Buying a website:

Things you should know about buying a web site.

Often when a person is buying their first new website, they want to know several things.   What's Involved?     How much will a name cost?     Where will my site be, and how much will THAT cost?   How much will making the site cost?   Why does it cost so much?   Is there any guarantee?    How long will it last?    What do I need to do on my end?    I'll try to respond a little bit to these nagging questions and provide a decent primer on buying a new web site.

First, the myth.  I'm buying a web site. on the Internet.  Nope. Wrong.  You can not "BUY" an Internet site - you can only lease (or rent) them.  The nature of the whole Internet thing is that you can purchase an agreement to own a site or domain for a limited amount of time.  Even Microsoft doesn't "own" microsoft.com, they have only leased the name.  This is usually done on a yearly basis, so you can buy 'yourname.com' for one year, then renew it every year after that.   When you lease a name such as 'yourcompany.com' - it is referred to as a domain.  There are several letters at the end that can change (as well as whatever the name is before the period) such as .net, .org, etc.  These are known as top level domains.  Of course you can purchase long term leases - 2 years, 5 years, even 10 years.  But eventually your ownership of the site will expire.  And if you want to keep your site available, then you'll need to pay to renew it.
side note: Microsoft.com expires in 2012

What's Involved?
Several things. 

• First you need to have a name for your site (sort of like a phone number).  There are several kinds of names, "yourname.com", (this is called a top level domain) or "yourname.someserver.com", (this is considered a 'sub'-domain) or "someserver.com/~yourname" are the 3 most popular ways to name a site. 
• Second, you need to have a place to put the files that make up your site, the type of computer used for this is called a web server.  This is called "hosting".  In many ways this is the most important part of the entire "create a new web site process"  For professional service where you can expect your site to be found any time of the day, never be "un-available", and all the little fancy stuff work - you need to pay them a monthly fee. (This usually starts out at around $20 per month)
• Third, you need to create the site, and put the files on that server.  This is where you pay your webmaster to create your web site.
• Fourth, you need to get that name registered in the internet phone book so to speak (although that is usually handled by the company that has the server you're putting your files on, and the company that registered your name).  That's called a DNS (Domain Name Server). 
• And Fifth, you should advertise your site in a way that it can be found, this is done by listing your site with various search engines.  Getting your site found when someone does a search for 'your services' is an entire industry by all by its self.  If you research this topic, you'll see acronyms like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and SEM (Search Engine Management) etc.  Large companies spend big bucks for this type of work.  It's not that it's a major secret, but it does take time.
  

How much does a site name cost?
How much does it cost to lease a site for 1 year?  Well even that question has gotten a little more difficult to answer.  Here is the little primer on buying a new 'top level' domain name such as "yourname.com"   In the beginning, the primary organization responsible for setting up your "buy a web site." was Network Solutions, and by most major standards, they are still the primary organization to look to when purchasing a new name.  As the Internet grew there became a need for more companies to handle this registration process. These companies that register the name are called registrars.  Internic.com started handling "who" could actually register a domain name, and ICANN.com got involved in the whole organizational scheme, and nic.com got involved, and ... and ... and...   The bottom line is that there are now over 150 organizations available worldwide who can register a domain, and many of them lease names for as low as $15 - $20 per year.  Outside of that group, you have other companies who purchase names in "bulk".  They buy a large number of names at a discount so that they can re-sell them at a profit.  The 'standard' rate for the purchase of a name over the years has been $70 for a 2 year lease, and $35 to renew each year after that. 

The bottom line: You can find companies that will lease you a name for a little as $10 - $15 per year now, to use the 'top-of-the-line" registry service, it will cost you $35 per year.

Where will my site be, and how much will that cost?
To be quite honest, there are companies out there that will let you put your site on their server for free. "Hosting" a web site is a business all in its own.  Some places will allow you to put up a site for 'free', others will charge you depending upon how many people actually come to your site (called bandwidth).  You can create "yourname.them.com" on many free sites.  But you get what you pay for.  You might have to agree to let them run adds at the top of your page.  You might have to let them "pop up" those annoying little add boxes on your site.  You might find your pages load real slow.  You might find that your site becomes unavailable if too many people see it in a month or a week.  To be frank, if you want your site to be available all the time, with no surprises, your best bet is to find a company that charges you a flat rate every month for a set amount of room, and be done with it.  Very often the company you use to connect to the Internet (called your ISP or Internet Service Provider) will offer you a small amount of room on their server at no extra charge.  Other companies may offer a ton of services at a fee.   Shopping carts, search engine submissions, your own chat rooms, counters, etc.  You CAN pay hundreds of dollars every month for super fast, all the bells and whistles, types of servers. 

The bottom line: The cost for a normal web site. that has maybe a dozen pages or so, I wouldn't expect to pay more than maybe $20 - $25 per month for a reliable decent server. perhaps as much as $35 if they 'host' "yourownname.com".

How much will the site cost?
This depends entirely on who makes it.  There are millions of webmasters out here, and everyone has his or her own prices.  The truth of the matter is that many of the 10 and 12 year old children in school are learning how to make a web site. as part of their daily classes.  The cost of the site will depend on many things, how many pages do you want?  Do you want any fancy stuff like java, javascript's, flash, pictures to change when you run your mouse over it, or dhtml menus that slide in, out, up, our down?  Do you want your own special graphics created for your site?  Do you want the page to be viewable in EVERYONES browser, or just the most common ones?  Do you want to be submitted to search engines so people will find your site?  With so much involved in the entire "make a web site." deal, I would expect the very least you could expect for one page that goes where your webmaster decides, to cost no less than $50 for just a bare minimum page that had your name, address, and phone number on it.

