DOMAIN NAME COSTS

First off, you'll need a Domain Name. This is the 'www.mybusiness.com' (or .ca, net, org, etc.) that becomes your website address. In Canada, you must purchase your domain from a recognized domain registrar. We can help get you set up with a domain registrar, so that you can have full ownership and control over your domain name. Costs are generally below fifteen dollars per year. We do not charge a fee for assisting our clients in obtaining or moving their domain name.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT COSTS

Naturally, there is the cost of developing your website. Your website may be a single 'page' of information or a full-featured interactive catalog and storefront, with all the bells and whistles. For this reason, we always provide a quote on website development, after discussing your needs in enough detail to understand your requirements. Quite often, business owners will have a student or other inexperienced person create their website in the hopes of saving money. The results are rarely satisfactory, as there are many aspects of website development that are often overlooked by a beginner, such as search engine friendliness, cross-browser compatibility, monitor sizes, and more. Our experience is a benefit worth paying a little more for, ensuring you that your website will work the way it is supposed to, for visitors, for search engine robots, and on the multitude of systems in use today.

WEB HOSTING COSTS

Your website won't do much good sitting in our computer. Web Hosting allows your website to become accessible via the World Wide Web. This means that it must be available 24/7 AND at a high enough data transfer speed to keep it running quickly for your website visitors. Also, a high degree of 'uptime' is crucial, so that your website is always available when your customers come visiting. Please see our web hosting section to learn more about hosting with Webberman.ca, before making a decision that could lock you into a contract with a poor provider.

WEBSITE UPDATE COSTS

Although some people still put up a static website and never update it, the real value of your website comes when you keep it fresh. We can set up images or text to change automatically, providing the illusion of an updated website, or we can actually manage your website for a lot less than you may think. We currently manage a number of websites for various clients, and do so quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively. Of course, cost depends on the requested update. For an example, we'll change your business hours or phone number for free, while adding a page or new photos will cost a nominal amount, depending on what you request. We'll always let you know the costs before any work is done.

Some of our clients have asked about doing their own changes. We can set you up with an FTP password, so that you may access your website files, but keep in mind that you'll need to understand the html markup language, and have some knowledge of image manipulation software, such as Photoshop, and finally, to be able to send the changes to the server using FTP software. There is a risk that if you do something wrong, your website may no longer work. Generally, it's much more time and cost-effective to have us do it for you.

BOTTOM LINE

The total cost to having a website developed and hosted varies depending upon the complexity of the website, and the degree of updates and maintenance you require throughout the year.

Here is the minimum you could expect to pay for a modest website of several pages, with minimal changes being made to it.

Please permit us to provide a quote based upon your actual needs. The investment in a well-developed website will more than pay for itself in the revenue it will generate for your business.