Okay, a question to all you computer gurus!

[jillybean35]

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Jill,

You can usually get a good host for around $10/month or less.

Yahoo! offers web hosting for under $10/mo (), and I noticed their set up fee is waived right now. You can usually get domain deals through them as well.

You'll see their starter plan gives you 2GB (2 gigs) of space - which is more than enough for almost any site.

[webturtle]

Lynn is right - the average is around $10/mos. The host I use for most of my clients, , is currently charging $7.95/mos for month to month service. I usually promote the one year package which includes three free months and free set up - making it $95/yr (which is really 15 months the first time around). Then I tack on 1-3 hours of admin for my clients, if they want me to do it and not do all set up and admin themselves. This includes moving domains, setting up mail boxes, statistical reports, configuring accounts, etc.

Anyway, the starter package I priced above includes

*200 MB of space - much less than Yahoo, I see, but has been sufficient for most of my clients with small sites
*15 GB of bandwidth
* 5 FTP accounts
* Daily backups
* excellent statisticis with custom email reporting
* web mail with up to 10 mail accounts, unlimited aliases, virus scanning and spam filtering
* 25 MB of mySQL space
* lots of other features you can read about on their site!

There are a LOT of hosts out there - and from what I've seen, the good, starter packages begin around this price. I think Crystal Tech is reasonable considering how good their customer support and feature list is. Half my clients do this package I outlined - the rest are on the next level up, which is $16.95/mos base - with the same prepaid deal available. I've had my own 5 sites and about 15 clients there for over 2 years now (adding them as I go) and no major problems so far. All hosts seem to have glitches now and then, and maintenance is necessary for them to upgrade, but crystal tech is pretty good about everything. I love that they notify us when there are issues, explain them, and also that they provide a site restore tool for an affordable fee - so if one of my "do it yourselfer" clients sites "disappears" (it has happened!), we can return it quickly from a previous backup

[webturtle]

Jilly, I just realized you also asked the cost of a web site. Honestly, this is kind of like asking how much a car costs - it depends on the car, its features, and who is selling it. Actually, in web site design, who is selling is is a bigger factor than with cars, because there are a great many people doing web design with varying years of experience - just like customers have varying levels of expectation, budget and needs. Very often, the expectations, budget and needs are NOT in line with each other - so its almost an impossible question to answer. So, first you would have to define what you consider a basic web site, and what your needs and expectations are. Then, getting those three things in alignment, you can start researching and asking designers for quotes!

First, ask yourself these questions:

* How many pages of content - and how much content?
* What areas of content will you have, and what features do you need on the site (auto responders, shopping carts, etc)?
* Do you know the answers to these questions or do you need the guidance of a consultant?
* What kind of design are you envisioning?
* Will you do your own content writing?
* Are you going to maintain the site yourself after its launched, adding content?
* Do you have a domain to match your business name - and do you have a business name yet?
* Do you have a logo that you will brand your site with?

Thats just to get you thinking about it! Then, you have to ask yourself what your budget is - how much money do you have on hand to invest in your start up web presence, what can you afford? Do you have access to credit -- sometimes you can start a business web site and pay for it with credit cards, and launch right with a great presence instead of just using cash on hand. Over time, the investment will pay for itself - and you can pay off that credit card. Or, are you on a shoestring budget? These are important questions to ask.

Then, you get down to the "who" you purchase web site services from. There are an incredible assortment of web designers out there, from people who just purchased a site builder and a box of clipart and hung a shingle, to veterans with design or programming degrees and years of experience. Obviously, prices vary, as does the level of service, professionalism, creativity, responsiveness and expertise you can buy. But that is not to say someone just starting out, offering "dirt cheap" design is going to be a bad fit - it just means you HAVE TO do your homework. View sites they've done before. Look for testimonials. Get references - but don't just call them - you might want to also contact site owners and ask to speak to the person who is responsible for the site being built, and ask how they felt it worked out with their web designer.

Then, ask for their policies, and how they operate. Who owns your site design? What happens if the web designer drops the ball - or you do - who pays who what? What are their guarantees?

If you decide to go forward, you MUST have a contract. That should tell you, at the very least:

* what you are paying and when it is due
* what you will receive for that payment (in detail!)
* when you can expect completion of the site

I know this isn't a clear answer but I hope it gives you some thought (hey, it might make a good blog post for Increase Your Reach too, come to think of it. LOL)

Let me know if you have any more questions!

[jillybean35]

Thanks for your quick answers! The business I am doing now offers website (they are $10.00/month) with hosting included and I didn't know if that was competitive or not. Also, I have seen web hosting costing a lot of money and I'm sure it depends on your site and how much traffic and what you have etc., but I keep having people ask me is your web hosting FREE and I say yes, and they say okay what does it cost to up grade and I say nothing the hosting is free and they are all excited because they are saving money. Maybe they just took the first info they saw and bought it without research? Anyhow, next time I am going to have to direct them to this site! You are all SOOOO helpful and I get the best information off this site. Thank you Lynn so much for having this site!

[ChristyK]

Jillybean, am I understanding correctly that a company you are a rep for is now offering a copy of a company website and you have to pay $10 per month to have one? If so, what are you telling people they are paying for if not hosting of the website? Just curious.

Paying $10 per month for a copy of a company website is not necessarily average. Many companies offer them for free. Some companies charge more because they have special features (ie. contact managers, co-op managers, product ordering, etc) or because they are a new company that needs the extra income.

Christy

PS... If you are allowed to personally put up a site with information about the company and the products, then that may be a better route. You can get plenty of hosting for $10 or less per month and be able to optimize the site in a way that is not possible with duplicate sites. And with multiple domains you can set up a site on a different topic for adsense income or such. However, I realize that many companies (including ) do now allow you to use the company name or products in your own site due to the potential liability.

[jillybean35]

No. Sorry if you misunderstood me. The company I work with sells websites for $10.00 including hosting and you can create your own site. I was just seeing if there was something different that I wasn't understanding because there is such a huge difference in price (you see it for $10.00 and then I see people selling the hosting for way more. Just trying to see if I was misunderstanding something, but I'm clear now!

Thanks for the concern though! There is no way I would pay per month for one of those main site things that everyone gets free ones.

Thanks!
Jill

[ChristyK]

Ok, now I get it.