The cost for a new web design may vary from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. You can check out this article "How much does a website cost?" The price that we charge is often based on your needs, such as:
A full site may take days, weeks or even months to build depending on your needs, how prepared you are with your ideas and materials and how much of a work backlog we have.
Here is an older article titled "Do-It-Yourself Web Sites: The Pros And Cons" to give you some things to think about. There are some great web based blogging software and Content Management Systems (CMS) that you can try, but be warned, they can be quite technical. FYI, about 15% of our new customers are people who have simply given up on do-it-yourself software for lack of time or technical ability!
Based solely on experience with our own customers over the last 14 years, about 5% (1 in 20) use web design software to edit, update and publish pages in their website. The software itself is simply too technical (the learning curve is too steep) for most of them and they are too busy running their business to stick with it. All of our customers do periodically "send us information" to update their websites for them though.
A Domain Name is the name you would type into a web browser to reach your website. Domain names are unique. Domain names are leased [1 year minimum] from a Domain Registrar like www.godaddy.com for about $10 per year. This is an annual recurring expense. Domain Name Services
A website must reside [be hosted] on a web server so that people can access your website. A typical web hosting account runs about $100 per year. This is an annual recurring expense. Web Hosting Services
SEO is an acronym for [search engine optimization]. SEO is a general term that refers to a number of techniques used to make it easier for people to find your website by getting you ranked higher in the search engines for specific keyword phrases. Without any SEO, your website may never be found except by people who know your domain name [web address]. SEO Services
People are often surprised when they find out that they are going to have to do some things to prepare for a web design project. Remember, we probably know nothing about your business, so anything that you think will help us understand it will be helpful. Much like constructing a house, you will need to gather up the building materials first. In this case, you need to gather up your photos, text writeups, brochures, logo and so on. Naturally, digital documents [scanned photos or those taken with a digital camera], typed Microsoft Word or PDF documents, brochure files from the print agency, etc.] are preferred as they help us expedite the process [and save you money]. Also see our article on: Getting A Small Business Website Online