Your business needs a website. Big or small, non-profit or profit, startup or established, you must put yourself on display engagingly and functionally to get new leads and make yourself visible to a broader audience. And, yes, even if it seems downright impossible, you can do it with a low budget.
The main secret is staying creative with your website building design and updates.
In this article, we will answer the question of how to create and maintain a professional and appealing business website without breaking the bank. Let’s dive in and learn more about frugal web design and site maintenance.
7 Tips For Creating A Business Website
• Decide Its Main Purpose
• Choose a Good Domain Name and TDL
• Pick a Web Host
• Create Pages
• Test Publish
• Promote on Social Media
• Do Regular Updates and Checkups
1. Decide Its Main Purpose
Your website is your salesperson and digital business card. It represents the name, surname, and nickname of your company, and it should serve as a spot where people can find general information about your business.
Therefore, you must decide its purpose and show what your company does in plain terms. You can either decide to showcase your services in the form of a portfolio, or you can build an e-commerce, booking, or event website, blog, online forum, or anything similar. But no matter what you choose, making it easily digestible for your audience will largely contribute to the overall user experience.
As Gabriel Shaoolian, Blue Fountain Media CEO said: “Whatever the fundamental goal of your website is or whatever the focus may be, users should be easily able to achieve it…”
2. Choose A Good Domain Name And TDL
Your domain name is one of the main things customers will look at and remember. That is the URL you will share on social media, with your prospects, and customers. It is therefore important to keep it simple, easy to remember, and good at the same time.
There are several details advisable to pay attention to when selecting a domain name, but the most important is to keep it short and simple and refrain from using abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers as much as possible. This way, you will avoid confusing your customers.
The next thing you would want to do is pick your TLD (top-level domain), a suffix behind your domain name. You can stick with something based on your location or country code, or you can stick with an industry niche such as .realestate, .travel, and similar, or you can opt for something more generic such as .com, .co, .org, .net, and so on. While .com is still the main go-to, modern TDL alternatives have largely grown in recent years.
Once you have decided on the domain name and TDL, you should double-check its availability and copyrights. It is important to make sure you are not taking someone’s protected name and you are ready to go.
3. Pick A Web Host
Picking a web host is a crucial step when it comes to your website, but your budget will largely influence this decision.
The most cost-effective and affordable option is to stick with the external host.
You can opt for a shared host, which is the less-expensive option but comes with many downsides, like sharing a server with other websites which can drag down your speed.
Otherwise, you can choose dedicated hosting, which costs notably more but it means you will get your private, concurrence-free server. Some of the best web hosting websites to check out are MochaHost, IONOS, InterServer, InMotion Hosting, Bluehost, TMDHosting, and GoDaddy.
4. Create Pages
Even though having a one-page scrollable website sounds like a good modern solution that is easy to manage and accomplish, when it comes to SEO and your visibility in searches, it is still more secure to go with multiple pages that will represent different aspects of your business.
This means that when creating a small business website, you will still have a homepage, pages dedicated to your products and services, an e-shop, a blog, an about us page, and similar. Having said that, you will also want to set up a payment system that is relevant to your key audience - so, anything from credit card payments to e-wallets counts.
However you decide to organize your site, it is important to remember that content is key. What your audience finds will either keep them or totally reject them. And when you are working on a budget, self-reliance is the key. It is important to think in advance and learn how to create shareable content, engage customers, and make more profit with a lower price.
5. Test And Publish
Before publishing your website, it’s important to check if it works on all the main browsers, like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Safari, and so on. What you want to look for is if the format is correct and smooth, if images show up, if there are any broken links, and so on.
The next thing you want to ensure is that your website is optimized for mobile and shows up perfectly on any device. When indexing your pages, search engines now work with a mobile-first approach, so the importance of having a functional and good mobile version of a website is self-explanatory. Once you are all set, it is time to publish it.
6. Promote On Social Media
Creating engaging and relatable content on social media like Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, or Pinterest will increase your audience reach and make your website gain new leads and slow growth over time.
Links and buttons to your social media accounts must be visible on your website as well. You can do this by embedding them in the footer or the ancillary bar, which will make it easier for visitors to follow your content updates and stay part of the community you are building.
7. Do Regular Updates And Checkups
Last but not least, regular updates, checkups, and general maintenance of your website will make you stay relevant and spike your visibility in search engines.
It is important to generate new content regularly, share industry events, product updates and guides, company news, recommendations, and reviews, provide answers to consumer problems and questions, and similar.
It is also crucial to audit your website in order to ensure your add-ons are up to date, links are in order, pages are indexed, and everything is working as smoothly as possible.
It may sound complicated, but starting and maintaining a business website is a low-cost investment that can and will provide success and larger profits in the long run.
How Much Money You Should Set Aside For A Business Website?
In the end, calculating the budget you will need for building a small business website largely depends on what skills you possess, how much money you are ready to invest, and what tools you will use.
Still and all, certain requirements MUST be met, such as registering a domain name and TLD, choosing a hosting platform, investing in website template and design processes, as well as obtaining an SSL certificate.
To draw a line, this means that creating a small business website can cost you all the way from $400 to $10,000-plus depending on the set of skills you possess, how much work you can do by yourself, and how many resources you are ready to set aside. However, the gains you will be able to gather in the long run are significantly higher than your short-term expenses.
