People ask me what it costs to build a website. What you are paying for is the time, the taste and experience of a professional, so you can pay more than $100 per hour. How long does it take? It can take ten to twenty hours or more.
What does it entail? You will need a domain and a hosting company. The WordPress software and theme will need to be installed. Content is usually provided by the client, but often needs editing or enhanced to fit into the layout. Images and photos need to be researched, curated and sized. Pages and links need to be planned and a blog started or imported from the previous website. As many or more than ten plugins that add important security and functionality need to be procured and configured.
Check for broken links, test for mobile, and publish. Revisit the domain and point to the correct url. Test for broken links again. Test for mobile again. Wait ten days and check again. Finally add Search Engine Optimization with researched keywords and google analytics to track your progress. It’s a lot of work. But the cost is one time and can be financed over months. The site is yours and can be edited and altered as you grow.
You can alternatively go to a commercial website and hosting company such as Squarespace, Shopify or Wix, and many do. They use predesigned templates that are not builder templates and cannot be modified except with CSS coding. You pay a monthly fee indefinitely and if you decide to change companies, or self publish, you cannot take the site with you.
If you need a simple site that is quick and less complex that may be the way to go. But if you are in the long haul, a self published website is worth the time and effort.