Have you decided to build your business website on the WordPress platform, but the cost becomes a concerning factor for you? No worries! This blog covers the essential factors that determine the WordPress web development cost so that you can get a close estimation.
WordPress literally needs no introduction. It’s the world’s most popular CMS powering more than 42% of all websites on the internet with a market share of over 65%. WordPress started as a simple blogging platform, but it has exploded into becoming a full-fledged CMS in recent years.
Big giants including The New York Times, TechCrunch, iQuery, Microsoft News, TED Blog, and more use WordPress. Its popularity, functionality, and unique offerings allure many businesses to opt for WordPress website development.
Therefore, they seek a reputable WordPress development agency that can render the best WP standard guidelines to enhance user experience and scale business.
Having said that, most businesses often wonder how much does it cost to build a WordPress website? And that’s why we came up with the idea of creating this blog post. So without any further ado, let’s get started with it but first, understand why you should choose WordPress for your business website.
Ready? Let’s get in!
Why Choose WordPress for Your Business Website Development?
It’s no big secret that all the businesses out there are huge fans of WordPress and for good reasons. From starting a simple blog to making a business website and starting an online store, WordPress can handle anything and everything seamlessly.
WordPress is open-source, the world’s most popular CMS can be used for all types of projects, a vast community, helps businesses scale their website, has oodles of themes and plugins, is easy to maintain, is optimized for search engines, and is most importantly, WordPress takes security seriously. So these are the reasons why WordPress is the best fit for your business.
Top 7 Factors Determining WordPress Website Development Cost: The Complete Breakdown
Domain Name
When it comes to setting up a WordPress website for your business, the very first thing you need is a domain name. This will give your website a recognizable name. So you need to choose it wisely. The more personalized it is, the higher the cost will be.
Having said that, purchasing a domain name can cost you somewhere from $10 – $30. But please make sure you don’t use the free domain name option. Why? Because in today’s time, it appears really unprofessional and your customers will not take you seriously.
Web Hosting
If you want to create a self-hosted WordPress site, you need reliable web hosting to store your files. Almost all the websites today need hosting services to operate without any disruption. Shared and dedicated are two types of hosting services experts highly recommend for WordPress.
With shared hosting, you need to share a server with other businesses as well; however, a dedicated server lets you have a server of your own for your business. Comparatively, shared hosting costs less. That said, depending on the type of web hosting you choose, it can cost you somewhere from $2400 to around $8,000 or more (per year).
Design and Themes
WordPress is widely popular for its numerous designs and themes. It has many themes for all users. However, there are so many essential things to consider while choosing a WordPress theme for your business. Some themes are free; some are paid. Well, free themes are good for beginners, but they don’t often offer essential features for serious business owners.
That’s why it’s always advisable to either choose a paid theme or go for custom WordPress theme development. Custom WP theme development is highly recommended if you want a tailored WordPress website.
If you opt for paid WP themes, you may have to pay somewhere between $50 – $1100 or more. However, if you choose custom theme development for your WordPress site, it may cost you somewhere between $10,000 – $40,000+ depending on your business requirements.
Plugins/Extensions
Plugins/Extensions are the backbones of WordPress. There are more than 54,000 plugins that you can use to strengthen your WordPress website. From free to paid, WordPress has all types of plugins to add functionality to your website and make it appear more professional.
That being said, there are multiple types of plugins you can use, from SEO to contact form, anti-spam, and a lot more. Talking about cost, it can vary depending on the type of plugins and how many plugins you use.
WordPress plugins can cost you $0 – $1000 or more. If you want to enhance your WP website’s functionality, cut the clutter right now and leverage these plugins.
E-Commerce Features
Creating an online store can sound like an intimidating task, but thanks to WordPress for making it easier than ever before. WordPress doesn’t have any built-in e-commerce features. Therefore, it uses WooCommerce development to power millions of e-commerce websites worldwide. Also, there are so many attractive e-commerce WordPress themes that businesses can leverage.
Considering the requirements, functionality, and a lot of other things, e-commerce websites can be significantly higher in terms of everything, including cost. WooCommerce is a free plugin but if you need additional features, you have to pay a good amount.
Having said that, no one can estimate even an average cost when it comes to WordPress-based e-commerce website development.
Security
Security is one of the most crucial elements of your website. Of course, you want your audience to feel safe and secure while browsing or shopping on your website. Hence, you need to emphasize security. Having said that, you need to keep your WordPress website secure from hackers.
A standard technology that is used these days to keep any website safe is an SSL certificate. It keeps the user’s internet connections secure. Having said that, a basic security plan starts from $40 a year, but it can climb up to $200 or more for advanced security options.
Maintenance
Now the cost of your WordPress website maintenance can vary dramatically. Depending on who performs the maintenance, it can cost accordingly. For instance, if it’s in-house maintenance, it can cost you $0 – $30 per month.
However, a freelancer can charge you somewhere between $50 – $150 per hour depending on the skillset, experience, and a lot more. While a professional website maintenance firm can cost you somewhere between $200 – $800 or more.
WordPress Development Cost: The Final Tally
So these were some key and essential factors responsible for the cost of a WordPress website. From the domain name, web hosting to design and themes, plugins/extensions, e-commerce features, and security, we covered everything. And we hope this post helped you with the million-dollar question — how much does it cost to build a WordPress website?
If you are planning to build a successful WordPress website, you must be ready to invest wisely. Remember, every good thing comes with a price, and WordPress is worth every penny. Good luck!