What Does It Cost To Build Your Own Website?
In order to have a website you need 6 basic things, a domain name, a webhost, a design template, content, images and someone to put it altogether (website designer). Domain name costs approximately £15 per year although you can save money on the initial purchase price and discounts are often available if the domain is registered for a longer term, say 5 or 10 years.
Hosting costs start at around £30 per year and rise depending on your requirements. The £30 option is normally sufficient for most small businesses unless the site includes e-commerce facilities when it is likely a more robust solution will be required.
Designers can charge thousands of pounds for a custom web template because of the work involved, however, unless you are Walmart or some similar big name brand having your own custom designed template does not represent a sensible investment. There are many professional templates available these days and many are available for a very low cost. Our own service enables you to choose from a selection of templates that are available free of charge and will portray your business in a very professional light.
The most important aspect of your website is the content. You should invest sufficient time to determine the message you want to get across. What is the purpose of the site? Once this is understood you should write the content (or employ someone) to put the content together for you. The best way to get ideas is to look at your competitors websites. What do you like about them? What don’t you like at them? Content is free if you write it yourself and the price increases from there. We’d suggest a minimum of 5 pages of content (500 words per page). Content really is king and this will be covered in more detail in a future article.
To make your site look appealing you must use images. The absolute minimum is one image per page but you can add up to 3 to each 500 word page of text. Images can be acquired fairly cheaply from web stock photo specialists – allow between £1 and £3 per image.
Finally, to pull it all together you would be best placed to use the services of a website designer. The prices charged vary dramatically but we offer a basic starter package from just £149 which includes email and a years free hosting.
As you can probably see it is actually cheaper to use a web design service such as smallbusinesswebsitepro than to do it yourself. To find out how we can help you call us today on 01258 858466 or email your enquiry via our contact form.
What type of Website Does My Business Need?
Unfortunately the answer is it depends. It depends not just on the business requirements but also your commitment to maintain and update the site. Websites can be either static (you set it and forget it) or they can be dynamic (they are regularly updated and encourage interaction). But let’s not get into that right now. What are the basic types.
Well the simplest of all sites is a one page website which is just what it says. There are not many instances when this type of site is suited to a small business, but if you just want a basic web presence this may suit.
A much better solution is a brochure site. These are usually 4-5 pages long and contain basic details about the business e.g. what it does, opening hours, location, address, contact info etc. If professionally designed they will create a good impression with potential and existing customers/clients.
An information site builds on the concept of a brochure site adding informative content related to your area of expertise. You may offer guides, how tos, faqs etc. The purpose of such a site is to demonstrate your expertise and to share some of your knowledge for free. In so doing you build trust and open the door to potential business from new and existing customers by linking such information to your product and/or services.
An e-commerce site enables you to sell products online. Customers find what they are looking for, place and order and pay for the item in one seamless process. You then process the order and ship the goods to the customer. In the right market and e-commerce site can be very lucrative when combined with an appropriate marketing campaign.
Modern websites should all be built with a Content Management System (CMS) at their foundation. A CMS enables you to easily update the site (without the need for additional web design fees). They also enable the site to be expanded easily from a single page site to a thousand page fully blown e-commerce site. So as the needs of your business grow your site can easily be scaled to grow with it avoiding the need to start all over again.
Another advantage of CMS based sites is that if you want to give your website a different look or feel this can easily be achieved with a change of design template at a very low cost. All our websites are based on the Wordpress CMS which is very powerful and freely available. Worpdress is probably the most popular CMS in the world today and not just because it is free but more of that in a later article.
We are pleased to offer brochure sites starting from just £149.oo. This price includes email and a years free hosting. To find out more call us today on 01258 858466 or email your enquiry via our contact form.
9 Great Reasons Why You Need A Small Business Website
- It is expected – a few years ago you could get by without a website but these days your customers and perhaps more importantly, your prospective customers, expect you to have one. If someone hears about your business either indirectly or as a result of your marketing activity there is a strong chance they are going to check you out via the web. If you have no website or a poor quality site chances are they will move on to one of your competitors.
- To provide information – want people to know what services you provide? Want to add and promote a new service? There are many different types of information you may want to provide and making such details available online makes it very easy to find, update and promote.
- It’s always open – Unlike your business your website is open for business 24 hours per day. This means customers can find out details of your products and services 24 hours per day. They can find out your location, opening hours, contact you view testimonials etc. whatever you want really.
- The benefits outweigh the cost – many business owners are still under the misconception that websites are expensive, time consuming, expensive and offer little financial return but nothing could be further from the truth. Here at smallbusinesswebsitepro.co.uk we can build a complete website for as little as £149.00 (including a years free hosting).
- Marketing – websites are increasingly valuable, if not essential to your marketing activities. They are a means of marketing in their own right but are very effective when used in conjunction with more traditional marketing activities.
- Capturing information – a good website encourages customer loyalty. When combined with a means of capturing customer information they can become a significant revenue generator.
- Credibility – a well designed and professional looking website lends credibility and helps build customer trust. Of course, the reverse is true if the site is poorly designed and looks like a DIY job.
- It’s your online brochure – a website is much easier, quicker and cheaper to update than printed materials and it can be used to enter new markets or test the potential effectiveness of marketing campaigns without wasting a huge amount of cash on a bad idea.
- To sell online – if you have a product or service that you traditionally sell is possible it can be sold online? If so a website can help increase physical sales becoming a profit centre in its own right.
Low Cost Websites – Worth the Money?
This site exists for one reason – to offer high quality professional websites to small businesses at a price that is hard to believe. Over the last few years the costs associated with building websites have fallen massively. In my experience most website design businesses have failed to pass on these cost savings to their customers in an attempt to increase their margins and profits.
If all your business needs is a website to provide additional information to potential customers, to build their trust and as a means by which you can be contacted then, provided you can provide the content this can be done for as little as £149.00.
What’s more, if you so choose, you can simply add or remove content yourself or, for a small monthly fee starting from £9.99, we’ll manage your site site for you.
You can choose from any of the professional templates listed which, in our opinion, are superior to 99% of most bespoke designs that you can pay thousands of pounds to create.
If you’d like to know more and/or require a quotation then use the contact form to get in touch.