There are a wide variety of products available for your website and many different companies to choose from. We don’t necessarily make clients move if they’re satisfied with the company already in place for their website hosting and domain registration, and if the products are up to date. And, we can still guide you though the basics so that you purchase only what you need and at a reasonable price. Just keep in mind that it’s usually much easier and you’ll have less tech issues if you stick with one company for all of your technical needs. Sometimes a client will come to us with a domain name that they’ve already purchased from another company and we may transfer that domain to the same company that’s doing the website hosting to keep everything organized and in one place. We’ll look at your current set up and offer suggestions before we start building the new website.
No matter what company you decide to go with, the essential items and pricing for a basic website are:
1. Domain name(s) (Not more than $20.00 per year for registration.)
2. Privacy for that domain name (Protects your associated personal info, about $12.00 per year.)
3. Web hosting (For a single website using Managed WordPress hosting, the cost would be around $120.00 per year, and includes the SSL mentioned below.)
4. SSL Certificate (The little padlock on the URL bar letting people know that the site is secure. Don’t pay more than $80 per year if you do have to purchase this separately.)
Many companies have something called “Managed WordPress Hosting” now which ends up being a really good deal. It’s specifically created for WordPress websites, and for about $120.00 per year, it includes the WordPress software, automatic backups, basic website security, and the SSL certificate. We usually advise clients to go with this whenever possible. Other add-ons that people often like to have are custom email accounts (that match the domain name), website backups or website security to protect against hackers. We are a reseller of GoDaddy products through our affiliate biondoweb.com. Our pricing is less or comparable to many others, so if you do decide to go with Biondo Web, we will set everything up for you and take it from there. We also are responsible for any technical issues related to products purchased at Biondo Web and do not bill for any time spent on fixing technical issues, should they arise.
We are still available for assistance no matter what company you choose to go with, but if it’s one that we’re not familiar with, there may be a maintenance charge. Technical issues are rare and don’t often come up, especially with websites that are kept up to date and have routine maintenance that keeps everything updated.