Websites 101
What is involved in having a website?From scratch, there are several things to understand.
1) Domain name cost and purchase
First, you have to buy the name you want (www.mycompany.com) You will pay about $10 per year to own the name. Some prices for special names may cost you much more. For instance, you decide you want ILoveDogs.com and find that it is available, but it is $1500 to buy the domain. Why is that name so expensive? Because someone else already thought it was a cool name, purchased it, and now wants to re-sell it to you for a profit. Most domains start off at a reasonable price, but many good ones are already taken. So you have to go searching for something close to what you want.
Visit a site like go.daddy.com, or networksolutions.com and play around to see what names are available and for what cost.
2) Hosting
This is a monthly or yearly fee to a hosting company. A basic website should cost no more than $7-10 per month to host these days. For interactive sites that need .asp or more complex programming support, a more interactive site support system, you may pay up to $35 per month. For basic service, Hot Designs uses Bluehost.com because they offer 24/7 tech support and very reasonable prices.
3) Design
Hot Designs can put together a site for your company for $700-$6000. For more information on that breakdown, please go here.
4) Maintenance
Hot Designs can maintain sites at a very reasonable price. Changes are done in 15 minute increments, which means you can make a small change for as low as $12.50. Some companies charge a minimum of $60 or more for any small thing you want to do to your site.
What is Content Management?
Content Management involves designing a website with the end result being that you, the client, wants to make your own changes to the site. Programming in the beginning is different because it will be designed to lock you out of certain structural areas, allowing you to change content without damaging the look of the site.
PROS: You can save in the long run if you make very frequent changes, have someone who is pretty computer literate to make these changes and wants to make them.
CONS: If you make infrequent changes to the site, every several months or so, it can be a daunting task to remember how to make changes and get them uploaded.
Programming the site will cost more because the task is two-fold: a) to design the site and b) program bullet-proof templates to keep you from accidentally changing the look. There is also the cost of training employees how to do it. The more bulletproof, the more complex the programming. In addition, you will need software to upload (ie: Contribute) and editing software such as Photoshop, to be able to size and crop photos properly. This is yet another learning curve if you don't already know how to use it.