For the budget-conscious small business owner, affordable website design is definitely a feasible option. Since your website is a direct reflection of your business that is open twenty-four hours day, 365 days a year, you need a professional looking website that is affordable. There was a time when professional looking and affordable was an oxymoron.
Being the savvy business owner that you are, you decide to ask some friends or family members to see if they know how to design a website hoping you can either get it down for free or very minimal. You feel like you hit the jackpot, your best friend’s sister knows a little about web design. She agrees to do it for you, however a month goes by and still no website. You are a little disappointed, but do not want to mess up your friendship with your best friend, so you decide to look online to see the options available to you for free or very little money.
You find a ton of different places where you can design your website for free or there were some nice ones that cost a small amount every month. Unfortunately after spending hours trying to figure out how to add your logo and deciding what template to use, you get frustrated and give up. You are very discouraged because you want a website for your business, but think having a professional design your website is going to be too expensive. Does this sound like you?
Have no fear; you can have an affordable website design that is professionally designed. Before calling around to different website design firms, be sure to think about what your goals are for your small business website. Many times hiring a freelance website designer is going to be your best option when trying to stay within your budget.
Do your research first. Look into a content management system (CMS). A content management system is the shell and shelf that holds and presents your website content, including pages, photos, blog posts, etc. There are a ton of different ones available; however, the most user-friendly and affordable content management system available is WordPress. I use WordPress for the majority of websites that I design because of the ease of use for my clients to make changes to as well as being very search engine friendly.
