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Home » Other Tips » Hosting Issues » How much does a website cost?

How much does hosting a website cost?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this.  Going from no website to a fully functional site can cost anywhere from a few dollars to tens of thousands depending on what you are looking for.

Since I didn't answer the question :) let's look at what different items you're going to need to launch your website.

Domain Name
This is important, and I feel the first thing you should do is to register your domain name.  And I would suggest registering it yourself rather than having your host register it for you. 

Costs range anywhere from free with some hosts to around $35 a year.  Personally I use GoDaddy.com to register my domains and have been happy with them.  Normally domains at GoDaddy are 8.99 but sometimes they go on sale for less.  I just picked up a .info domain for 99 cents.  I hadn't gone with the intention of buying a .info, but it was so cheap it seemed like a good idea.

See Also:
Picking a domain name
Who owns your domain?

Hosting
You technically can hook up your computer to the internet and serve your website from your office.  But for 99 percent of people out there that's a bad idea.  Hosting plans are dirt cheap these days.  Several hosts have plans for 3 or 4 dollars a month.  Sure, they may not be the best host out there but the price is right. Although I would suggest getting a recommendation from someone you trust before picking a host. There are lots of bad hosts out there.

Prices for hosting range from free if you're willing to forgo the ability to run scripts and willing to have the host put ads on your site to hundreds of dollars a month for high-end dedicated servers.  Most photographers should be able to get by with plans under $20 a month.

See Also:
Linux versus Windows hosting
What to look for in a web host

Web Design
If you've never built a website before you will probably be better off paying someone to do it for you. Yes you can build a site fairly easily in Photoshop and Imageready, but there are parts to webdesign that go on behind the scenes that can really effect the success of your site. 

On option is a web template.  Companies like Winklet and Bludomain make it easy to build a semi-custom Flash site for your company.   The problem with templates is that there are likely dozens or more photographers will the same template.  However there may not be any in your area so that may be ok.  Plus, templates are much cheaper than paying a web designer to build a website from scratch.

The other option is to pay a designer to build your site. Expect to pay anwhere from $25 - $200 per hour depending on the skill level of the designer, or group of designers.

That said, this entire site is here to help you learn to build your own website.  I think that anybody can build a website if they're willing to invest the time.  But you have to make the determination if the time you'll have to spend learning how to build your own website is worth it.
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