how much it costs to make a website?

There is probably many different options. All I know is I watch a listen/watch a podcast at another site and they are sponsored by godaddy.com that claims it only costs $1.99 to start up a site. I have never done it and for all I know it is not your best option...just simply 1 I have heard of that doesn't seem expensive. But how would you possibly expect to compete with the big $ that is behind a project like this? Good luck.