How Much Does It Cost to Build a Custom WordPress Site?

In this era, every entrepreneur knows the importance of having a site for their business. But two questions usually cross their minds: how to get the developed website and how much that website’s development costs.

WordPress is one of the popular CMS. Various WordPress development companies use that to create unique websites for all kinds of businesses. Though WordPress is an open-source platform that is free to use, you will have to bear some implicit costs if you go for custom WordPress development.

A custom WordPress site means hiring a WordPress developer to create a unique design for your website.

This blog post will discuss some of the cost-affecting factors to build a custom WordPress site. 

Cost Affecting Factors to Build a Custom WordPress Site

• Developer Costs

When it comes to hiring developers, you can either go for an agency or a freelancer. A custom website’s cost depends upon your requirements, budgets, and the developer’s hire rate.

Hiring a WordPress development company is one of the ways to create a custom WordPress site. Along with the domain name and hosting, you also have to pay the developer, which might cost over $1000.

Domain Name

Before making the site live on the internet, every website requires a domain name. The cost of your domain name entirely depends on where you purchase it from. Based on the requirements, a domain name cost can range from free to greater than $1000.

It is also vital to select a memorable domain name to help you promote your business.

Web Hosting

Apart from the domain name, there is web hosting. For it, you have two options: shared web hosting or dedicated web hosting.

With shared web hosting, you have to share the server with other businesses. It costs less to you because different companies use the server, but the server might not perform as well.

In contrast, dedicated web hosting means you have a particular server for your business. It could be expensive for you, but you don’t have to share it with other companies. The cost will depend upon the type of web hosting you choose and where you host your site. In addition, the average cost of web hosting ranges from $24 – $10,000 per year.

Theme or Website Design

WordPress offers numerous themes that you can use to personalize your online presence. Along with the premium themes available for your business, WordPress also provides a wide variety of free themes.

The cost of a WordPress theme may be in the range of $0 – $200 per theme. Moreover, the price varies – you may find it for $20 or might find it at $100. Some premium themes might be costly, but they make your site more professional.

Choose the themes that match your site’s requirements. If you are a newcomer, you can choose the free themes, but it is advised to select customized templates on a website with high traffic. It is because there might be a compatibility issue with free themes; moreover, they may not be mobile-responsive.

Plugins/Extensions

WordPress comes with an extensive collection of extensions and plugins. These are helpful to expand your site’s functionality. Though WordPress offers free plugins, there might be some premium ones that come with a cost.

Based on the requirements, the cost of a plugin might be in the range of $0 – $1000. Plugins are also priced differently, from one-time fees to yearly subscriptions.

There are various high-quality plugins to enhance your site’s security. Some of the best WordPress security plugins are –

• Sucuri Security – This is an all-in-one security solution that offers both free and premium versions. It starts at $6.99 per month.

• Jetpack – It eliminates the need for other plugins by combining security, performance, and marketing tools into one. The premium versions of Jetpack start from $99/year.

• Yoast SEO –  It is one of the leading WordPress SEO plugins. It helps you to optimize the content by changing and analyzing its focus keyword, meta description, and keyword density. The premium cost for Yoast SEO is $99, excluding VAT per year. It will also depend upon where you are in the world

• Website Maintenance and Security

Website maintenance involves tasks such as ensuring the site’s security, taking the backup of the files, and making a complete upgrade of the website.

The cost of your WordPress site’s maintenance depends on the one who is performing it. The size of your WordPress site also plays a vital role in determining the total cost of maintenance.

The average maintenance cost for small to medium websites is $5 – $500 per month. In contrast, the maintenance cost of large and popular sites is around $200 – $5000 per month. This cost may increase depending upon the type of website.

Another essential element is the security of your site. If you want to give a safe environment to the people browsing your site, you’ll have to add security to your page. Getting an SSL certificate is a standard technology that helps to keep your WordPress site safe. It will encourage people to remain on your site.

A basic security plan will run about $50 per year, but it can reach up to hundreds of dollars if you go for more advanced security options.

In addition, you can make your site fully functional and secure by outsourcing it to an expert freelancer, or you can hire a WordPress development company for the same.

Also read: Top 5 Reasons to Choose Custom WordPress Development

Conclusion

WordPress is a robust and versatile platform to build a business site. Building a site with WordPress will be cost-effective unless you try to make something extravagant. You need to pay a bit more if you plan to have a customized site that is in sync with all your business requirements. fi

Various other factors also influence your WordPress site’s cost. These factors can be your site’s size, functionality, maintenance strategy, and marketing approach. When building a site, it is highly advised to start with small and make use of free components as possible. Once your site gets an increasing audience and traffic, you can further consider the premium features and templates.

Read more Technology