5 Things to Know BEFORE You Pay for a WordPress Website

Picture being at a grocery store. There are five boxes of the exact same cereal in a row. One is $3, two are $5 and two are $4. Which one will you pick? The $3 one of course! Picture the same scenario except the boxes are at different stores. Which one will you pick? It will be the one from whichever store you are at.

If you Google “Website Design” you will find thousands upon thousands of search results. If you are looking to have a website built it can be hectic finding the right designer. My fear for clients is that they don’t always know what to look for. You could end up paying hundreds of dollars and never know if you were overcharged, if the coding is accurate or how well your website works with search engines. Not only that, but if people only knew the possibilities of what they could have at such a low price they would be very surprised.

First let me give you a preface..

WordPress.org launched WordPress in 2003. I only found out about WordPress in 2009 but since I have tried it out, I haven’t designed a website in plain HTML ever since. The small exception to this is that I did put my personal website in plain HTML for a few months because I wasn’t blogging, or updating often. To help you understand WordPress, let me answer a few questions:

What is WordPress?
WordPress is a Content Management System. It is often used as a blogging platform.

How would WordPress benefit me?
You would be able to maintain your website on your own without having to know HTML. Here are just a few of the editing options you have; add/remove/update pages, links, content, pictures, audio & video. All of these changes are done without the worry of accidentally coming in contact with the design. That is honestly just the beginning. There are so many other great things. Check out the list of features to read them all.

With that in mind I want to tell you five things you should know before you pay for a WordPress website.

1. WordPress can be downloaded for FREE by anyone. The only thing you should be paying for if you request a WordPress website is the design, installation or overall set up (pages, links and etc).
**Hint: Pages take about 30 seconds to set up. It is literally done by a few clicks and typing in a title and than text. You could do this on your own unless you prefer not to or if you want something more advanced than text and a few photos.
2. WordPress has a Five Minute Installation Guide. After the installation it takes about 45minutes give or take for WordPress to upload. It takes only minutes to install pre-made themes or “designs”. Keep this in mind when you are paying for installation.
**Hint: There are guides on how to install WordPress yourself. If you are up for the challenge, check out WP Beginner’s guide. Also, several website hosts install WordPress for free when you sign up for hosting.
4. There are hundreds of FREE themes or “designs” that look amazing and have much functionality. Many of them you probably couldn’t even afford to pay a designer to create and they are available at no charge. Check out some free WordPress themes.
**Hint: To find some really great themes, google things like “Top 20 free WordPress themes of 2009″ or “Best business WordPress themes of 2009″
5. You can start up a WordPress website for free – no cost for hosting, no cost for installation, no cost for anything.. free. There are of course some down sides to this option. There are limitations on what a person can do with their website and also you would have a generic web address (www.yoursitename.wordpress.com).

I hope you found this post helpful. My aim in writing this was to at least let people know what their options are so that you can make an informed decision. You know the saying “You get what you pay for..” well, that doesn’t apply with WordPress websites. You can get amazing websites for so much less than you maybe ever thought possible.

Image used with permission. Thank you.