Afraid of starting to create your website? Don’t be. It’s not that scary.
Do you want to create a website but just don’t know how to get started? Are you suffering from website writer’s block? Read on and discover that it is not as hard as you think. Make the decision to keep it simple and stay focused on what you want it to achieve ie. to promote your business to your target market.
If you have a small business, you really don’t need a hi-tech, fancy website. Especially if you are just starting out. A simple six or seven page layout should be enough eg. Home, About us, Services, Testimonials, Portfolio and perhaps a blog. An FAQ never goes astray.
Do you really need a fancy website developer?
There are plenty of web developers who are very happy to take your money and design a whiz bang website. This is great if you have the capital to throw at it, but while it may be what you want, it might not be what you need right now.
There are many free website builders that are easy to use and create a very professional product. Weebly.com is one. Wordpress is a popular blogging platform that allows you to add other website pages. Of course, these provide a finite number of designs and they are usually very simple but for a business in the process of starting up, they can be a cost effective tool. Several (including Weebly) also offer ecommerce functionality, SEO tools and the option to add forms, so your website will be competitive as well as low cost.
Start small and build up.
Always remember, you can build on and improve a small website over time. You can even get a web designer to create a fabulous new one for you when your business has got some traction. Then you can have a launch party and give your customers champagne and make it a PR exercise. But if you are starting small, perhaps just testing the market or trying to turn a hobby into a career, you may not want huge financial or time outlays spent on a website.
Don’t spend ages fiddling with your site making it perfect before publishing.
Go with the 80/20 rule. If you are 80% happy, then press the publish button. The beauty of the simple website builders mentioned above is that you can change your copy, design, page layout, SEO features, anytime. You don’t have to keep asking the web developer to make changes. So you can continue to work on perfecting it after publication, not before. In fact, once you have published, you will certainly think of ways to improve your site that were not so obvious when it was under construction. This is not a bad thing. A site that is constantly being updated and improved shows a business owner who is active, engaged and keen to market their business.
What are you waiting for?
So, don’t be afraid to start working on your website, don’t even be afraid of publishing because you can always refine it over time. The sooner you publish, the sooner you will start getting the message out, about your fabulous new business venture.
If you have a small business, you really don’t need a hi-tech, fancy website. Especially if you are just starting out. A simple six or seven page layout should be enough eg. Home, About us, Services, Testimonials, Portfolio and perhaps a blog. An FAQ never goes astray.
Do you really need a fancy website developer?
There are plenty of web developers who are very happy to take your money and design a whiz bang website. This is great if you have the capital to throw at it, but while it may be what you want, it might not be what you need right now.
There are many free website builders that are easy to use and create a very professional product. Weebly.com is one. Wordpress is a popular blogging platform that allows you to add other website pages. Of course, these provide a finite number of designs and they are usually very simple but for a business in the process of starting up, they can be a cost effective tool. Several (including Weebly) also offer ecommerce functionality, SEO tools and the option to add forms, so your website will be competitive as well as low cost.
Start small and build up.
Always remember, you can build on and improve a small website over time. You can even get a web designer to create a fabulous new one for you when your business has got some traction. Then you can have a launch party and give your customers champagne and make it a PR exercise. But if you are starting small, perhaps just testing the market or trying to turn a hobby into a career, you may not want huge financial or time outlays spent on a website.
Don’t spend ages fiddling with your site making it perfect before publishing.
Go with the 80/20 rule. If you are 80% happy, then press the publish button. The beauty of the simple website builders mentioned above is that you can change your copy, design, page layout, SEO features, anytime. You don’t have to keep asking the web developer to make changes. So you can continue to work on perfecting it after publication, not before. In fact, once you have published, you will certainly think of ways to improve your site that were not so obvious when it was under construction. This is not a bad thing. A site that is constantly being updated and improved shows a business owner who is active, engaged and keen to market their business.
What are you waiting for?
So, don’t be afraid to start working on your website, don’t even be afraid of publishing because you can always refine it over time. The sooner you publish, the sooner you will start getting the message out, about your fabulous new business venture.
