All Posts, Web Design, Web Development, WordPress
Most new business professionals and entrepreneurs are bootstrapping when they’re starting their new venture. Hiring a staff or agency isn’t always financially possible, and so they’ll try and learn and do as much as they can to get their business to a viable start with a limited budget. When it comes to the cost of building and maintaining a website, business professionals need to consider more than just the initial price of investment, they’ll also need to consider the quality (and functional features) and the amount of time it will take to launch. While WordPress and Squarespace have different pricing structures, there are hidden costs associated with both platforms, from time investment to ongoing maintenance.
Let’s break down the costs involved in building and running a website on each platform, so you can make an informed decision about where to invest your time and money.
WordPress: A Customizable, Pay-As-You-Go Approach
With WordPress, the cost can range widely depending on your needs and how much customization you require.
Cost Breakdown for WordPress:
1.Domain Name:
Typically you can purchase your domain for an annual cost of $10 to $20 per year. You can purchase your domain from a variety of providers, such as GoDaddy or IONOS (Formally 1and1).
2.Hosting:
WordPress doesn’t include hosting, so you’ll need to factor that in. Shared hosting plans start at around $3 to $10 per month, but if you need better performance, expect to pay for managed WordPress hosting, which can range from $20 to $100+ per month for higher traffic or resource-heavy websites. We recommend SiteGround for their great customer support, server performance, and pricing tiers.
3.Themes and Plugins:
While there are free themes and plugins available, many businesses go for premium options to achieve a more professional look and enhanced functionality. Premium themes range from $30 to $100 that may be one time or have an annual license that includes regular updates. Plugins can cost anywhere from $5 to $200+ per year depending on the functionality you need.
4.Developer Fees (Optional):
If you need custom functionality or advanced design, hiring a developer can cost anywhere from $50 to $200+ per hour. If your project requires extensive custom coding, expect a web development budget starting at $500 to several thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of your project.
5.Maintenance and Security:
Since you’re responsible for managing updates, security patches, and backups, you may want to invest in a managed service or security plugin. Budget $10 to $50 per month for these services, or more if you opt for premium backup and security solutions.
Time Investment for WordPress:
•Building the Site:
Depending on your experience, building a WordPress site from scratch can take anywhere from 20 to 100+ hours. If you’re using a pre-built theme and plugins, it will take less time, but customizations will add hours to the process. If it is your first time, prepare to spend quite a bit of time learning some technical aspects of the infrastructure setup. You’ll want to have a good idea for where you want your website to be and look initially and what growing it with additional features and functions will entail.
•Maintenance:
WordPress requires regular updates, both for the platform itself and for plugins and themes. Budget a few hours per month for this, or pay for a managed service if you want to offload the responsibility. You’ll also need to periodically monitor performance, security, and backups. Many of these tasks can be automated, and that will save you a lot of time. You can also hire an agency to monitor and maintain your website and perform the necessary updates and backups for you so that you can toss that hat away.
Squarespace: All-Inclusive with Transparent Pricing
Squarespace offers an all-in-one solution with pricing that covers hosting, design templates, and even e-commerce features if needed. While the price is more straightforward, you may end up paying more for features that come standard in WordPress via free plugins.
Cost Breakdown for Squarespace:
1.Domain Name:
Squarespace offers a free domain for the first year when you sign up for an annual plan. After that, the domain renewal costs about $20 to $40 per year.
2.Monthly Subscription:
Squarespace’s pricing is subscription-based. Plans range from $16 to $65 per month, depending on whether you need basic website functionality or more advanced e-commerce features.
- Personal Plan: $16/month – Basic website with a few pages and no e-commerce functionality.
- Business Plan: $23/month – Adds e-commerce and marketing tools.
- Basic Commerce: $27/month – Ideal for businesses selling products online.
- Advanced Commerce: $49/month – Includes advanced e-commerce features, such as abandoned cart recovery and subscriptions.
3.Design Templates and Features:
Squarespace includes a selection of high-quality, responsive templates at no additional cost. There are no additional fees for themes or templates, unlike WordPress, where premium themes are often necessary for a more polished look.
4.Additional Costs:
Squarespace’s integrated tools may reduce the need for third-party services, but some features (like advanced marketing integrations) could still require additional investment, such as paying for email marketing services or external plugins.
Time Investment for Squarespace:
•Building the Site:
Squarespace is designed for users with little to no coding experience. You can build a simple site in 5 to 20 hours, depending on how much customization and content you need to add. Most of the process involves selecting a template and adjusting it to fit your brand.
