How Businesses Can Make the Most of Affordable Website Plans

Table of contents

• A lot of competition
• Consider a free or low-cost content management system
• Don’t cut corners on security
• Choose website hosting wisely
• Hidden website costs
• What else to avoid?

A lot of competition

A new website went live every three seconds in 2024, amounting to approximately 252,000 new websites a day. More than a fifth (21%) of business owners reveal that they struggle with low website traffic, which is mainly due to the cutthroat competition. In addition, businesses often face budget constraints.

Consider a free or low-cost content management system

Custom domains cost from $10 to $15 a year. Once the year is up, renewal costs are incurred. On the plus side, platforms like WordPress offer free themes and templates with feature-rich design options.

Website builders like Wix, HubSpot, Canva, and WordPress offer free tools to make websites without coding skills. A business that requires a more complex site will probably need to hire professionals for custom plugin development or design. Their hourly rates range from $30 to $100 an hour. Many free builders offer an impressive range of features and flexibility. Almost half of all websites run on WordPress. Drupal is harder to use, but it’s ideal if you need a bigger website. It’s best for users who are familiar with PHP, HTML, and CSS. Joomla is a great choice if you’re looking for a lot of options. It’s intuitive and suitable if you appreciate straightforward content management.

Don’t cut corners on security

SSL certificates also incur expenses, and they are crucial for data protection, which makes these expenses unavoidable. Some services include free SSL certificates, but they are not truly free because the cost is included in the subscription. In other cases, the cost can go up to $1,500 a year.

Choose website hosting wisely

The costs of website hosting range from a few dollars to $200 per month, depending on the service quality and traffic. High-traffic websites can expect to pay $5,000 or more a year for private servers.

Some affordable hosting services come with satisfactory website speed and security, so your business isn’t putting its customers’ data at risk, but not breaking the bank either. Some top providers offer budget-friendly and reliable shared hosting plans.

Hidden website costs

Limit extra integrations like appointment scheduling and email campaigns because they incur a cost beyond the basic plan. You’ll also need to pay extra for an email address that reflects your domain name, such as [email protected]. Alternatively, you can set up a Google Workspace account. Your email list may come with a monthly charge, especially if your customer list grows. Tools like Carrd.co, which has a free plan, are ideal if you face severe budget constraints or only need a basic website.

What else to avoid?

To keep things affordable, consider scaling back the number of web pages, especially if you’re just getting started. As a starting point, you only need a homepage, a page describing your products or services, an About page with a brief bio, and contact information.

As Jaguar CEO Ralf Speth famously said, you should see how much bad design costs if you think good design is expensive. Hiring an inexperienced designer can cost you because they might make a mistake that won’t immediately become obvious. For example, the website looks fine, but it doesn’t rank in search results at all because Google can’t read images, and the designer created everything as an image.

Heavy images and videos slow down websites. The total sales losses businesses report due to slow-loading websites are around $2.6 billion annually. 83% of internet users will wait three seconds at most for a website to load. On average, websites ranking on the first page of Google load in 1.65 seconds.

Recap

• Some affordable hosting services come with satisfactory website speed and security
• Have fewer web pages made, especially if you’re just getting started
• Heavy images and an excessive number of videos slow down websites
• Use a CMS instead of hiring an affordable but inexperienced web designer