When you think of building a website, WordPress comes to mind. They are the market leader in content management systems. When you go to their website, they inform the user that it is free to use. However, it is free for users who want a basic blog with a basic theme and a little customizability.
If you want to create a website that promotes your enterprise, then you will not be able to create it with the help of the free WordPress plan. Before you start purchasing a paid package of WordPress for your website, you should ask yourself the question is it even worth it?
The truth is that many businesses use WordPress to manage their website. However, they need so many paid plugins, themes, and sometimes an entire in-house development team that there are many hidden costs if you choose WordPress. Let’s break down the hidden cost of using WordPress so that entrepreneurs can decide which CMS is best for their startup.
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Hosting your site on WordPress
There are two reasons why most users choose WordPress to host their website. The first reason is that WordPress has a huge community of users who are there to provide tips and solve the queries of others.
The second reason is that it has the most easy-to-use interface. Anyone can create a website with WordPress, and plugins like elementor make it even easier to create advanced websites without coding.
If you want to move past the free version of WordPress, then the premium plan costs around $4 per month. However, these costs do not end here. Along with a domain, you also need a professional theme which suits your business. Most of the good themes are paid.
So if you start a website with a premium plan, you can account for the total cost of around $8 for the first month. You only have to pay for the theme once, whereas payment for the paid WordPress plan is made every month.
The premium plan of WordPress costs around $48 per year, and the professional plan costs around $96 per year. You can count the WordPress theme that you buy as an additional cost of using WordPress.
Ways to host your website and their costs
There are many ways to host a website, and you must decide which method suits you best as a business owner.
Self-Hosting- If you prefer hosting your website with a third-party shared hosting provider, you can do so too. Companies like Hostgator provide reasonable monthly packages at $4.86 per month. You rely on them for the speed, performance, and security of your website.
Regular Managed WordPress Hosting- Managed WordPress Hosting allows you to self-host with the assistance of people who guide you about things you do not know about.
If you choose this plan, you will not get lost in hosting a website and will have time to think about business operations. Rates of this service typically start from $29 but can vary. You will be on a shared server, but their experts know about the specifics of website security.
If you are unsatisfied with a shared server, you can get a dedicated server at around $100 to $250 per month. If you want to buy a website theme, add another $40 to $100 to the budget.
Premium Managed WordPress Hosting- With the help of premium managed WordPress hosting, you can install any functionality to your website that you like. A business is always experimenting on what gets them the most sales.
That is why your website also has to be flexible. If today you use a different call to action, then tomorrow you may need another one. You should not struggle to change your website according to the needs of your website.
Plus, being in business means that you may have to host online events to attract potential customers. You may need to add temporary functionalities like courses, membership, webinars, etc.
With this hosting plan, your enterprise’s website will get top-notch security, storage, and support. A Premium Managed WordPress Hosting plan can cost you around $540 to $1100 per year.
Additional costs of using WordPress
When you start your website with WordPress, everything goes smoothly in the beginning. However, with time your business grows, and so do your needs. You will need more functionalities from your website, which WordPress will only be able to offer in the form of plugins.
You will have to put a lot of effort into your website’s design, upkeep, and plugins. WordPress markets itself as an affordable CMS.
However, to make your site more functional, you will need to install alot of plugins, which slow your site down. There are a lot of plug-ins that are extremely crucial for your website and good for the health of your website too.
However, when people start to see all these shiny plugins, they keep installing them randomly. This affects the health of your site in a negative manner. It can create a various performance or functionality flaws.
You may get some basic technical support from your hosting provider or WordPress, but they will not fix a technical issue you created.
This leads to many companies hiring their in-house development and maintenance teams. You thought WordPress would cost you hundreds of dollars, but as your business grows, you end up spending thousands of dollars on a technical team to ensure your website performs efficiently.
The true cost of using WordPress is as high as efficient as you want your website to be. If you want to run a basic blog, it is free, but if you want to use it for running a scalable business, it starts from hundreds of dollars and then goes to thousands of dollars. Of course, your employee’s salary is counted as the cost of using WordPress.
The plugins available in the CMS marketplace are the main culprit adding to the cost of using WordPress. Most plugins are needed to add functionalities to the website. For example, if you want to sell products on your site, you need to add the WooCommerce plugin.
However, you have no control over how the plugin was developed. So if there is a bug in the plugin, then it means that the bug will affect the performance of your website.
You will have to spend extra money to take care of the issue. That is why you should be careful about the plugins you download to avoid spending extra money on maintenance.
