Ask five people what a website costs and you'll get five different answers. Some say it's free. Some quote a figure that sounds like a car. Both can be true, because "a website" isn't one thing. It's a few separate parts, some paid once, some paid every year, and some that cost nothing at all.
This guide explains each part in plain English, for business owners in Accra, Kumasi or anywhere in Ghana, and for the web designers who serve them. It won't give you a single price, because there isn't one. It will show you what you're paying for, so you can compare quotes properly and avoid the costly surprises.
01The parts of a website
Think of a website like a shop:
- The build is the shop fitting: the design, the shelves, the sign. You usually pay for it once.
- The domain is your address, like
adjoaskitchen.com. You rent it, every year. - Hosting is the building the shop sits in: a computer, called a server, that keeps your site online all day.
- Email is your post: messages your site sends to customers, and the mailbox you use to talk to them.
- Maintenance is the cleaning and repairs that keep everything working.
Let's take them one at a time.
02The build: paid once
This is what you pay a web designer to plan, design and build the site. It's usually the biggest single cost, and it varies the most, because a website can be anything from one page with a WhatsApp button to a full system that takes orders, emails the owner and gives them a private dashboard.
To give you the shape: the course's own example packages run from GHS 1,500 to 3,000 for a starter site, and GHS 4,000 to 8,000 for a business site with orders or bookings. They're examples, not market rates, so ask two or three designers for a written quote and compare what each one includes.
When you compare quotes, compare what's included, not only the number:
- How many pages?
- Can customers order or book on the site, or does it only show information?
- How many rounds of changes are included before launch?
- What happens if something breaks in the first month?
- What do you need to provide: photos, prices, text?
A good designer sends this in writing, with a deposit (often half) to start and the rest before launch.
03The domain: paid every year
Your domain is your name on the internet. You never own it forever. You rent it a year (or a few years) at a time from a company called a registrar.
Domain prices have two numbers, and the second one matters more:
- The first-year price, often a discount to win you as a customer.
- The renewal price, what you pay every year after that.
As an example, when the course's lesson on domains was written, a .com at Hostinger cost US$9.99 for the first year and US$19.99 a year to renew. Prices change, so always check today's figures and write down the renewal price.
A .com works well for a Ghanaian business. Ghana's own ending, .com.gh, is sold through registrars listed by NIC Ghana.
If the domain isn't renewed, you lose it. Your website and your emails stop working, and after a short grace period someone else can buy the name.
Who should own the domain?
The business. It should be registered on the owner's own account, created with the business's own email, and paid on their own card or payment method. Not the designer's account, and not hidden inside the designer's price. A designer can be invited to help manage it. If you ever part ways, your address stays yours.
04Hosting: sometimes free, sometimes not
Hosting keeps your site online. Its cost depends on how the site is built.
The course teaches hosting on Vercel. Its free Hobby plan is only for personal, non-commercial sites, so a business site needs Vercel's Pro plan: US$20 a month at the time of writing. Many designers host all their clients' sites in one Pro team and include the cost in a monthly care plan. Other setups charge a monthly or yearly fee too, especially platforms where you pay for the builder and the hosting together.
Ask your designer two questions: "Who pays for hosting, and is it in my monthly fee?" and "Does the plan allow business use, and what are its limits?"
05The database and emails the site sends
If your site takes orders or bookings, it needs two more things behind the scenes:
- A database, where orders and bookings are saved. The course uses Supabase, which has a free plan.
- An email-sending service, so each order sends a confirmation to the customer and an alert to the owner. The course uses Resend, which also has a free plan.
Free plans have limits: on the number of emails a day, on backups, and in some cases the database pauses if it isn't used for a while. For most small businesses starting out, the free plans are enough. If a site grows busy enough to need more, the upgrade should be the owner's decision, on the owner's account, with a clear explanation of what it adds.
06Your business email address
There are two different things here, and people often mix them up.
- Receiving at your own address. An address like
[email protected]can forward to the Gmail you already use, for free, with a service like Cloudflare Email Routing. Customers write to your branded address; you read it in Gmail. When you reply, your reply comes from your Gmail address. - A full mailbox on your domain. If you want to send as
[email protected], with its own inbox, you need a paid mailbox from an email provider, usually charged per person per month.
A new business can start with forwarding and upgrade later.
07Maintenance: the cost people forget
A website isn't a printed brochure. Its software needs security updates. Its data needs backing up. The domain needs renewing. Your prices, menu and opening hours change. Without someone looking after it, a site slowly breaks, and you only notice when a customer complains.
Many designers offer a maintenance plan (sometimes called a care plan): a monthly fee for updates, backups, regular checks and a set amount of small changes, like new prices or photos. The course teaches three levels, with example prices to show the shape (they are examples, not market rates):
- Care: GHS 200 to 400 a month
- Care+: GHS 500 to 900 a month
- Growth: GHS 1,000 to 2,000 a month
Whatever you choose, make sure the plan says what counts as a "small change", how fast they'll reply, and what isn't included.
08Costs that aren't money
Some of the biggest costs are your own time:
- Content: photos of your real products, your real prices, a few lines about your business. Your designer can't invent these, and shouldn't.
- Photos: AI images are fine for a mock-up. For the real site, your customers should see your real food, hair styles or products, taken in good light.
- Feedback: quick answers when your designer sends something to check. A project waiting on you for weeks costs you weeks of sales.
09Questions to ask before you pay anyone
- Whose name and account will the domain be on?
- Is hosting free or paid, and what are the limits?
- What does the build include, and how many rounds of changes?
- What will I pay every year, and every month, after launch?
- What happens if I want to move to another designer?
A designer who answers clearly, and in writing, is one worth working with.
10Learn to set it up properly
Module 12 of the course, Launch Like a Pro, walks you through buying a domain and budgeting for its renewal, connecting it to your site, sending emails from your own domain, forwarding a hello@ address to Gmail, and getting found on Google. Module 14 covers client-owned accounts and monthly care plans. If you're a business owner, this guide is yours to share with your designer. If you'd like to build sites like this yourself, start with Module 0 of the course, free.
This guide comes from Module 12 of the course. The full course is GHS 399 ($40), paid once and yours to keep. Module 0 is free.