Not everyone have luxury of spending fortune on website. Sometimes business or start-up have very limited budget. Does that mean there is no chance of getting a website? If you are bit smart and willing to compromise a little bit here and there, you can get website up and running in very minimal budget.
Having worked locally in Sydney as WordPress Developer, I have come across various scenarios. And I do provide honest feedback and suggestions, when needed. I am hereby sharing ideas on how to get a website up and running within budget. Expect it to be couple of hundred dollars as I will be suggesting a good hosting option. I am also considering you will be buying a new domain name. All my suggested pricing are yearly unless mentioned. There will be renewal cost unless mentioned.
So if you are willing to spend sometime around your website, this is the article for you. Theme I will be recommending or any theme you will choose will take some and effort to get used to and get best out of it. As I am suggesting minimum expenses, I won’t be suggesting to hire a developer to fine tune it. That is another expenses on top.
Disclaimer: None of the services I am recommending are affiliated. It’s just honest suggestions based on my experience.
Domain Name
Domain name is like an address of your house or business. Imagine when you have a guest that want to meet you. You send them an address and they will come and meet you there.
Likewise domain name is an address of your website. You have to get a domain name first when you have decided to build a website for yourself.
I will suggest on where to buy domain name in next point.
Web Hosting
Next you need a web hosting. This is where all the website contents like html pages, images etc sits. Think of this like the block of land where your house is built, and likewise if you are living in apartment or building, it’s the block of land where it is built.
My best advice to you is when buying a domain name and web hosting always buy it from same service provider.
There are several benefits of buying from same services provider such as:
- Hassle free setup of your WordPress site. The web hosting I will be recommending have one click setup.
- Linking domain name and website is easy. After you purchase domain name and web hosting, you have to point domain name to web hosting. Things like this are easy to handle when you have same service provider.
- There will be better support and when there are some issues in future, it will be lot easier to handle.
I am currently hosting all of my website and most of my domain names with VentraIP. At the point of writing, I have no hesitation is recommending their services.
Some of the reasons of I like them are:
- They are Australian based company
- They are reasonably priced for what they provide
- Support is amazing. They got some talented team
You can buying .com.au domain names from 15 AUD per year. Check here.
Web hosting starts from 108 AUD per year. Check here. Don’t forget to check for the discount code. VentraIP does run promo now and then. Discount is for the first year only. By any chance if you miss discount, get in touch with them. If you are eligible they will sort it out for you. They are so easy to deal with.
Both prices above are as per at the point of writing.
Price for domain and web hosting – 123 AUD per year.
WordPress Theme
WordPress Theme is for look and feel of your website. Consider theme like the architecture of your house. To make it look as you want you have to have a clear picture of how your house to look before you can suggest your builder or architecture to design you house.
There are several free WordPress themes available and if you do good research you might find a good theme for free. But I am bit comfortable of recommending a premium theme that I had used before. The7 theme is reasonably priced theme at 39 USD (around 57 AUD) at the point of writing. Please be aware if you’re buying from Paypal or credit card there might be additional cost for international transaction.
Reasons I suggested theme above because:
- I find them stable and easy to work with
- Price is very reasonable
- When buying you get 6 months free support. As they based internationally expect support to take some time to answer
- Is one of the popular theme in themeforest – which is quite a renowed brand selling various premium themes
There are plenty of options available for WordPress Themes in themeforest if you want to consider other option too.
And I am also assuming that you will be spending some time to get yourself familiar around the theme and documentation to get used to the theme. It might take some time to get used to the theme but its doable and worth it. It is some way an investment.
Summing up annual costs
Let’s calculate the final sum now.
- Domain name – 15 AUD
- Web hosting – 123 AUD
- Theme – 57 AUD
Final cost – 195 AUD
Disclaimer
I am not affiliated with none of the services or theme recommended above. These are my recommendations based on my experiences. It’s optional. There are options available for both hosting and domain name providers, premium theme.
All my cost and suggestion include that you are willing to just get started your website up and running. This will get you started to a good point. But maintaining and WordPress security will be another chapter. I am hoping this is something you will be willing to learn or read as needed. It’s possible to make yourself aware in these topic.
Suggestion here doesn’t guarantee:
- The website will be fast and with great User Experience. Please do some research before buying.
- SEO Optimised. WordPress is SEO friendly but this doesn’t guarantee you rankings.
- Security – I won’t be taking responsibility on behalf of the theme I recommended. So with web hosting. This is my personal recommendation only.
I hope this article will help you get your website up and running. I hope this will also help you be aware on how whole idea of WordPress website work. It is very much possible to get website up and running on budget.