There are web solutions for a range of different budgets.

When setting a budget for your online business plan consider both the establishment costs and the ongoing costs of your web solution.

Establishment costs to design and deliver your project may include:

• Developing your requirements or a  functional specification document.
• Content development costs.
• Website building costs.
• Marketing costs.
• The services of legal professionals.

Operating costs include all on-going expenses such as:

• Hosting—this is either a fixed or flexible cost, depending on factors such as  bandwidth usage. For more information, see ‘Hosting your website‘.
• Licensing—make sure that you fully understand the fees for any  licensed images or licensed software that you are using.
• Online service fees—these might include fees and charges related to e-commerce services or search engine optimisation services.
• Ongoing content management—it is important that your  content is kept up-to-date. Any  social media element of your project is likely to require effort to moderate and/or respond to user contributions.
• Ongoing technical maintenance—it will be important to make sure that the software you use for your project is up-to-date and reflects improvements and developments in technology.
• Marketing—investing in marketing for your online presence can help you get the most out of your investments.

You can use the following tables to help you with finding an online solution that both meets your goals and fits within your budget.