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When it comes to designing websites for your business, there are several major elements that need to be considered and taken into account. From simply acquiring the right domain name to search engine optimisation, here are five key cost considerations when building a new website.
The First Step to Designing Websites – Domain Name and Hosting
One of the key initial costs of building a new website is getting the right domain name. This is always going to be the very first cost, and while an unused domain name can be cheap, finding and buying the ideal option for your business can sometimes be more expensive and circuitous.
Beyond domain names, there’s the consideration of hosting. Great-quality hosting is vital if you want a sturdy, reliable website. If you’ve got an eCommerce business, your website going down for even a day means lost revenue and problems, and quality hosting helps to avoid this situation. This is a vital part of planning and designing websites. Options include shared hosting, cloud hosting, VPS hosting, and colocation hosting.
- Shared hosting is the cheapest and generally least reliable option.
- Cloud hosting is a great balance of performance, reliability, and flexibility. It utilises the cloud, a network of computers, dedicating resources to your website.
- VPS hosting is similar to cloud hosting, although cloud hosting is more popular nowadays.
- Colocation hosting is generally reserved for large businesses, as it necessitates owning your own hardware.
Website Functionality
Another key consideration when designing websites is the functionality of the website. Do you need eCommerce shopping facilities? Maybe you want a member’s login, verification, or sign-in option? Do you want social media integration? A blogging platform? These factors make a huge difference when it comes to building the perfect website for your business, as well as when determining the budget for your new site.
Designing Websites with Great Branding
Design and branding are essential components of building a spectacular website. If you don’t want to be another business website in the crowd, you need branding that represents your business, as well as a website design that looks as great as it functions. This branding needs to spread beyond your website too, clearly demarcating your social media presence, physical business materials and other areas.
Prioritising branding and design from the get-go will help craft a website that cultivates real brand engagement, loyalty, and authority. People judge websites within the first few seconds of clicking on them, which means that design has a huge bearing on bounce rate, conversions and a million other factors.
Website Maintenance and SEO
Lastly, there’s maintenance and SEO. Maintenance means elements like updating plugins, refreshing outdated copy, and keeping security complete and up to date. Without maintenance, websites can become fragile, slow, prone to going down, and open to cyberattacks (which frequently target smaller businesses).
SEO is also hugely important. If you’ve just spent a lot on making the perfect website for your business, it needs to thrive. That’s why making sure it’s completely optimised for search engine rankings and reaching the right audiences is key. No one needs a website that’s on page fifteen of a Google results page.
