Whether you already have an existing business or are thinking of starting one, creating a website should be one of your first orders of business. A good business website can do you a number of favours, from helping potential clients find you to selling your products. Many beginning entrepreneurs put off creating a website, thinking that hiring a web designer will incur a hefty fee. Yet there are many ways to minimise your start-up costs and get online. The following tips can then help you save money.
- Conduct Preliminary Research
One of the most common mistakes that start-ups make is throwing a website online without taking the time to look at current design trends or formulate a clear strategy. To get started, you’ll need to think of a clear picture of what your goals are with this new website. Are you looking for a simple blog to post articles and interact with readers? Or are you more interested in selling your products and creating a user-friendly online store? These would be two very different websites, so it’s important that you clarify what the end product needs to look like before you begin.
- Use a Free Blogging Platform
For a fairly basic website, you can use a free platform like Blogger or WordPress. These blogging platforms allow you to choose from a variety of free templates and offer a simple content management system. You can also select and register a domain name through these sites; although it will cost money if you want to register “yourbusiness.com” rather than “yourbusiness.blogger.com.” WordPress also allows you to pay a bit more to customise your blog with unique colour themes and your company logo, rather than using one of the free templates.
- Shop Around and Find the Best Website Builder
If you want a more polished and fully customisable website, you might decide it’s worth paying for a professional web designer. Web design fees can vary quite a bit, and if you shop around and obtain several quotes you might snag a bargain. Don’t only look at local web designers. For example, you may have a business based in New York but find that a San Diego web development team offers more competitive prices than those in Manhattan. Web design and development can be contracted from a distance, so look at the bigger picture to get the best deals on a reputable company. You can save on a lot of trouble and time by searching for professional website builder services on dedicated website builder search engines such as www.top10bestwebsitebuilders.com to find the best website builder for you.
- Promote your Site on Social Media
Once your site is up and running, you’ll need to think about how to make sure that visitors can find it. It doesn’t make much sense for a start-up business to pay for advertising, when there are so many free or low-cost online marketing possibilities. One easy way to promote your business is by setting up social media profiles. This gives you an easy outlet to broadcast new products, sales, and other important news to your customers.
Building a website and network takes time, but it doesn’t necessarily have to cost you any money.