How much does it cost to build and own a website in Ghana?
As a small business owner who wants to expand, you might be thinking of how much website design costs in Ghana. Having a professional website that you are proud of and which accurately reflects your brand is one of the most important aspects of any business, especially in this time and age when all of your potential customers are online.
Research has even suggested that having a website for your business in Ghana can increase turnover by around 45%. Despite this, it is estimated that around 70% of Ghanaian businesses still don’t have one.
It is thought that as many as 81% of people conduct research online before purchasing a product.
To own a website in Ghana, there are some key features you must consider. The Domain Name and Hosting, Web Design and Development and Web Maintenance.
With the above factors, there are others that are further influenced by the specific needs of the company or individual. Different factors come into play if you want to:
- Build a new website
- Redesign an existing website or
- Improve and enhance an existing website.
The method to achieve this website must also be considered. Whether you are going to get a Freelancer, Website design Company or you want to do it all by yourself.
With building a website in Ghana, one must at least have a budget of between GHS 500 and GHC 3000 per year at hand since the budget you will be using depends on the kind of website you wish to build for your business.
Before we start, let’s consider some cost factors which you can’t do without that is if you’re serious about owning your website and not a free website that sits on a subdomain or which you don’t have much control over.
Domain Name
The domain name is the first step you must take in setting up a website since it is your website name. It can also be referred to like your website address or URL. This is usually www.yourdomain.com and it’s a way to uniquely identify your website as a resource on the internet. Since you are creating a website for a business in Ghana, it will be advisable to choose a domain ending with .com.gh. however, the usual .com should work just fine.
The kind of business you are operating will determine the way you should choose your domain ending. Most business will be fine with “.com” whereas non-profit organizations would aim at “.org”. There are times that the desired “.com” domain is already taken by someone and the preferred alternative is to choose a country level domain e.g. “.com.gh” or a different name. Choosing the right domain is a whole focus on its own and probably deserves a post on its own.
Some known websites to get cheap and affordable domains are MyHostAfrica, GoDaddy and Namecheap. Registering a domain name ending with .com or .org in the above mention registrars here in Ghana cost around GHC 50 – GHC 85 a year. Knowing this, you can go straight to purchase your website domain or a web or you can pay a web designer to purchase on your behalf. If you are purchasing yourself, then you must note that both Namesake and GoDaddy offers discount for a registered domain above 3 years or more which is seen in the checkout.
Web Hosting
In completing a website, it needs to be published on the internet for it to be located across the globe. The webspace which is a related software you to run one’s website smoothly is provided to you by an ISP or a Web hosting company and that is what is referred to as the Web Hosting. And usually comes at a cost per month.
The cost of starting a personal blog or a website for your business should be less than GHS 1000 per year. You must target getting more visitors to your site as that is what you would normally want.
Most web hosting companies will let you upgrade your hosting plan when your visitors increase. So, it’s advisable to start with a simple plan which cost less, then work hard on your website then upgrade later.
There are both paid and free web hosting servers on the web but note that, it is better to get a good web hosting than to get a free or cheaper one which will later harm your website. At least you must pay GHS 500 a year on a good web hosting.
You must also know the needs of your website before getting your hosting because not any kind of web hosting provider can support your website. Windows hosting or Linux hosting with Email hosting support must be your preference. VPS and Dedicated Hosting and support for SSL can all get web hosting to be simpler.
Design and development of the website
There are website publishing platforms that allow you to design and publish your website by yourself when you subscribe. I will recommend Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Webflow, Shopify, Format, etc. since they provide easy platforms to use, drag and drop with sophisticated features to build a desirable website.
Acquiring the user’s attention is key. Once you have a visitor on your site, it’s crucial that you keep their attention. If you lose it, your visitor will leave your site and you’ll miss out on a new sale. Therefore, attention must be taken seriously when creating websites for your business. It is advisable to allow a skilled web agency to get into this part for you so that you can get better coverage and with around GHC 100 – GHC 1000, you might be able to have an interesting designing and building for your website needs here in Ghana.
Website Maintenance
Another major cost to consider which is often overlooked is the ongoing maintenance costs. People usually would want to get a website, pay for it and watch the magic happens. But it doesn’t work that way all the time. You’ll have to spend some considerable amount of time, budget and effort to really make a return on your website.
The web agencies in web maintenance are responsible for making your website continuosly look good. They add pictures, articles, products, update software’s and also monitor your websites for security issues. In all, the role of web design and development companies offer web support services.
Ideally, the website usage statics and feedback from users should be considered and appropriate measures are taken to improve upon the website or by removing sections that stand in the way of users. You must budget around GHC 500 for better website maintenance services each year.
How much does it cost to build and maintain a website in Ghana?
In Ghana, depending on your needs, building your website can cost anywhere between GHS 100 and GHS 3000. If you need a feature-rich, custom-built website, it can go as high as GHS 10,000 or more. To build a small website, you’ll need to have a budget for the domain name and web hosting.
Here is a table of some very common websites in Ghana and how much they would usually go for.
Type of Website (Basic) | Price (Annual) |
---|---|
Personal Blog (Free WordPress Theme) | GHS 400 to GHS 700 |
A Child-Care Organisation (NGO) | GHS 800 to GHS 1600 |
Dental Clinic (With Appointment Form) | GHS 1000 to GHS 1600 |
One Page Website (Startups and New Businesses) | GHS 700 to GHS 1200 |
New Restaurant (With Ecommerce) | GHS 1500 to GHS 3000 |
Building Construction Company | GHS 1000 to GHS 1600 |
Law Firm (With appointment form) | GHS 1200 to GHS 2200 |
Conclusion
Prices may differ (decrease or increase) depending on the specific needs of your website.
You should always contact an expert for advice on your website and if you need help building one, send an email to [email protected] and we will link you to one of the tens of designers we have worked with depending on your needs.