The costs of developing a website

There are five basic costs to consider in developing a website.

Domain Purchase

The first cost area is the purchase of a domain name. This is a fee paid to a domain registrar that entitles you to use a particular domain name, the part of an internet address between the "www" and the ".com". Domain names can be purchased for varying periods of time from one year to multiple years and have to be renewed periodically. Some domain names may cost more than others depending on factors such as desirability. There are several registrars that can provide this service and Gnu Enterprises is able to help steer you toward one that will provide you with quality service.

Website development

The second cost area to be considered is likely to be the area of the highest expense, that of developing the website itself. This requires time and the services of a skilled website developer, such as Gnu Enterprises. During this phase, you will work with your website developer to determine the layout and functional requirements of your website. Your website developer will determine the best tools to be utilized to meet your goals and provide future flexibility and will provide the necessary services to create the best website for your business.

Website development tools

Although you as a business owner generally don't need to be too involved in what tools are used to create your site, an important question to ask is if those tools will cost you money. Sometimes this is a hidden cost in developing a website. There is an important difference between tools that require licensing and those that are open source - meaning that they are openly available and free to anyone.

At Gnu Enterprises, we exclusivly use open source tools in creating websites. This means that even if you should hire internal staff or go to someone else for ongoing maintenance, there will be no cost in obtaining those tools.

Website Hosting

Once the website is finished, you need a service provider that will host your website, making it available to others on the internet. Hosting fees for your website will vary depending on factors such as whether you require a secure connection, the complexity of your website and the data storage requirements, whether your website is performing e-commerce, and how many e-mail accounts you wish to have activated as well as a list of other factors.

Hosting is available from any number of different vendors. If you have a particular vendor you wish to work with, Gnu Enteprises will gladly help you get your website hosted with the vendor. If you do not already have a preference, Gnu Enterprises has experience with working with Digipark, a website hosting service in Colorado Springs, that provides web hosting at very reasonable rates.

Ongoing support and maintenance

The last cost area you should consider is the need for ongoing website support and maintenance after the expiration of any warranty period. Warranty periods are generally for a fixed amount of time and only for correcting problems that cause the website to malfunction.

It is not uncommon for a business to want to make changes to it's website after it has been launched and the business begins to develop a feel for how their customers and prosepctive customers are using the website. These changes may be to add additional features, change the functionality, or just change the overall look and feel. These needs will be different for every business, depending on their budget and their desire to continue developing their presence on the internet.

This area is where Gnu Enterprises can be of assistance in one of a couple ways, either through a monthly retainer that would cover basic changes and maintenance or through a pay-as-you-go plan. Generally, adding new functionality or features will be handled with a new design quote, development and testing cycle depending on how major those changes are.