Published on July 16th, 2020
Get Maximum Bang For Your Buck With A New Website
An astonishing statistic suggests that up to half of all businesses don’t have websites. In this day and age, that seems truly bizarre. The increasing digitization of commercial activity warrants that SMBs maintain a strong online presence to attract customers across the socio-economic spectrum.
An effective website confers multiple benefits, not least of which is the opportunity to showcase your products and services to a worldwide audience of customers on PC, Mac, and mobile devices. A high-quality website also allows seamless interactions between stakeholders – customers, employees, managers, and owners – from the comforts of home, or on the go.
Believe it or not, a fantastic website needn’t cost the earth. It’s entirely possible to fashion a great-looking eCommerce site at cut-rate prices. Much like the age-old aphorism, ‘Don’t work harder, work smarter,’ anyone can build a professionally-crafted website on a small budget.
Of course, there are a set of rules that need to be followed to fine-tune things to perfection. In this behind-the-scenes expose, web designers, eCommerce builders, and website aficionados have pooled their collective knowledge to offer new website builders the 11 tips to build a quality website on a budget. Sit back, relax, and take it all in. Let’s get started!
1. Establish A Set Of Parameters
Goal setting costs nothing, but it often means the difference between success and failure. Ask the hard questions first. What is the purpose of your website? Who are you trying to attract? Is this a personal website or an e-commerce platform? Once you have established a broad set of parameters within which to build your strategic framework, you can get to work on the finer details.
Whether you adopt a short-term focus, or a long-term focus, your goals will help you to quantify and qualify each and every step of the process. A blog is an example of a cost-effective website that doesn’t require many bells and whistles. However, if you’re opting for an e-Commerce platform, scrolling text is insufficient.
Something more is required, including dedicated sections, categories, guides, catalogues of products and services, customer support functionality, payment processing options, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), security protocols, et al. The clearer your vision, the easier it is to achieve your pre-stated objectives.
2. Get Registered ASAP
Once you have a plan in mind, it’s time to start implementing your plan of action. Domain name registration is a good place to start. Some website builder services offer a complimentary domain name for the first year as part of their package. The domain name refers to the URL of your website, and that’s exactly what customers will see in their browser.
Examples of domain names include Rolex.com, UniversalStudios.com, or even this website – Newszil.com. The Internet is peppered with companies that allow you to register your domain name. After the 1 year complimentary grace period, you can easily renew it and cement your virtual place in cyberspace.
3. Pick The Best SaaS Solution
This step is a little tricky, since it’s not entirely an objective assessment that needs to be undertaken. Everyone has personal preferences, and that’s why it pays to do a little research. If you fancy an SaaS service that provides a wealth of resources such as lots of exciting themes for e-Commerce, lots of add-ons and apps, full social media integration, customized fields, in-depth reporting, and powerful email marketing solutions, you will be heartened to find invaluable information in this review of SquareSpace.
As one of the most highly-rated professional SaaS solutions in the industry, SquareSpace serves as a cutting edge website builder solution with full drag-and-drop functionality, affordable pricing plans, and complete customer support and service options.
The web builder service allows you to choose according to your needs vis-a-vis cost, functionality, user-friendliness, payment processing options, importing/exporting of products, marketing functionality, and so forth. Take some time to pick the best web service and you’ll never look back.
4. Pick A Web Hosting Service
Picking a web hosting service is an important component of building a quality website on a budget. It’s imperative to select the right fit for your web hosting needs. For example, you will not need a dedicated server for a personal portfolio. In much the same way, a really busy e-Commerce platform with plenty of traffic really does need a credible and dedicated web hosting plan.
As an emerging business, you will invariably be well served with shared hosting services. As your business starts to flourish, you can certainly consider dedicated hosting options to better suit your needs. Virtual Private Servers (VPS) comprise virtual machines functioning as unique servers. These offer lots more control for e-Commerce businesses with shared hosting options.
It’s always a good idea to consider WordPress Web Hosting since it accounts for the lion’s share of all websites in the world. It features easy-to-use CMS, and lots of quick-click functionality. The following steps will make it really easy to decide:
- Determine website needs
- Web hosting & building, or Web hosting apart from website building?
- Research and compare options
5. Pick The Best Templates And Themes For Your Website
It’s challenging to pick the right templates and themes for your website, but it’s absolutely essential to get it right. Experts do not recommend installing too many plugins, features, and functions – as this can be overwhelming to manage. At the inception phase, less is more. The best website builders come ready-made with all the bells and whistles you need to get up and running instantly. Once you customize all these functions, features, themes, and templates, it’s plain sailing after that.
6. Content Is Golden
We’ve heard it all before, but it’s worth reiterating: Content is King. Much like the expression, ‘A person should be judged on the content of their character’, so it is with the quality of website content. Content refers to more than the words on a page and the way in which they come together.
Content refers to dedicated social media accounts, internal links, external links, multimedia options, mise-en-scene, and the overall look and feel of the website – the way it communicates with visitors. Website designers build great-looking products around the content – that’s why content is sacrosanct.
7. Customize Your Website
One of the biggest disappointments for individuals or companies is that the themed templates don’t fit your personal preferences. That’s why it’s important to spend time and effort on the maximum customization of your website. It’s not always easy dragging and dropping different features, functions, and elements where you want them.
The easier it is to work with a customizable web builder platform, the better. WordPress routinely features as one of the best options for website customization. It doesn’t take a whole lot of knowledge to create a professional-looking website which is tailored to your needs.
8. Use Free Images To Populate Your Site
They say that the best things in life are free. Rather than spending a small fortune for the right to use images on your website, you’re welcome to use free images from providers like Pixabay, iStock Photo, Unsplash, StockSnap, Free Digital Photos, and others.
The cost savings are dramatic, and the images are sharp, crisp, and beautiful to boot. As one of the 11 most effective ways to build a quality website on a budget, use of free images is certainly deserving of its berth on the totem pole.
9. Cut Down On The Number Of Web Pages
The more pages you have on your website, the more time, energy, and expense is required. A quality website maintains a high standard throughout – it’s not only the main pages that are crafted to perfection. For each additional page you add, synchronicity, uniformity, user-friendliness, internal links, external links, images and multimedia content are required.
It’s no mean feat creating a world-class website. It may be better to expand upon existing pages, by enriching the content rather than creating brand-new pages and filling them with suboptimal content. Affordability is a function of many features, including the number of webpages you choose to have.
10. Use Cloud-Based Storage
It’s all up in the cloud! Believe it or not – that’s true to a large degree with websites today. If you don’t have the HDD space to store large file volumes, consider shifting all your web content to the cloud with services like iCloud, Google Drive, or even Dropbox.
These cloud-based servers are much cheaper than purchasing external hard drives, or new computers. Plus, you can easily use the same username/password across multiple devices to access all of your cloud-based data at the click of a button. 3G, 4G, 5G, and Wi-Fi functionality are fully supported.
11. Consider Sharing Your Knowledge For A Better Website
Everyone has innate skills, abilities, and talents. Perhaps as an individual, or a business owner, you may have specific skills related to photography, video, content, design, functionality, or technical proficiency. Somebody else may have the requisite skills needed to complement whatever your website is lacking in.
By teaming up and assisting in that way, you don’t need to pay a website developer, website designer, or content management professional thousands of dollars. Use your noodle and get it done by teaming up with other professionals with the same goals in mind.