•Maintenance:
Squarespace takes care of updates, security, and backups for you. This significantly reduces the time you’ll need to spend maintaining the site. Business owners can expect to spend less than 1 hour per month on upkeep—typically updating content or adding new features.
Important Considerations for Business Professionals
1.Budget Flexibility:
If you’re operating on a tight budget, WordPress offers more flexibility. You can start with a low-cost hosting plan and add features as your business grows. Squarespace, while convenient, has fixed subscription costs that may not scale as efficiently as your site’s needs grow.
2.Time vs. Customization:
WordPress demands more time to learn, build, and maintain, but in return, you get unmatched customization and scalability. Squarespace, on the other hand, saves time with its ease of use but sacrifices flexibility. Consider how much time you can dedicate upfront and over the long term when making your decision.
3.Long-Term Growth:
If you anticipate significant growth in your business or need advanced functionality like a custom-built e-commerce system, membership site, or integrations with other platforms, WordPress is a better long-term solution. Squarespace is great for small to medium-sized businesses that value simplicity but may fall short as your business scales.
4.Tech Expertise:
If you don’t have technical expertise and don’t want to hire a developer, Squarespace is the easier, lower-maintenance option. WordPress, while powerful, requires either tech knowledge or the willingness to invest in professional support.
Our Final Thoughts on Cost and Time Involvement
When choosing between WordPress and Squarespace, it boils down to balancing cost, time, and flexibility. WordPress allows you to start small and grow with your business, but the hidden costs in development, maintenance, and plugins can add up. Squarespace provides a more predictable cost structure, but if your business outgrows its capabilities, you may need to switch platforms down the line. If you’re a business professional looking for a quick, hands-off solution, Squarespace’s ease of use is hard to beat. However, if you’re in it for the long haul and envision a website that evolves as your business grows, WordPress offers the versatility to make that happen if you’re willing to put in the time.
Not every website project is the same and so we couldn’t recommend one of these to everyone. Hopefully after reading this article and seeing the different options you now have a better idea of which platform will be best for you and your business.
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Is your website making the right impression? Often the first point of contact between a business and its potential clients, that requires specific targeting and lead capturing strategy.
The Challenge:
Our latest project is for Indelible Consulting where their company website faced the challenge of modernizing its online presence. Their original website, built on WIX, lacked the contemporary design elements, functionality, and mobile responsiveness needed to effectively engage clients. With an expanding client portfolio of consulting services, it became crucial for Indelible Consulting to present a professional and user-friendly online experience.
Our Custom Solutions:
Understanding the specific needs of Indelible Consulting and the ICP of their clients, we embarked on a comprehensive redesign project. Our primary objective was to create a modern, visually appealing website on WordPress, incorporating the company’s brand color scheme and enhanced content. Additionally, we custom-built a Learning Management System (LMS) to facilitate the delivery of their educational courses.
Key Features:
- Modern WordPress Design: We developed a sleek and modern WordPress website that aligns with Indelible Consulting’s brand identity. The new design includes updated content, intuitive navigation, and visually appealing elements to engage visitors.
- Learning Management System (LMS): A custom-built LMS was integrated into the website, offering four courses that clients can purchase, consume, and complete through a full self-service process. This LMS ensures a seamless educational experience, enabling clients to access valuable content at their convenience.
- Enhanced User Experience: The redesigned website is optimized for user experience, featuring clear calls to action, easy navigation, and a responsive design that works flawlessly on all devices. This ensures that potential clients have a positive and engaging experience when visiting the site.
- Brand Color Scheme: The website design incorporates Indelible Consulting’s brand color scheme, ensuring consistency across all digital touchpoints and reinforcing brand recognition.
The Benefits of WordPress
WordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet, making it the most popular content management system (CMS) globally. Here are some compelling reasons why WordPress is an excellent choice for your business:
- Flexibility and Customization: WordPress offers an extensive range of themes and plugins, allowing you to create a highly customized website that fits your unique business needs.
- SEO-Friendly: WordPress is built with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind, making it easier for your site to rank higher in search engine results.
- Mobile Responsiveness: With the increasing use of mobile devices, having a mobile-responsive website is crucial. WordPress themes are designed to be mobile-friendly, ensuring a seamless user experience across all devices.
- Security: Regular updates and a robust security framework make WordPress a secure platform for your website.
- Scalability: Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, WordPress can scale with your business, accommodating your growing needs.
Why Redesign Your Website?
A website redesign can significantly impact your business. Here are some reasons why a small business might need to consider a website redesign:
- Outdated Design: An old or outdated website can make your business appear unprofessional and out of touch.
- Poor User Experience: A confusing or difficult-to-navigate website can frustrate visitors and drive potential clients away.
- Lack of Mobile Responsiveness: With more people accessing the internet via mobile devices, a non-responsive website can result in lost opportunities.
- Low Conversion Rates: If your website is not effectively converting visitors into clients, it may be time for a redesign.
- SEO Performance: An outdated website may not be optimized for search engines, making it harder for potential clients to find you online.
Signs Your Website Needs a Redesign:
- High Bounce Rates: Visitors leave your site quickly without engaging with your content.
- Slow Loading Speeds: Your website takes too long to load, which can frustrate visitors and negatively impact your SEO.
- Dated Visuals: Your website looks old-fashioned or does not align with your current brand identity.
- Difficult Navigation: Users struggle to find the information they need.
- Low Mobile Traffic: Your website is not optimized for mobile devices, resulting in a poor user experience on smartphones and tablets.
Enhancing with a Learning Management System (LMS)
For Indelible Consulting, adding an LMS was a strategic move to offer value-added services to their clients. Here’s why integrating an LMS can be beneficial:
- Monetization: Offering premium courses can create a new revenue stream for your business.
- Client Education: An LMS allows you to educate your clients on your products and services, enhancing their knowledge and engagement.
- Brand Authority: Providing educational content positions your business as an authority in your industry.
- Self-Service: Clients can access and complete courses at their own pace, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates.
By implementing these custom solutions, our agency Design Theory significantly enhanced Indelible Consulting’s digital presence. The new website not only showcases their consulting expertise but also provides an intuitive platform for clients to engage with their services and educational content. This redesign positions Indelible Consulting as a modern, client-focused consulting firm, ready to meet the needs of their growing client base.
All Posts, Domains, Security, SEO, Web Development, WordPress
As the internet continues to evolve, website security has become a crucial aspect of ensuring a safe and trustworthy online experience. One of the most significant developments in this regard is the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why it’s essential for websites to have an SSL certificate and why Google requires it.
What does it mean?
First, let’s define an SSL certificate. SSL is a standard security protocol that establishes an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data transferred between the server and the browser remains private and secure. SSL certificates are digital certificates that are issued by trusted third-party providers, known as Certificate Authorities (CAs). These certificates verify the authenticity of a website and encrypt all data transmitted between the website and the user’s browser.
Now, let’s get into why SSL certificates are crucial for websites
- Data Protection One of the most significant benefits of SSL certificates is data protection. Without SSL, all data transferred between a user’s browser and a website is transmitted in plain text. This means that anyone who intercepts the data can read and use it for malicious purposes. SSL encrypts all data, making it unreadable to anyone who intercepts it.
- Authentication SSL certificates also provide authentication. They verify the identity of the website, ensuring that users are communicating with the website they intended to. This helps prevent phishing scams, where attackers create fake websites to steal user information.
- Improved SEO In 2014, Google announced that HTTPS (the secure version of HTTP, which uses SSL) would be a ranking signal in its search algorithm. Websites with SSL certificates are given a higher ranking than those without. This means that having an SSL certificate can improve a website’s visibility on search engines, which can lead to increased traffic.
- Trust SSL certificates also create trust between websites and their users. Seeing the padlock icon in the browser bar and the “https” in the URL reassures users that their data is secure and that they can trust the website they’re visiting.
So let’s talk about why Google requires SSL certificates. In 2018, Google started marking all HTTP sites as “Not Secure” in the Chrome browser. This was part of Google’s plan to make the web a more secure place. Google wants to encourage all website owners to adopt HTTPS by making it a standard for all websites.
Google has also stated that websites without SSL certificates may be penalized in search rankings. As we mentioned earlier, SSL certificates are a ranking signal in Google’s algorithm. Websites without SSL certificates are seen as less trustworthy, and their rankings may be lowered as a result.
Our agency, Design Theory, has been informing our clients about a campaign we’re performing to have all of our client websites configured with an SSL Certificate. Great news if you’re already a client of ours, and if you’re not but want to get your SSL Certificate installed on your website, give us a call or email and we’d be happy to help you!
To wrap things up, SSL certificates are crucial for website security, data protection, authentication, SEO, and trust. Google requires SSL certificates to make the web a safer place and to encourage website owners to adopt HTTPS. If you’re a website owner, it’s essential to obtain an SSL certificate to ensure your website’s security and to maintain your search rankings.
