Discover how to create an affordable website for your small business without spending thousands!
A website is today's standard calling card, regardless of who your customers might be or what they are selling. However, if you aren't a professional web designer, it can seem overwhelming to build your website.
Do you feel that it is impossible to find affordable business website design? Or an agency that will work with your company at a reasonable price? A website designer who is skilled in logo design and leads generation. My friend, you're not the only one. Although there is no easy answer, I do have some great news. You don't have to spend much money or know-how to create a great website for your business. Below are low-cost or free options that small business owners can use.
What kind of website do you need?
A website isn’t magic. Once you have it online, websites don't automatically bring leads. If you don't have a plan or goals for your business, they won't work. Many websites offer custom, cheap designs. Half the battle is understanding why you need a website. A website that costs nothing more than a glorified billboard is often a costly investment for business owners. You don't have to let this happen to you.
What are you looking for it to do?
Here are some items to think about as you begin creating your website:
Online credibility for my business
Attract new customers
Facilitate online conversations between potential customers, your business, and them
Present our products and services
Mobile-friendly and easily accessible from all devices
Whatever you wish your website to accomplish, it can. You must start the design phase with the end goal in mind.
The best affordable website builders
The following tools can be used to create affordable websites:
Wix Wix makes it easy to quickly create a website by simply dragging images and other features over and adding your text. You don't need to know HTML or any other programming languages. While the basic versions are free, if you want your domain, such as www.YourBusinessdotcom, you will need to purchase a paid membership.
Plans come in a variety of prices. Options include file storage, domain names, premium applications, hosting, support, and more.
Zyro Zyro is a great option if you like Wix's bright designs and flexible editor, but you are concerned about the high price.
The product shares many of the same simple-to-use features (including an internet store builder) but at a lower price. It is a great choice for those who only require a basic website builder. Zyro is the most affordable website builder that offers unlimited storage and bandwidth.
Zyro does not offer a free plan. However, it is free to use until you are ready to publish your website. You can then choose one of the affordable plans.
Weebly You can create a website with unlimited pages using Weebly and have it hosted for free. You will need to upgrade your plan to include multimedia features, domain names, and eCommerce.
Weebly's drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to use. You can also choose from a variety of high-quality templates which automatically adapt to any device (e.g. It works with both smartphones and tablets. Its blog is flexible and offers many useful features to bloggers, such as tags, categories, posting scheduling, etc.
Weebly offers plans that you can pay month-by-month. This is a bit of an advantage. Although they do charge a premium for this, it is still possible. This is something that most website builders don’t offer.
Web.com Web.com is a great option if you need someone to design your website. Web.com is free to design, but you'll be charged for ongoing maintenance and hosting. You have options if you want to make it your own or add on features like online shopping.
Web.com offers a simple user interface, which borrows elements from Webly (which can be a good thing). Although not astonishing, the templates will serve their purpose.
Here's the catch. Web.com, along with Bluehost, Hostgator, and Constant Contact, now belongs to EIG, the web hosting giant. They kept the old pricing strategy that was a bit too risky. This means that there are many hidden fees and small print.
WordPress.org (the open-source version) WordPress.org is an excellent option if you are working on something more complex and wish to save money by creating your website.
WordPress is not a website-building tool. It's more complex and requires technical knowledge. Although WordPress is free software, you will need to hire a hosting service provider to host your WordPress site. There are many other affordable WordPress hosting options.
You can also create a website at WordPress.com. However, to access the same features in WordPress.org, the Pro plan is required. WordPress is ideal for creating directories (e.g. WordPress is ideal for creating directories (e.g. It is the simplest and most cost-effective way to create it. Themeforestand Elegant Themes will make it easier. You will still require technical skills at one point.
GoDaddy GoDaddy offers web hosting and design services in addition to domain names. The personal plan is very affordable and offers 50 design options, unlimited pages, 1 GB storage, and an annual plan that includes an unlimited domain. The price for the business plus plan is very affordable and includes 50GB storage, unlimited pages, social media management, business email, and a mobile website.
Here are additional tips when creating your new small business website:
Get a domain name that is good
Your domain name (also known as your website address) is often your entry point to your website. It is crucial that your domain name makes a positive impression, both for usability and search engine optimization (SEO).
These are some suggestions to help you choose the perfect domain name.
It should be easy to spell. Avoid using slang, made-up, or esoteric terms.
It should be as brief as possible. It is easier to remember it and type it correctly the shorter it is.
Make sure you use the correct domain extension. It is best to use a.com domain instead of.net, or.co. If it is not appropriate, you can use another extension such as.gov or.edu or.org.
Avoid hyphens and numbers. These domain names are more difficult to remember, less memorable and elegant than domain names that contain only words. They can also be misunderstood if the domain name is uttered.
To facilitate future growth, make the address as broad as possible. Amazon.com, for example, is a wider website address than BooksOnline.com. This allows Amazon to sell almost any type of consumer product instead of just books.
Make sure it is easy to remember. It is essential that your website name is memorable, as there are many websites online. This will help people remember where to find it.
Do your research on the domain name. Google the domain name to check if it is already in use. Search on USPTO.gov for any trademarks.
Verify that the price is correct. You should check if it is possible to purchase the desired domain name at a fair price. Most domain names that are good will be taken by current owners.
Avoid using nonsensical names. Make sure your name conveys a message so users know what you are all about. Yahoo and Google are memorable names but were expensive to brand. Your small business might not have the same budget.
Make sure your URL is SEO-friendly. When appropriate, try to come up with an SEO-friendly website address that includes keywords and geo-location
Your site receives visitors daily, weekly, and monthly
Each page has been viewed approximately 2,000 times
"Bounce rate" is the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing one page. Google algorithms give higher rankings to websites with a low bounce rate. This means that users spend more time on the site and are more likely to find it valuable.
Visitors spend an average of 3.5 hours on the site
Crawl errors (errors that search engines find on your site when crawling its content).
Broken links
Keywords that direct users to your website
Backlinks to your website
Web page download time
Additional information to help you improve your SEO
Plan for website maintenance
Websites shouldn't be built and left to deteriorate. You must ensure that your website is well maintained to maintain its ranking in search engines.
These are some ways to maintain a website for a small business.
Webmaster Tools data should be checked at least once per month. Any vital errors can be emailed to the user in real-time.
Traffic data can be used to better understand your audience and help you cater to them.
Performance data can be used to improve and correct warnings and errors.
Keep your software up-to-date
You can run security scans to ensure that your website is safe from malware and has not been hacked.
Split testing is a way to determine if certain versions of your website improve performance. For example, if you sell a product, there might be two versions of the landing page. The split testing will allow you to determine which version has a higher conversion.
Follow my SEO advice (see point #7) and continue to publish quality content (see number #8).
You can market your business online in the most effective and up-to-date ways.
Site visitors can leave feedback.
Keep checking in on your competitors from time to check their online presence to see if they have any tips for you.
Your website should be backed up at least once per day and for at least 10 days.
Conclusion
It may not be as easy as you thought to create an affordable website for your small business. If you follow these steps, your small business will be able to succeed in the online market.