Web Dev Services

Take advantage of Cloud’s free consultations. They may help guide some of your early decisions.

Introduction

Cloud is a full-stack developer, from the bare metal installations at the server to the final web components on the screen. Although it’s a bit more common to rent some cloud storage space or “serverless” edge functions these days, the outcome is the same. Cloud can manage your allocated hardware resources.

Whether you are just getting started, or are already established with a web presence, let’s see how she can help bring you the lowest cost web development plan against your business technology to maximize your return of investment (ROI).

A Quick Couple of Disclaimers

Cloud does not design logos, or offer photography, and she will not support AI logo generators. She will gladly link you up with a local artist in her network who would be more than willing to work with you to design an affordable logo, or photograph your inventory. Cloud doesn’t mind minor graphic design tasks related to user interfaces (UIs), basic photo adjustments, or color corrections for the sake of site composition, but in order to keep her rates affordable, she is offering code-focused services and outsourcing big tasks, like photography, logos, and social banners to licensed community members.

Cloud is not licensed to create HIPAA-compliant sites or software, nor is she licensed to meet the compliance needs of financial institutions. These are more vigorous examples of clients that would need certain thresholds that Cloud, as a part-time Developer, just cannot do.

Breaking Down the Cost

Not all projects are created equally. These factors can be expensive even before Cloud opens her text editor.

Domain Names

Domains are controlled by an organization called ICANN. For a modest fee, they allow companies to become registrars for TLDs. For example, Verisign is the company every .com will go through, but Verisign doesn’t sell domain names directly. Companies like Namecheap and GoDaddy will sell you a domain name through Verisign, but with an additional fee on top of the other fees.

Domains names are appraised based on common words and length of the address, and they get re-appraised just about every year because we can only rent them, and for that reason, it’s very important to understand the contract you agree to when you sign up with a Domain Registrar.

Server Space

A DNS points to the network addresses of computers used for hosting your project. This can look like different things to different people. It could be a web builder (Not recommended), a VPS, a shared resource that scales to meet your demands, or a simple drag-and-drop file directory. There is no shortage of hosting options.

HTTPS Security

Every web server on the open internet should be using a correctly configured HTTPS security certificate to encrypt their web traffic. If your space isn’t set up to let you generate your one for free using the non-profit service, Let’s Encrypt, then you must pay for a CA to give you one. Financial institutions (among others) require more strict forms of validation, which can only be obtained through Enterprise Certificate Authorities. Vigorously tested certificates can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars extra per year, but if you don’t need them, free ones work just fine.

Payment Gateways

If you want to sell stuff through your site, you will need a Payment Gateway to handle the transactions. The company Stripe, for example, charges 2.9% + $0.30 for the total of every transaction conducted online. If your customer is International, the fee is an additional 1.5%. You might want to consider adjusting your prices to make up for every single payment fee you will get.

Other Considerations

Let's future-proof your idea right now! Some other points of consideration are database management, load balancing between multiple servers to keep you online, custom email for your domain, and additional services that are required to run if you want to use a particular piece of software in your project, like a CMS or a private social network.