Another Monday and some more financial investments into the business. So let's jump right in!
After I purchased my domain name, I needed to build a website. Now I could've paid someone to build a website, and I didn't. I didn't because I knew it was cheaper to do myself, but mostly I really wanted to understand the process. I wanted to know how it was done. I hope to be able to pass this off on someone else as my site grows, but right now, I want to know how it all works.
I had to read and learn what building a website even meant. I was utterly clueless. When people say they have a website, I never actually considered what that meant or what it entailed or how much it cost. So this is what I figured out and a mental analogy that I used to wrap my brain around how it all ties together. Maybe it will help you.
Home address. Think of a domain name as purchasing a piece of land. Just because you have the land doesn't mean you have a house. You've just purchased a place that you can put a house.
House. Think of a website as the house you build on the property. It can be elaborate or very simple. It can be just one room (webpage) or have several rooms (webpages).
Utilities. Not only is there the cost of building the house and any renovations that you make after the initial set up, you have to supply the house (website) month to month with water, sewer services, etc. these are your website hosting fees. Hosting fees are the storage fees for maintaining what you've built on your house. They host/store your "web files".
There are many variations of websites that have everything as an all-in-one buying domain, website, and hosting. For me, I bought my domains from different companies and my hosting and website from one company.
My two website design/building companies that I narrowed down my choices to were Wordpress and SquareSpace. I ended up going with SquareSpace because of their ease of use. Wordpress had a steeper learning curve than I was prepared for. And I have been very pleased with my choice. SquareSpace is very friendly, clear, easy to manipulate and change. SquareSpace offers a month-to-month payment option or for a discount a full year can be purchased. I got a double discount by purchasing a full year upfront and by using a discount code I heard on John Lee Dumas' podcast Entrepreneur on Fire.
Income Statement
Revenues: $0
Expenses: $214.55
-Website Domain Purchase: $20.15
-Website Building/Hosting: $194.40