How Much Will This Cost?
To answer that question is like asking the question, "How long is a piece of string?", though. It depends, of course. However, I am hoping to help out small and micro-businesses as well as community groups. A website could cost a lot, but we both know, that is not why we are here. As in most cases, you have to pay for what you get and the costs below will not include any speciaized functions that you may want added on. Let's see if we can get into the ballpark though. Prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. This costs approximately 25 to 30 % less than American dollars, at the time of this article.
Domain Name Cost
First, there is the cost of registering the name of your domain. These registrations are handled by "domain name registrars" and generally start at twenty to thirty dollars a year. Caution: If you do not register a renewal before expiration, you could lose your domain within hours or days. I recommend that you register your domain name - which needs careful thought, by the way - so that you own it. A good reason for this is that if you decide, at any time, to move your website to another website builder or system, you can just do it. If you are unfamiliar with the process, it's pretty simple and I can point you in the right direction.
Server / Hosting Cost
Next comes the cost of the website server. That is provided by many, usually large, providers; they usually also offer the domain name registration at a discounted price, as noted above. The server is where it can get tricky and pricey. This can cost hundreds of U.S. dollars per month, but that is going to get you blazing speed and the ability to handle some pretty impressive website demands and flashy tricks.
Most of us do not need that if we have a simple website and don't load it down with all sorts of unnecessary add-ons. Most of us will be fine with "shared hosting". Why consider servers that are less than blazing fast?? They are likely all that you need. They will be fast enough for most websites I would create. If your site grows incredibly popular and you need more, an email to the hosting company can transfer your website to their higher level. The servers we would be using are "shared servers" which mean that your website is on a server with many other websites. These are kept separate of course. The dirty truth is that while all these companies tout "99% up time", there will be occasions when things slow down. That is usually due to heavy traffic (think Highway 401 in Toronto, at rush hour) and generally lasts no more than a few minutes. This is the main drawback to shared servers but for many people, the occasional slowdown is worth the significant savings.
So what does that shared service cost? Prices recently shot up due to inflation and because one company recently bought the licensing rights to the website software that most servers run on, and, if you can imagine it ...raised the prices. In 2025 I would budget about $250.00 Canadian, per year. Applicable taxes are, naturally, extra. Not too bad so far.
What Do My Services Cost?
Ah, there is that piece of string again. Naturally it depends on how much work I do for you and how much time it takes. Exclusive of the costs mentioned above, a very simple site like storyclocks.ca can be made for around $200.00. Maintenance costs are very low and can be done by the site owner if they choose. A site like fitability.ca is harder to price out as it has been constantly updated and upgraded over the years, spreading out the cost. If I were to build that one, now, all at once, it would likely come in around $800 - 1000.00 dollars, Canadian. Note that this website uses a standard template, which is what gives it its "look". A customized template, which can add special design features and highly customized colours, including your "corporate" colours, is likely to add a cost.
Keeping it safer and running smoothly
And then you may want to factor in maintenance. If you are comfortable with working on your own website and confident that you won't accidentally wreck anything critical ... you can likely do maintenance yourself. It would take some time to teach you what to do. Or I can do the maintenance for you and charge you monthly.
Another factor to consider is the time it takes to update your website information. The website system I use makes it easy to have you, or someone you designate, get special access to parts of the website that allow you to write an article and update it, pretty easily, while keeping unauthorized people out. And what is in those articles you write? Keep them fresh, informative and authoritative - and keep 'em coming! All that will help search engines rank you higher than they would if you plunk something on the internet and leave it - and its usefulness - stagnant. Search engines make their money by presenting useful and authoritative information to the people searching. The better your information is, the more likely your site will rank in search results. In return, the search engine gets more views and more potential revenue, in this symbiotic relationship.
Your articles
You know your stuff and I may not. However, if you are writing something for your website but you are not very confident in your writing skills, I will be happy to go through your work either written by you, or by A.I. prompts, to edit for clarity and grammar. (Canadian/British or American.) I bill that on an hourly basis (currently only $20.00/hour) and charge to the minute to save you money. I am not competent to edit technical articles though.
Free Estimate, Zero Obligation or Pressure
I hope this section has given you a rough idea of what it could cost to build a quick loading, versatile website. If you want to send me details of what you want and what you need your website to do, I can give you an estimate at no charge. Click the "Read the whole article" button to find out more information about what is involved in setting up a website.