Create a Website in Singapore: A Beginner’s Guide

It’s finally time to create your own website.

Have you decided on how you want to build your website?

If not, here are some key points that will help make the decision easier. We’ll also look at how much it costs and if you can create a website yourself without any coding knowledge.

Ready to create your first website in Singapore? Let’s go!

How can I create a website in Singapore?

There are 3 main options when it comes to creating a website in Singapore.

1) Hire a freelance web designer to create a website for you

This is a good option if you don’t have a large budget, and you don’t have the time nor patience to build a website yourself.

Hiring a freelancer will usually cost you less than hiring a full-time company to create your website.

You will need to search and vet potential candidates before you hire one, and you are in charge of managing the freelancer. You will usually have to give very specific instructions to get what you want.

2) Hire a web design agency to create the website for you

If money isn’t an issue and your time is precious, hiring a web design agency to create the website is recommended.

A web design agency in Singapore will have experts in their own roles, and you get a generally higher quality assurance than any random freelancer. Working with a web design agency means you get a manager to help manage the different roles, like the designer, the developer, and the content writer.

You will usually get a more hands-off experience when working with a website development agency.

3) Create the website yourself

Finally, the last option: DIY.

If you want to do-it-yourself, you can definitely create a professional website yourself.

You can choose to build a website from the ground up on a server that you own, or you can choose to use services called online website builders.

The popular ones are Squarespace and Wix, but this article is not about how to use them.

This article will provide a beginner’s guide to give you some quick tips to create your own website.

For your info, you don’t necessarily need to create a website if you want to sell something online. 

Here are some alternatives you can consider: Singapore Ecommerce platforms 

Can I create a website on my own?

Yes, you definitely can create your own website in Singapore. In fact, you may even create a website for almost free!

Some people think that they need coding or design knowledge in order to create their own site – this isn’t the case.

There are plenty of online tools out there for creating websites without any previous experience or skills. We wrote an article that compared the best ecommerce website builders if you want to build your own ecommerce store. 

If you want a website for your business which just consists of a number of pages, and the main purpose is to display information, it can be done.

Here are some easy steps you can follow to start your own website in Singapore.

1. First, start by registering a domain name

What is a domain name? 

A domain name is your website address. It is a unique sequence of characters that people will use to access your site (e.g. google.com). We suggest using your business name as your domain name.

The most popular domain extensions for websites in Singapore are .sg, .com.sg, and .com, but there are plenty more extensions available if you want something different.

By registering, you ‘chope’ your website’s name.

You can buy your domain name from any domain registras, though we suggest getting one from a reputable Singapore company. (Example: Web Imp, Vodien, Exabytes)

2. Next, purchase your web hosting 

What is web hosting?

Web hosting is a service that stores your website’s files on their servers so it can be accessed by the public. Think of GoDaddy for U.S., or local web host companies like Vodien and Exabytes.

Your web host will create and store all of your files for you, and these files are essentially what your website is made of.

Buying a web hosting plan is basically renting a web server from the provider.

Imagine the domain name as your house address, and the web server is the land that your house (website) sits on.

You can purchase these two above services together or separately; though we suggest purchasing them from one place. That way, you can easily ‘connect’ your domain name and your web server. 

Choose a web hosting package that suits your current needs. Most new businesses can start with the cheapest package offered by Singapore web hosts.

3. Install an easy content management system (like WordPress for example)

What is a content management system (CMS)?

A content management system is a software that helps you create and manage your website with ease. These tools make it easy to create new blog posts, pages or other types of online content for your site without needing extensive coding knowledge.

For simple basic websites, we suggest using WordPress. WordPress is free to install, and most web server backends have a way of easily installing WordPress.

Once you’ve installed a CMS on your server, you’ll have a way of easily adding new pages, images, videos, and content to your website. (Think of a CMS as the empty frame of a building.)

4. Choose a pre designed theme for your website

If you are reading this guide on how to create a website, high chances are, you have limited knowledge on how to design a nice looking website.

What can you do to quickly give your website a nice look?

We suggest you start looking at pre-made/pre-designed themes, and installing them on your website.

If you are using WordPress, you can look at free WordPress themes.

A WordPress theme is a skeleton of your website that has styling and designs done for you. Installing a theme on your WordPress site will change the look and feel of your whole website with a click of a button!

There are plenty of free themes available on WordPress if you don’t want to spend any money at all. Find them here: https://wordpress.org/themes/

However, if you want even more professionally designed themes with added features and functions, consider paying for premium themes. You can find premium themes on theme marketplaces like Themeforest.

5. Add in your business information and pages of information

Next, create all the webpages you need for your website. Pages should contain text information and suitable images that are relevant to your audience.

Create separate pages for each of your services and products. Provide as much accurate information as possible about your offerings.

Create a ‘Contact us’ page with contact information and location information.

Create an ‘About us’ page with information such as ‘who we are’, ‘our mission statement’, ‘how we started’, etc.

Make sure there is a way for customers to know who you are, what you sell, and how to contact you.

6. Launch your website

Click “Publish”. Different CMS might have a different way of ‘going live’, so you might have to click around. For WordPress, when you click “Publish” on a page, it’s automatically ‘live’.

You’ve done it!

Now, you can start promoting your website to drive traffic to it.

How much does it cost to create a website in Singapore?

If you hire a web design freelancer to create a basic website for you, you can expect to pay about SGD$800-$3000. This includes the cost of designing and creating a website for you, as well as any other services that might come with it (domain name registration or hosting).

If you hire a website development agency in Singapore to create your website, this will be more expensive – usually between SGD$3000-$8000 depending on how unique you want your website to look, and what features you want your website to have.

Ecommerce websites will typically cost more, with website design companies charging from SGD$9000 onwards. This is because ecommerce sites are more complicated; with more moving parts and systems that need to connect to each other.

Remember that any time you want features that add interactivity with users, or if you want your website to integrate with other tools, the freelance web designer or website design agency will charge extra.

How much is it to create your own website in Singapore?

The actual out of pocket costs can be as low as zero. If you choose to use a free website builder, you can start a website for SGD$0.

When you build your own website from the ground up, expect to pay around SGD$200-300 if you add up domain fees, web hosting fees, and if you use some premium themes.

Warning: There are some hidden costs if you decide to create your own website.

You need to include your own manpower and time costs that you as a business owner personally invested to create the website. It could take several days or weeks of your time.

Another cost to take into consideration are the opportunity costs. Are you losing sales because you are focusing on doing web design and website development, which can be outsourced to a professional?

Lastly, are you losing potential sales and revenue if your website doesn’t look as professional and trustworthy, if compared to your competitors?

Creating your website yourself on a budget could actually be costing you thousands of SGD.

Conclusion

Consider your budget, time, and manpower resources carefully when deciding whether to create a website yourself, or outsource the work to a web design expert.

There are more options than ever before for creating your own website.

If you want to make sure your website is professionally done and is trustworthy to your target customers, don’t hesitate to hire a professional.