I am always being asked “How much to build a web site?” This is is tough question that simply can’t be answered without much more information, just as your car mechanic can’t give you a quote without first finding out about the problem. There are however, many costs associated with having a website that are consistent no matter what the site is -

1. Domain Name Registration – whatever you choose for a domain name it will have to be registered with one of the many registrars. An annual registration fee will cost you different amounts depending on the registrar, but they range from 10.00 year to 35.00 year. You want to make sure that you or your developer choose a reliable registrar that has an easy to use interface and a 24/7 support line.
2. Host Servers – A host server is a collection of servers that stores all the files that make up your web site and give access to those pages to anyone surfing the net. Each site has different requirements from the server, depending on what the site is and the size of the site and the numbers of visitors to the site, and whether or not you are selling a product or service. In general I recommend that you take the recommendation of your web developer as they will know your sites requirements. Depending on the host, the amount of space and bandwidth that you require, whether or not you require security, a database and many other considerations it can costs you approximately $99.00/year to hundreds of dollars a year.

These two costs are standard with every site except a free blog or a Facebook page. There are additional costs if you are running an e-commerce site or taking credit cards for payment.

1. SSL – If you are accepting credit cards online you will need a Secure Socket Layer Certificate. There are a variety of levels of security encryption that meet different needs and cost different amounts. The average small to medium sized store is going to spend 39.00 to 250.00/year for this certificate.
2. Merchant Gateway – A merchant gateway is required to interface between your shopping cart software and your merchant account. There are various gateways just as there are various merchant accounts and they all charge a monthly fee as well as a transaction fee.
3. Shopping cart – there are free shopping cart but in general you are going to either pay a monthly fee for a hosted system or a larger one time license fee as well a regular upgrade charges.

All of these fees are in addition to whatever you pay a developer/designer for your website. As you can see they can be very limited if all you want is a small brochure site and somewhat more extensive for and online store.