A lot of entrepreneurs, especially start-ups, are frightened by the assumed cost of creating a website for their businesses. After my post on 6 Reasons Why every Business Needs a Website yesterday, I discussed with one, Mr. Bright. He happens to be a start-up taekwondo trainer based in Nigeria. Bright explained that after reading my article, he discovered that a website will afford his business greater value than the social media platform that he currently operates.

But the question nagging his mind was, what is the cost of creating a website?
Like Bright, many Nigerian start-ups are not just satisfied with being told that their businesses need a website. They know that already. What disturbs them is how much it will cost to get one. So in this post, I will be detailing an estimate of what it will cost a Nigerian business owner to create a website as at 2018.

There are Several Basic Necessities for a Website Project but I intend for this article to be brief so let’s delve right into it.

#1 – Cost of Domain Name

To set up a website, you need a domain name. This is the name given to your website. So if your business name is UcB Plc, your website domain name could be ucb.com. Sometimes, though, the domain name may have been already registered by another user. In this case, you’ll just have to explore other possible options.

Without a domain name, you do not have a website. So the first thing you’ll want to do is register one. But how much?

Well a typical domain registration will cost you between N1,000 and N4,000 yearly for .com.ng, .com, .org, .net et cetera. The cost can also vary based on the domain type (.com, .ceo, .net) and registrar you decide to use. Now if your chosen name is already purchased and up for sell by the owner, it may also be more expensive.

#2 – Cost of Hosting your Website

When an author decides to publish a book, he or she is usually faced with the option of choosing a good and affordable publisher. Now the same thing applies to the internet. When you decide on a domain name for your website, the next step will be to choose a hosting server.

Some factors should inform your choice. I will try to be as plain and simple as possible here. Other technical details will be discussed in a later post.

One of such factors is the Range of expected traffic

Have you ever tried to access some valid websites only to be told that the site is unavailable? This usually happens with websites like JAMB, WAEC, NYSC and so on during registration and result checking. Have you ever wondered why this happens?

Now that’s because the site was originally built to accommodate a particular number of users at a time. It’s just like an eighteen-seater bus, you know. Once the seats are all occupied, the next intending passenger is referred to another bus. This dynamics is called DNS resolution in technical language. We will expound on this in a future post.

No matter which plan you choose to start with, you’ll likely need to upgrade it to a higher one as the site grows both in users and traffic.

So How much will this cost?

Since you are just starting, hosting a website in Nigeria should cost you N2,500 per annum. Some Hosting providers may give you a free domain when you buy a host plan.

#3 – Cost of Website Design

You may not want to go through the pain of creating your own websites. As such you could easily hire a freelancer. If this applies to you, then you’ll need to consider the design cost. This can cost from N2,500 to N100,000 and more depending on the number of pages you intend for your website to have and the complexity of each page.

If you Signup on competitive freelance site like our own miduman.com, you would find affordable freelancers.

But if you choose to do the design by yourself, I will advice you take advantage of the Free Content Management Systems (CMS), Purchase a Premium Theme (about N18,000) and do your design yourself  they should be confusing at the beginning, but as is every other thing, practice would give you the Win!

#4 – SSL (Secure Socket Layer)

A very important notice, Ensure you have SSL enable on your website to prevent hacker from stealing sensitive information and hacking into your site. To know if your website is using SSL just check the URL bar, if you see a green padlock like the image above, then it is SSL enabled.

This comes with some Hosting or Domain plans free or for a small fee (N1k -N5k) but installing it on your host server may require technical knowledge but never mind, creating a free account on Miduman would give you access to hundreds of Tech Experts ready to do this for a small fee.

Any other costs?

There are other costs that you need to consider later, but they aren’t essential at the start. Even though the cost of creating a website may be minimal, you should consider improving your site from time to time.

• Logo Design
• Security Checks and Upgrades
• Google Analytics
• Facebook Instant Article
• Google AMP, etc.

Creating a free account on Miduman would give you access to hundreds of Tech Experts.

Renewal cost – What does it Cost to Maintain a Website

A website owner is usually expected to pay a renewal cost. Don’t forget the Hosting and Domain name purchase in step 1 & 2 are annual payments. That’s all to it for the maintenance of a regular business website.

Cost Overview

So succinctly, to create a website in Nigeria, the average expected cost is as follows:

• Domain Name ———— N4,000/yr
• Server Hosting ————N4,000/yr
• Security (SSL) ————-N4,000/yr
• Website Design ———–N25,000
• Total – N37, 000

But if you want to avoid all these rigorous processes, you can always get a good and affordable freelancer by creating a free account on miduman.com