If your startup needs a website then WordPress is the best option
Every startup needs to advertise the products and services they offer. Advertising comes in many shapes and form but the most cost effective way is a website. To create a website for a startup, the following parts are necessary:
- Domain name
If you can afford it, register the plural from if applicable as well. - Web host
Prices range from $3 to about $25 per month with discounts if paid yearly. - CMS
WordPress is the most-used content management system and best of all, free. - Plugins
A basic WordPress site is not enough which is why plugins must be added.
The actual cost of a WordPress site
Several years ago, I implemented a small tweak for a local startup and was told that they paid CAN$ 6200 for their WordPress site. I was stunned and in disbelieve after I was shown the actual receipt. Indeed, there were many charges which when added up, cost CAN$ 6200.00 plus Tax.
To make a long story short, the founder wished he met me earlier. Based on the fact that they had to provide almost all of the copy (text) and images, the site should have cost maybe CAN$ 500 at the most.
So what is the actual cost of a WordPress site? Well, the domain name costs about US$10 – 20 per year and web hosting starts at less than US$ 5 per month.
WordPress is given away for free and every web host I have ever worked with provided a quick one-click installer. The WordPress theme can be a free one or a custom design. Depending on the needs of the customer, a custom designed WordPress theme can go into the $1000’s but at that level, a shopping cart or similar money making system has been built in.
Here at Fedorum we have various website products which are all aimed at startups. A startup must have a website up and running as fast as possible because Google takes quite a bit of time to index new sites.
It takes us an average to two days to go from first contact to an actual website which the client can access.
They say WordPress is slow
Yes, there are plenty who say that WordPress is slow but talk is cheap. This website, fedorum.com is hosted with Siteground and our hosting plan costs about US $6 per month because we prepaid for 12 months.
How slow is fedorum.com? Let’s find out. To see the access speeds, we go to GTMetrix and later on also to Google for they ought to know better than bloggers who say WordPress is slow.
Once the gtmetrix.com website opens, I type in https://fedorum.domhub.ca and press the blue ANALYZE button. Then I wait a few seconds for their script to canalize everything and once completed, I get a performance score. Take a look and keep in mind that that WordPress is a free product, hosting is a cup of coffee per month.
As you can see, even a low-cost shared web hosting plan serves this website in a little more than half a second which is great. Next time you hear someone say that WordPress is slow please ignore that advise and focus on your product. Don’t let anyone distract you for managing a startup has enough other challenges to overcome.
Time for a second opinion
When it comes to websites, Google is the only judge that matters. So let’s see how Google’s PageSpeed Insights sees fedorum.com
Mobile platform: 95%
On the desktop: 99%
If you have a website then check out your score with either GTMetrix or Google’s PageSpeed Insights
Just load the page and enter or copy/paste your website URL. Assuming that your site is well built, it should load in about a second or less depending on how optimized the images are.
Conclusion
The startup phase is both stressful and exciting. Looking back, everyone knows what she/he did wrong but this is how we learn and next time we know more. If your startup needs a website then we’d be delighted to make you one. If you have time and want to do it yourself then the experience gained will come in handy.
If you need help finding a suitable domain name then we’d be happy to take a look on what’s available and send suitable suggestions your way. As you know, most good domain names are taken and if your branding can not be changed then you still have to option to buy the right domain from a domain squatter.
We’ve helped many startups find the right domain name and company slogan and created brands such as Little Composers (littlecomposers.com), Beginner Projects (beginnerprojects.com), Play Right Away (playrightaway.com), PythonSim (pythonsim.com) and many more.
We handled some of the above domains for clients who wanted privacy and anonymity. If that matters to you too then we are excited to assist you.
Contact us
To get started, leave a comment below with your contact details and if it sounds legit, we’ll get in touch.
Thank you for reading.