A personal note of good practice.  If you are buying a site, ask for a copy of it on either a floppy disk, or a CD ROM.  If you decide to enhance your site in the future, work on the pages yourself, or have another webmaster add to the site, then having a copy in your possession will save everyone heartache in the future.  Any reputable webmaster won't mind giving you a copy, and even if he charges and extra $5 or $10 for the time and materials, it's worth it.

The bottom Line: For your own name, a good server, 3 - 5 pages with decent graphics and colors, and minimum listings in search engines, expect to pay between $300 - $500 dollars to start with, just to create and upload your site.

Why does it cost so much?
There are many reasons.  The time involved just to create the web site is the primary reason for whatever you're paying.  Remember, it takes time and money to 'LEARN' how to create a site.  The software packages a 'professional' webmaster uses to create your site can run into hundreds or even thousands of dollars.  You have to take into account the time and costs that are involved in creating a name, registering it, making the page(s), the monthly charges for hosting the site, the yearly charges if you have your own domain name.  The time involved learning from you what you want your site to be, who you want to see the site, and what you expect from the site.  It's true, I can go create a site named "something.somewhere.com", make a page or two, and have it up in less than 2 hours.  But to have it done right, there should be special codes in the page that make it easy to be found, it should be registered with search engines, and it should be tweaked to look just right.  "Keywords" should be picked, and the site should be reviewed.  To do it right, the proper graphics should be made, and tweaked for each page.  And "ALWAYS", attention should be paid to the legal issues such as copyright laws.  You don't want to run into a lawsuit down the road because you (or your webmaster) is using someone else's work.

The bottom line: It cost so much, because there is so much involved in doing it RIGHT.

Is there any guarantee?
That depends on what you mean by a guarantee.  For the most part, it's up to you to establish with the person creating the site what type of guarantee you're looking for.  The spelling should be right on the pages.  And the layout should be close to what you expected.  Other than that, if you decide that this picture would look better at the bottom of the page instead of the top, or that you want a section re-worded, or moved, then you are asking for more time that wasn't in the original agreement.  Most webmasters don't mind doing a little fine tuning after the job is done, but if you are asking for hours of additional work, expect to pay his or her going rate.  If you want a guarantee that the site is up, available, and everything works right, you're probably best to know where the site is, and discuss those things with them (although your webmaster may be able to give you a general idea).  Some servers will offer you a rebate if they are down for any length of time, others won't.  Computer equipment does break down, bad weather will take out lines of communication, and computer parts do become obsolete.  Sometime a server will be down for a day or two just to upgrade.  If you're asking for a guarantee that 'yourname.com' won't expire?  That is something both you AND your webmaster should be aware of.  When you register your name, you should choose a good reputable registrar, and an email will be sent to the person that registered the name.  If you change your email address, then they can't deliver the notice that it's time to renew the name.  What if your name does expire?  Some companies will hold on to the name for a short time, and maybe charge you a small late fee if you don't renew the name on time.  Others will grab the name, and hold it for ransom to the highest bidder.  Discuss this with your webmaster.

The bottom line: The only guarantee you can realistically expect, is that the page will look like you asked, and it will be available 95% of the time.

How long will my site last?
That depends entirely on you, your webmaster, and where you keep your site.  It will last a long as you stay on top of it, and pay for the service you're getting.  Companies do go out of business, and that is even more true in the computer and Internet industry.  Many people had web sites at geocities for years, but when Yahoo bought geocities, there had to be a lot of changes, and many folks lost everything they did in creating a site.

The bottom line: It will last as long as you take care of it.

Tips: What you can do to keep costs down, and make the entire process as easy as possible.
First: Decide what you want your site to be.  What's it going to say, be about, and how will it be presented?
Second: What kind of site do you want it to be?  A personal page with pictures of your family, or a professional looking site that is selling goods or services?
Third: Demographics.  What group of people do you want to reach with your new web site.?  Who do you want to see your site?  Friends, family, young people, old people, people buying shoes or cars, men, women, Americans, Europeans, people who like music, people looking for art?  If you know who you want to attract as a surfer, you'll be better able to explain to your webmaster how you want your site designed.
Fourth: How much of the work do you want to put into the site yourself?  If you can type, and you have a computer, then you can probably save some money by doing a lot of the work yourself.  Type up what you want to say, lay it out in a similar manner as you want to see it presented, then either email it to your webmaster, or give it to him on a disk.  Then he (or she) spends less time typing, and more time setting up the format, and web layout.  Everyone saves.
And Last: Decide if you want to learn the basics of making web pages, and web sites.  If you have a site that you want to constantly change, update, renew, and add to, then the time you pay a webmaster to teach you the basics can be money well spent.  If you can make a document in a word processor (such as WordPerfect, or MS Word), then you can learn the basics of making a web page in a few short hours.   If you just want a static site for your business listing where you are, what you offer, and how you can be reached, and you don't want to have to worry about any of the details, then you can probably get your very own "new" web-site ... up and running, in under 2 weeks for less than $500

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related links
Getting found in Search Engines
Webmaster links to tools

Your webmaster,
Charles H. Davis - better known as "Ched"

 

Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

 

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updated: 05.03.03		buywebsite.html
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