WordPress and GoDaddy – additional expenses to know about
There are two expenses you need to know about that will most likely be part of your website project costs. We will invest in a plan on WordPress – the Content Management System, and in a domain on GoDaddy – your domain host.
Explanation about WordPress Plans and Prices
WordPress is a content management system (CMS). We use WordPress as the place where we build the website. WordPress offers a few plans adding to the overall website project costs. Here are the different pricing options:
- Free – yes! you can have a free website on WordPress. But, it will sit on the WordPress domain. This means your web address will look something like this: https://YOURWEBSITENAME.wordpress.com/. In some cases, this may be enough, but most professionals would like their website to look professional and therefore it is recommended to purchase a plan so you can move your website to a personalized domain.
- Themes – WordPress gives a wide selection of themes to choose from. Your site will look based on the theme you choose. Everything you see in the theme is customizable from colors, images, and fonts. The reason we work with themes is that they are already optimized for web and mobile and are seo friendly. There are plenty of free themes that are good enough (including the one used for this website), and there’s an option to pay for a theme. Most are no more than $50 to download.
- Low-cost plans – WordPress offers 2 low-cost plans of $4/month and $8/month. The main disadvantage of these plans is their lack of ability to add SEO to the pages.
- Business Plan – our recommendation is the Business Plan since it has SEO functionality which helps build the pages and their backend in a better structure for Google Search. This plan costs $25 per month but WordPress does come up with coupons and we’ve been able to help our customers purchase this plan with a 50% coupon when a year plan is chosen.
Explanation about GoDaddy Pricing options
Go Daddy is the world’s largest domain registrar and web hosting company. We host domains on hosting companies just like we build houses on a piece of land. We’ve always used GoDaddy because it’s a reputable place to buy and host domains, and their support is great. Your website project costs should account for this expense. What do you need to pay for in GoDaddy?
- The domain itself – When you go into GoDaddy you can search for available domains and see a list of exact or similar domain results. Each will have its price. The prices of domains can range anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars per year. Most domains can be purchased for under $20 for the first year. Of course, there are always exceptions.
- Full Domain Protection – when you reach the checkout cart, it will ask you if you want to add domain protection. Yes! This is highly recommended to add.
- Email – It is optional to add an email during checkout on GoDaddy. It certainly looks more professional to have a business email, but it’s not a must to do it on the day you purchase your domain. It can always be done at a later date.
- Website – GoDaddy does give a free website builder. Since we’re using WordPress for our website, untick the website option on GoDaddy.
Who makes the payment on these websites?
We highly recommend the customer buys their own domain on GoDaddy and their own WordPress plan. The reason is so that you have full control over your own assets. In the future, you may want to hire other services that will need access to one of these platforms and we want you to be in control.
The good news is that we will help you every step of the way when navigating through this new territory.
These costs will be at the very start of the project, hence it’s important to be aware of them and add them to your budget planning.