How Much Does Building a WordPress Site Really Cost?

If you’ve been looking into the benefits of building your own WordPress website recently, you’ve probably already heard that the underlying software for this content management system is free. In fact, the open and easy-to-use software available from WordPress is one of the many things that makes it so appealing to would-be business owners and entrepreneurs. When you’re still wet behind the ears as an aspiring entrepreneur, asking questions like how do loans work when looking for ways to fund your company, the last thing you want to do is spend a fortune on your website. However, just because your WordPress software won’t contribute to your loan, doesn’t mean that there aren’t other expenses to consider.

What Do You Really Need?

Aside from the free software that’s available for developing your WordPress website, you’re going to need a few other things to get your business started. That includes deciding on hosting, a domain name for your company, a design that makes your site stand out, and any plugins or extensions that are crucial to your website functionality. The amount that you spend on each of these things will vary according to your preferences. For instance, there are tons of cheap domain names out there, but if you want to get something really special, or you need help coming up with a business name, that’s going to cost you. Additionally, there are different domain hosting plans available for each kind of website. However, the more customers you need to prepare for, and the bigger your website is going to be, the more you’re going to spend.

How to Estimate the Cost

So, how do you go about estimating the cost of a WordPress site? Well, in this case, let’s imagine that you wanted to build a site for a very low budget. That would mean that you’re looking for the cheapest set-up possible to support a small business. For instance, your domain name might cost around $14.99 a year for an average .com company name. On the other hand, Bluehost, a recommended WordPress hosting provider, can give you hosting for around $7.99 per month. There are a lot of hosting options out there with very similar pricing.

If you want to keep costs low, then once you have WordPress installed for your site, you can choose a free template and edit it yourself. There are thousands of free themes available online today that don’t cost you anything extra to use. You can even extend the functionality of your website with various add-ons and plugins too. If you’re willing to avoid any paid themes or plugins, then you can definitely run a website for less than $100 a year. You just need to be restrictive with how you spend your money. Beyond the essentials, like a free theme and hosting, it’s up to you to choose how much you’re willing to spend on things like premium designs and themes. The more specialist you want to go with your site, the more you can expect to pay overall.