How to Start a Website For $2853.80

How much moola does it take to get a website off the ground? Of course, that depends on a number of factors: the skills and experience of the person or people involved, the overall goal of the site, the estimated traffic, the marketing strategy/budget, etc. To get FoodFinder.net off the ground, I've amassed a whopping $2853.80 in one time expenses and $480 annually in recurring expenses. Here's the breakdown:

• Domain Names: $1849.80: I probably went a bit overboard here due wholly as a result of alcohol. There are actually 5 domain names pointed to the website right now. www.foodfinder.net ($1,300 - 6 years), www.foodsearch.us.com ($149.95 - 5 years), www.foodfinder.us.com ($149.95 - 5 years), www.lunchfinder.us.com ($149.95 - 5 years), www.lunchfinder.net ($99.95 - 5 years)


• Hosting/Database: I use discountasp.net which I love. I host my jeph.tv site there as well. They start at $10/month for ASP.Net hosting and you can add on from there (I think I'm paying about $40/month with add-ons, plus about $100 worth of various set up options). They do get you for some services, but for an experienced user, I highly recommend them.


• Images: In the early stages of design, I thought I was going to need a vast library of images. As such, I signed up for a subscription at www.123rf.com. The quality is great and for $199, I get a 90 day subscription which allows me 5 downloads per day. I've got a slew of images that I will probably never use, but that's OK.


• Logo: I am no designer; this will become clear as you use the site. The logo was purchased in a contest at www.99designs.com. I loved this process. Basically, you post a description of what you're looking for and what you're willing to pay and designers from around the world submit designs. I saw some really cool options before deciding; there are some very talented folks in that community.

That's it; the remaining work is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. I force myself to work an hour per day and that usually turns into 4 or 5. I started in April and would say I average 4 hours per day, 7 days per week. That's roughly 476 hours...ugh.

So that's all it takes. Now the path I took isn't viable (or recommended) for most people. In fact, for a non-experienced user, I would recommend creating a blog with links to static pages. Take this site for example (this actually came up recently). For eCommerce, I would probably leverage a subscription package like Ebay stores. There are a ton of free or low-cost options available that allow users with limited technical skill to develop an internet presence

What's your idea?