There are numerous opinions out there in regards to what exactly is involved to create a website. We won’t say that any are more right or wrong in general. But we will say that some are more right or wrong for you.
Some of the factors that come into play to answer this question for YOU include:
- Your budget
- Your schedule
- Your technical needs
- Your technical ability & willingness
- Your business image
- Your desires
Why do these matter? Because they determine whether you can realistically afford to do what you want or are capable of doing it yourself. But even if neither of those are viable options right at this point in time, you can absolutely still create a plan, with phases and get started today.
So what are we looking at?
Look at the big picture first. What do you ultimately want as the end result?
For some of you that might be huge. Like a full blown eCommerce site, automated processes, registration capabilities, membership components and bells and whistles that you can’t even put a name to yet. For most of you it will simply be something that accurately represents your business and projects.
It’s important to identify this first so that you know where you’re going and so that you have realistic expectations.
Basically if you want the full meal deal, and you want it all immediately, and you’re not a web developer, then you can expect to pay very hefty fees to make it happen, especially quickly. What’s hefty? It could range from thousands to tens of thousands. And if that’s what you want and you have the budget for it, that’s great, go for it.
If you want a relatively simple website that gets the job done, and you want someone else to do it for you, you can likely expect to pay from the low hundreds to the high thousands.
But here’s the thing that most business owners don’t stop and think about (and few designers spell out). A website can be built in stages. It can start small and it can build over time. It can start simple and be expanded with add-ons one piece at a time.
A website can start as one single page. And if it’s an extremely well built page that’s strategic and leveraged properly it can in fact produce better results than a website with a hundred pages and all the bells and whistles in the world that isn’t done right.
The important thing about a website is quality and value, not quantity and features.
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[two_third_first]So again, what do you ultimately want?
If you fall into the category of simply wanting a professional looking website that accurately represents your business and projects, then there’s some great news for you. It’s no where near as complicated or as expensive as any of the above, regardless of what anyone has tried to tell you.
You can get started for free using http://Wordpress.com. Yes, completely free and not the kind of free that comes with timelines and more headaches than it’s worth. Clean, simple, professional and free.
Is it going to have a few less features and customization options? Yeah, of course it is. But that in no way undermines the value of it. In fact, it helps you to keep it simple. Even under the free options you’re going to have more choices than you know what to do with.
This is part of managing expectations. You don’t go to a Ford dealership to buy a brand new Lamborghini. So think smart and realistically when planning your website.
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So why WordPress? Because it’s simple enough to create a website with WordPress that you can get started on your own and it’s scalable. That full meal deal we mentioned before? Your single page, free website can be grown and migrated into a full blown, self-hosted palace over time and when you’re ready. You’ll be able to take it to a certain level yourself for sure, possibly all the way to the level you want. But there are enough expert WordPress designers out there that you will also be able to hire someone to take it further for you if you want and when you’re ready.
Long answer for a seemingly innocent question, but the reality is that to create a website it can cost you whatever you can afford, even if that’s free. And it can be done in 15 minutes per day, you can spend hours on it, you can complete parts of it very quickly or you can take years building it.
A website is never truly “finished”. It can always be added to, expanded or upgraded. And it should be. That’s what makes it a live, active ingredient in your online presence.
And a successful online presence should always be consistently active.
Up next in Fundamentals:
How time consuming is a website to maintain?
Gain even more with our Facebook Group
To offer the most possible benefit to you on this journey, we’ve also setup a closed Facebook Group that we invite you to join, where you’ll be in a safe and friendly environment, surrounded by supportive people just like you. So go ahead and join our Facebook Group with the link below:
Getting Going Online Facebook Group
Get started with right tools!
Every Online Presence needs to have eye-catching images and graphics. But not everyone is a photographer or a graphic designer. Fortunately, we have a solution and the awesome part is that it’s FREE. We’ve put together a free course that will teach you right from step 1 how to use a web-based application called Canva, which is a free tool. This course will make sure that you’re setup for success right from the start and we include some valuable resources on where to get images, completely for free, to get you started without delay.
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