Businesses need to have an online presence – there’s no way to avoid this anymore.

For instance, a recent BDC study revealed that 91% of customers regularly visit the official company website before they contact it for any information. It’s the same for business clients as well. Over 57% of the B2B sales process takes place online before an actual salesperson comes into the picture.

Every entrepreneur needs to learn how to create a website, sell products online, and build their social media profile. However, what will it cost to launch your business’s online presence?

Determine What Features You Plan to Have

Determining the services and features you’re going to offer online ensures that your money is spent wisely. This will also aid you in avoiding hidden costs down the road.

Decide on what your goals will be. This step will help you establish a solid budget.

Here are the costs you’ll take to take into consideration

  • Setting Up the Online Store
    Are you going to offer your services and products for sale online? Your website will need a payment processing and shopping cart feature built into it then.There are several choices you can choose, from free website templates that charge a commission on every sale you make to custom eCommerce website solutions that require a hefty upfront fee.
  • Website Content
    Your content will determine the quality of your site. It is imperative that your website have striking visuals and well-written articles in it that impress potential customers. You can also translate your site to appeal to a broader audience.If you want to save money here, you can come up with these visuals on your own. Delegating this task to your team is also a viable option. Sometimes, your needs are best met with a combination of these solutions.
  • Website Architecture and Design
    You’ll need to invest quite a bit of resources and time to come up with an effective, attractive website. Attracting and retaining website visitors is nothing short of an art.You need to enhance your website’s usability, meaning visitors need to be able to navigate the site easily. Usability is what will determine the effectiveness of your website and the amount of traffic your website can attract. Search engine optimization is another factor that needs to be considered as well.
  • Software Expenses
    This comes down to what your goals are. However, there are many ways to mitigate these expenses as well. Firstly, you need to get hold of open-source software applications that can be used by anyone for free.Almost every software application has an open-source variant. However, their quality generally tends to be much less compared to proprietary software products.

    In case you’re not interested in paying a hefty upfront fee, try to see whether the software developers have a subscription model. Apart from keeping your software updated regularly, you also have the flexibility to unsubscribe or subscribe to new business licenses if your user base increases or decreases.