So, you’ve got a great idea, and now you need a website. Where do you start? Do you hire someone to build your website for you? If so, how do you vet potential designers? If you don’t have the budget to invest in a web designer, can you build it yourself? If so, how? These questions can feel overwhelming, so let’s walk through all your options and next steps together.
Should I hire a professional web designer to build my website?
The first decision you should make is whether or not you can afford to invest in a professional web designer. Rates will vary by the designer’s level of experience and the complexity of your website. If you need special features for your website, for example e-commerce capability, customer accounts, or the ability to book meetings and sync calendars, they will likely drive the cost of your web design up. You can expect to pay at least $1,000 to have a professional design your website. Very complex websites can cost up to $10,000 or more to build.
Where can I find a professional web designer for my project?
If you decide to hire a professional to design your website, you should do your research to find a good designer. Freelancing platforms like Fiverr or Upwork can be a good place to screen potential candidates. You can also find designers on professional networking websites like LinkedIn. Look through examples of their previous work to make sure you like their aesthetic. Read testimonials and public reviews for their business if available to get a sense of previous customers’ experiences. Any designer you choose to hire should ask good questions about your brand and be upfront about their pricing.
How do I build my website myself?
If hiring a web designer isn’t in your budget, don’t despair! There are plenty of tools and platforms out there that allow you to build a website by yourself. Depending on what platforms you choose, you can expect to pay a few hundred dollars a year for hosting and website publishing. We’ll go over the most commonly used website publishing tools and hosting providers and then estimate annual costs for each service. By the end of this guide, you’ll have everything you need to get started.
The essential things you need to do are to purchase a domain name, add hosting to your domain, and choose a website builder or publishing tool to create website and its pages. Populating your website with content is another process that deserves its own blog post (stay tuned!), so for the purposes of this guide, we’ll just cover the steps to getting your domain, adding hosting, and installing/selecting a publisher. Some platforms bundle these services, but you can do them separately.
How do I purchase a domain name?
You might assume that step one is to buy your domain, but I’d actually recommend that you start by searching a trademark database to make sure your desired brand name isn’t already in use. Once you’ve made sure your brand name is unique, then you can start looking for the perfect domain. You can check the availability of domains for free with hosting providers like GoDaddy, NameCheap, and Dreamhost. Depending on the domain name, you can expect to pay between $8-25 per year for your domain registration.
It may be good to know that your website registration is a public-facing document that shows some personally identifiable information about you unless you opt for domain privacy. Domain privacy means that your personal information will be obscured for anyone looking up your domain on WHOIS. Many domain registrars offer domain privacy by default or for a small surcharge. In my professional opinion it is worth it to get domain privacy so that your personal information isn’t searchable based on your domain.
How do I add hosting to my domain?
Many website publishing tools also offer hosting services. If you need an e-commerce store, Shopify is a very popular choice. If you needs something easy to use, SquareSpace has an intuitive interface and a great support team. Wix is another hosting and publishing platform that offers additional services like CRM, payment solutions, and scheduling. Finally, WordPress can be installed on a hosted domain for free, but they also offer hosting. Note also that most of these services will include a free domain name for the first year if you register with them, so check the annual pricing after the first year. Let’s compare these platforms below:
You don’t have to pay for hosting with any of the publishers above; you can pay for your own hosting services, which will generally run you between $60-150 per year, depending on your hosting provider and plan. Paying for hosting separately allows you to use whatever publishing platform you prefer, and also gives you the option to allow a professional designer to build your website. Publishing platforms like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla can be installed for free with many hosting providers to build and manage your website content.
If you already have a plan with a hosting provider, you can likely purchase your domain registration through them directly to simplify the process of adding hosting to the domain later. If you’re adding a domain registration from a different company than your hosting provider, you will need to update your website’s DNS records for the website to show up properly. Directions for how to do that vary by hosting provider, but it’s well-documented and relatively simple once you’ve done it before. Here’s a nice guide that covers instructions for several popular hosting providers.
Once you have registered and hosted your domain, you can install your content management system of choice and start building your website. Most publishing tools have a website builder interface that can guide you through the process of adding text and other media to your website. We’ll cover the next steps of the design and publishing process in the next blog post. Sign up for my newsletter below so you don’t miss an update!