This is a summary of some services that are required to run a website. Some of services are not provided by me and the fees associated with them are not covered in my prices. Weather you work with me or not, you need some form of these services to have a website. I am happy to provide references, setup assistance and more information about the best way to go about this process, so please contact me if you have questions.
The 2 required services you need to have a website are:
Average Cost: $75-$150 per year
I can provide you with both. Competitively priced, starting at $75 per year, discounts are available with website package deals.
If you do not have BOTH of these services in place, you cannot have a website, it's that simple. Weather you work with me or not, you should ALWAYS have control of these services, especially your domain name. Make sure they are registered in your name and billed to you. This ensures that you, and no one else, owns your website address. Hosting and domains registered through me are always in your name, making it easy for you to switch providers if you choose to do so.
If you are using or planning on using a 3rd party for these services, your hosting account needs to be Joomla compatible and have some necessary administrative features. Mainly, some sort of a user control panel and phpMyAdmin. These are for setting up administrative features, email addresses and your website database. Any decent hosting company will have these features built in, so it's not hard to come by - but is worth double checking before you buy.
Get your hosting setup through me and your website will be a snap to get up and running.
If you plan on doing business online, you'll need additional services in place to register transactions and protect confidential information.
You will need a merchant account that is compatible with the shopping cart in use on your website is required to make transactions online. There are literally thousands of choices, one well known merchant account is Paypal. Paypal is the easiest to set up and the basic version is free. Although the free version requires your customers to have a Paypal account to make a transaction, it works just fine. For monthly or annual fees you can make the checkout process more transparent for your customers. Do some research into which company will work the best for you and I am happy to assist you with questions regarding this matter.
Average Cost: Free to $400 per year
If you are taking credit card orders online, you will need to have an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate. This will take your customers to a secure and encrypted server to make the transaction. This is when you would see the lock icon in your browser and the address is https, instead of http. If you do not have this, many users will get an "Unsecured Page" warning and may not purchase from your store. Usually your hosting company will offer this service.
Average Cost: $20 per year
Just contact me, I am happy to provide you with answers. Starting a website can be a complex task and I'm here to help!