A functional and pleasant looking website is necessary for most businesses today. As first impressions matter, especially on the internet, the website is a perfect way to present your small business to a broad audience. However, it's arguable whether it's worth it to invest a lot of money at the start. The good thing is, you don't actually need to. Of course, you can find professionals that will do an excellent job, but it can be costly. On the other hand, there are many affordable ways to build a website for your small business in no time. By using user-friendly platforms for building websites, you can definitely save some money.
Cheap ways to build a website for your small business
Running a small business, especially when you are starting out, usually means you need to carefully allocate your expenses. Building a website carries with it the ever-burning topic about how much you should invest. Generally, well-established businesses hire professionals like WP Full Care to develop and manage their complex websites. However, those who are just starting out don't usually have a dedicated budget for such tasks. So, let's see what options do you have.
Hiring someone or build a website on your own?
You have a few options when you want to build a website for your small business. First, you can hire someone to do it for you. This is where you need to be careful about who you choose, as not everyone can make a fully functional website. There are many examples of wonderful web designs that lack security or are just slow and cumbersome to browse through. Also, hiring professionals can be a bit pricey.
On the other hand, if you have enough time, you can build one yourself. There are numerous budget-friendly website building solutions out there. In general, you can make a fully functional website with an attractive design without too much technical knowledge. Before we proceed, let's first check some necessary expenses included in owning a website. Check out this great article about how to guide on for launching a website!
Cap: You can’t go wrong with professionals. After all, they are expensive for a reason.
Your website's domain name
Simply put, the domain name is the address name of your website on the internet. Usually, the cost of the domain name will depend on the name and the extension you choose. It can cost from a few bucks, in most cases, to a couple of hundreds per year for premium domains. Also, when selecting the domain name, one of the most important things is what it should look like. To leave the best impression, you need to:
Make it short and memorable
Make it easy to spell and pronounce
Pick the appropriate extension
Don't forget that, ideally, your domain name should match your business name.
Pick a good hosting option
In most cases, you will need a secure website hosting provider with good tech support. Simply put, you rent a space to keep your website and all your website-related information in one place. There are numerous options and packages to choose from, and the cost is usually from a couple of dollars to over a hundred per month. It depends on the type of hosting and support you select. To save some money, you should explore discounts for annual billing plans.
These are some popular hosting companies you can check out:
HostGator
GoDaddy
DreamHost
Bluehost
Hostinger
Inmotion
WP Engine
SiteGround
A2Hosting
When building a website, there are some all-in-one deals you can get by using certain website builders. Some of them offer entire packages of services, so you don't need to chase them separately.
Good content management systems for building websites
When picking the "right tool" for the job, you need to define what your goals are. There are numerous solutions to choose from, but they are not exactly suitable for everything. CMS, or content management system, is a great option to create websites and manage their content. The best thing about it is that it can be affordable and doesn't require much technical knowledge.
WordPress
This is the most popular CMS in the world. In general, it allows you to build wonderful websites without any programming or designing skills. You can choose between hundreds of high-quality themes and plugins to make everything top-notch. There are two versions, and one is free and relatively easy to install. There are numerous sources on the internet to help you learn about the process of designing and customizing your WordPress website.
Cap: Popular, flexible, and user-friendly. In a word, WordPress.
Wix
This is an easy to use and flexible drag-and-drop website builder. Quite simple, intuitive, and very powerful for building small business websites. Also, if you need to make a website in just a few hours, Wix can be a perfect tool for you. The price starts at $8.5 and goes up depending on the package.
Drupal
Drupal is another popular CMS with great flexibility and a large support community. It doesn't have so many themes and plugins like WordPress, but it has higher "out of the box" security.
Squarespace
It has many beautiful templates quite convenient for building a small and successful business website. In essence, this is a design-oriented solution for those who don't mind going a bit further with creativity. A perfect and affordable solution, it starts at $16 per month for those who want to build by themselves.
Joomla!
Another great CMS with nice security and SEO capabilities. The best thing is that it's a free solution for publishing web content. Many corporate and small business websites are built with Joomla.
Affordable eCommerce platform options
If your small growing business is selling goods online, then eCommerce platforms are for you. With them, you will be able to go with financial transactions online. Overall, some of the best eCommerce platforms are:
WooCommerce
Shopify
GoDaddy Online Store
These are all excellent options if you want to turn your website into an online store. Besides the design and payments, they allow you to manage products, inventory, and shipping and easily update all the information without much effort.
Cap: A perfect solution to turn your business into an online store.
To conclude, with these affordable solutions, you will be able to quickly and easily build a website for your small business. Of course, it will require you to invest some time in learning how to do it, but it is not as hard as you might assume. With enough time, you will eventually create a wonderful website that will stand out among your competitors.
Pictures used:
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https://pixabay.com/photos/computer-computers-1245714/
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/wordpress-blogging-website-business-2173519/
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/shopping-card-laptop-credit-4424344/
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