Are Websites Free?

Websites are free if you're looking to have the most basic functions a website can do, spend time to build it yourself, and use an online website builder that will host your website. Some of the more common free website builders are:

• Wix
• Wordpress
• SITE123

One of the biggest problems with having a free website is that you won't have your own domain name. For example if you start a free Wix website your business domain would look something like this https://yourname.wixsite.com/yoursitename and let's be honest, you can't look legit without your own domain name look like https://yourbusinessname.com.

Another downside to using a free website builder is that they usually limit the amount of functions you can use. Some examples of these website builder limits are:

• Not being able to add a payment gateway unless you pay for an upgrade.
• Only being able to have a couple of products in your online store unless you pay for an upgrade.
• You May have ADs on your website unless you pay for an upgrade.

Finally, the biggest cost of any website is time, and experience. If you're a first time website builder, even using the drag and drop editors can get confusing, and take time to learn. Time is never free, and if your time could be spent being more efficiently for your business than learning to build a website this could be a huge cost for you.

If you're paying an experienced website builder, or company in order to build your website the cost is usually going to be between $5,000-$10,000.

This initial website build usually includes continued small maintenance for your website and training the user/business how to use their website.

If you want continued content creation, you usually have to build it yourself. Some website builders have additional charges for continued content creation, and these packages can cost anywhere from $500-$3000 a month on the basic side of things.

Yes, unless you're using the very basic free websites in which you use the website builders domain/hosting there will be a cost to start and maintain your website.

The most basic charges to start your website will be buying your domain, and web hosting.

Buying your domain will usually cost you around $12/year on Google Domains unless you are trying to buy a premium domain. Premium domain names can range from $20-$150+ per year depending on which domain ending you choose. (.com .us .info .host)

Website hosting will also cost you a monthly fee which typically cost around $3 each month. Most business can get away with the basic hosting packages provided.

Sometimes you will need better hosting packages which can start at around $40 a month and can be go as high as thousands per month depending on your needs.

Once your website is complete, you may want to add pages, continuously build a blog, or even add webpages for special promotions. The average cost of this custom web content is $2000-$10,000 a month.

This cost can be drastically increase if you choose a top content writer because they can charge up to $25,000 per page but this is not your typical price.