Partner Article

Internet costs put-off two thirds of start ups

Start-up websites are perceived as too expensive, with two in three entrepreneurs seeing high-costs as a barrier in starting an online business, according to new research.

Heart Internet surveyed 1,200 people, finding 65% were reluctant to start a business because of cost.

Jonathan Brealey, managing director of Heart Internet, said: “Despite the low entry costs involved in setting up a business website and the multitude of tools available to help create it, there still exists the common misconception that websites are expensive.

“As an industry, we need to simplify our payment plans and communicate them better to customers.”

The results show the average cost of creating a business site was thought to be £720, around £60 per month, whereas sites can be started from £2.49 per month, according to Heart Internet.

The survey said one in four people asked would not start a site even though they would like to, because they felt their technical skills were not up to scratch; a potential downfall as one in three said ‘online’ was the best medium to test a business idea.

The most expensive URL was seniors.com, which reportedly went for $1.8m at auction.

The domain name auction sold a further 218 web domain names, selling for a total of $10.8m.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .