give you a good idea of what you need to meet your business’ specific goals and needs.
There are several ways to develop your new site: You can either do it yourself, hire a freelancer, which we do not recommend, or you can invest in an eCommerce website development company that can do it for you.
Developing your own site is a much more affordable option in the short term, but it can lead to many extra costs in the future if you have to make frequent changes or have to hire expert assistance when things go wrong. Therefore, many professionals advise that businesses make use of expert website developers that have the skills and knowledge needed to design a website that functions correctly and offers a smooth user experience.
Don’t forget that website development is a much more involved process than just writing software code. Typically, it involves business discovery, creative design, project planning, quality assurance and a website launch. This process tends to get too time-consuming for a single person, whether it’s yourself or a freelancer. This is where the expertise of your eCommerce agency becomes really important.
Your website is an investment. Therefore, you have to keep it safe and secure. To do this, you need to invest in robust security solutions. These can include:
Choosing an SSL certificate will depend on the size of your website. Some basic SSLs can be secured for a small, basic fee, while SSLs for multiple domains are much more expensive and are typically paid for annually.
Other best industry practices include automated database backup, security scanning and keeping your code under version control, so you can track even the slightest changes.
Once your website is secure and launched on the world wide web, you need to attract traffic. This can be done through digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
There are many types of digital marketing. Figuring out which method of marketing is best for your site often requires strategic planning and testing. Some methods include:
While some of these can be implemented for little to no cost, most efforts are only effective when capital is invested.
It can become quite expensive to test out the different types of digital marketing and, therefore, it is advisable to work with an eCommerce consultancy. They have the knowledge and experience to understand your online business’ needs and how it wants to gain targeted traffic.
Maintaining a website involves updating it frequently with fresh content, fixing bugs and issues and updating software, plugins and extensions. This can get quite technical and, consequently, expensive.
To ensure your website always runs smoothly and stays online, it is advisable to work with a dedicated web development team that have the needed skills to maintain your site. Website maintenance may be included in your package if you work with professional developers, however, you can also get the help you need for maintaining an existing website from a development agency.
Website owners often underestimate the cost of owning a website. There are many costs involved that can easily be overlooked. These include investing in hosting, regularly updating your site, securing it and building traffic. Before taking your businesses online, it is crucial to consider all these costs to understand exactly what you need to include in your budget.