The proviso here is you are going to do almost all the work and you’re au fait with some software. So, how much does it cost to start a start-up?
What we’re looking at is how cheap it is to build an online presence.
The Logo
So, you have a business name and a business. Good start. How do you look convincing? A logo. You can mock your own up, easily. You can do this for free, search for logo makers.
It is a stronger proposition to get something original made by a good designer, not the very best, those folks are expensive.
Come up with half an idea. Brief the designer. Allow for a couple of iterations.
Bear in mind
If the logo is quite long, or extended in the jargon, you’ll want as well a ‘stacked’ version. That is a square one. Currently most social profiles will use square logos.
You’ll also want a favicon (those tiny icons you see in the corner of your browser tab).
You should also have the designer supply his / her original artwork. Usually in Adobe Illustrator, perhaps in Photoshop. Anyway, get the originals so you can have it adapted.
Also ask for the logo in a variety of formats.
- Extended
- Stacked
- Favicon
- Original artwork
- SVG
- EPS
- PNG
JPEG
Cost: £100 – £250
Images for Website
You can pick up lots of free and good quality imagery. Don’t rip of images from Google. Try the Commons Wiki, UnSplash, Pixel Bay. Some will be completely free, some will just want a credit.
If you are even slightly familiar with image exiting software you can crop and reduce the file size. Use ImageOptim (it’s free) for making the file size smaller.
Cost: Free
Buy a Domain
A .com is still the best to go for as it is more ‘a sign of confidence’ rather than an SEO retirement. If you can’t get the .com, no sweat. You can build on other TLDs (Top Level Domains, like .co. .co.uk. Avoid spammy extensions like eu. They still have a bad reputation as they were very cheap and used by naughty people.
Cost: £1.99 – £15
Website
Let’s say it’s a non ecommerce site, it’s just a presence. See more about ecommerce below.
You’re going to go for WordPress. Free. You just have to do all the graft.
WordPress Theme
You can spend a lot of money on a custom build but we’re taking about a basic presence.
Cost: Free – around $60
WordPress Plugins
Some will be premium but you can get a lot for free.
SEO
Yoast or RankMath? You get a lot more for free with RankMath.
Security
Don’t stint on this as all WordPress sites are attacked all day long. Free versions that are great include Sucuri.net and WordFence.
Backup
This depends on your hosting, see below. Otherwise you should get Backup Buddy
Cost: Free – $30pm
Hosting
Lots of hosting choice and you will have to stump up here.
Cost: £30 – £40 p.a.
Video Hosting
My preference is always for Wistia but it is pricy, £75 p.m. Next on the list is Vimeo. It has a reasonable free version and only a few quid to get rid of the branding and load a reasonable amount of gigabytes each month.
DON’T embed YouTube videos. They can create leakage to competitors with the recommended videos that appear at the end of each video.
DO, start a YouTube channel and upload your videos there, this is for search in two ways, one it is more likely for a YT video to appear on the Google Search Page than any other platform like 80 – 90% more likely. Plus a lot of people will start searching on YouTube, especially for product / service reviews.
Cost: $12 p.m (paying each month and not annually for Vimeo)
Social Platforms
You’ll need a variety of banners and logo sizes but after that it is all free (we’re not including advertising here). Just try to claim the same handle for each one.
Email Platform
Lots and lots to choose, the easiest to use and is FREE is MailChimp. A great starting point, you’ll want signup forms on your site. All free with MailChimp. The free version currently allows up to 2,000 subscribers and 10,000 sends per month (ie 5 x 2,000 sends)
Cost: Free (but MailChimp branded)
Ecommerce
The two cheapest options here. First, with WordPress is Woo Commerce
WooCommerce: Depends on setup: Transaction Fees, hosting etc
Second is you ditch WordPress and go all out Shopify
Cost: Shopify: $29 p.m.
IF you are doing everything yourself ie you are technically proficient it’s quite cheap isn’t it? BUT be realistic and get quotes for customisation.
Final DIY Cost (non e-commerce): £175
The above is just an idea of the costs involved to do something basic for yourself. There’s a lot more to starting a start-up and being successful though.
Read how we can help Start-ups get online, this does cost though!
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