In today’s digital age, having an online presence is essential for any business or individual looking to succeed. However, creating a website can be an expensive endeavour and most small business or start-ups cannot afford a big budget for their website. However, if you do a bit of research, you will find that there are affordable website creation options available that can help you create a professional and functional website within your modest budget.
Here are some tips for creating an affordable website:
- Do it yourself using website builders: There are several website builders available that offer low-cost plans. These website builders allow you to create a website without coding knowledge, but you will need to invest some time in learning how to use them and get them to do what you want them to do. Some popular web builders include Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Shopify. Also some large web hosting, e.g. GoDaddy, have their own website builders. It’s worth doing some research on the pros and cons and ongoing costs of each and try them out to see if they work for you.
- Keep your website simple: A simple design is often more effective than a complex one. A simpler website will also be more affordable as will not require as much time to design and develop. And a bonus is that it can be easier to navigate and should load faster.
- Use stock images: Professional photography and artwork can be expensive, but stock images are a more affordable option. There are many websites that offer stock images for free or at a low cost (check out our article on free stock photography). Make sure to choose images that are high quality and fit your brand. You can augment the stock photography with your own photos to present the ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ flavour of your business.
- Use social media: You can use social media platforms such as Facebook to establish your initial online presence and to promote your business and your website. If you can effectively manage your own social media profiles that is one less thing that you will need to hire a professional to do.
- Find a web designer that specialises in affordable web design: If you find the idea of creating a website yourself intimidating or simply don’t have the time, you will need to hire a professional to create your website. Web design agencies can be expensive and are often geared towards offering a premium service to companies with deep pockets. But freelance/sole-trader web designers are usually more affordable and used to working within tighter budget constraints. Budget focused web designers such as Rapid Websites offer fixed price packages that should come in a lot cheaper than a custom quoted job or someone working on an hourly rate basis.
