April 10, 2020
Are you a business owner, looking to build your own website for free? You might have heard of free website builders and free online website makers, but is it the right option for you?
Are you a business owner, looking to build your own website for free?
You might have heard of free website builders and free online website makers like google sites, WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy free website builder, Yola, Shopify or squarespace websites…. or free professional web page templates… There’s so many options out there!
If you’re looking to save money by building your own website, whether it’s a simple website to provide information to potential customers, or to sell your products, it’s important to get the right advice before you start. If you don’t, you could end up wasting your time, and time is money.
This article focuses mainly on small business information only websites (not eCommerce) and will answer these questions:
You can build your own website for free using a free website builder or free online website makers like google sites, WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy website builder, Yola, Shopify or squarespace websites…. or free web page templates. Before you start, continue reading to find out which is the best option for you.
There are 3 main costs for a website, this article will discuss:
This will depend largely on the template you choose on any of the website builder platforms, however as you customise your pages, the content you add may decrease the mobile responsiveness and usability.
So the best way to make sure it works is to test it thoroughly, and then modify your design until it works. You can use online tools for this, if you're interested please contact All Design by Lisa for advice.
As this is important for your search engine ranking and to your customers, you need to consider before you start building your own website whether you have the patience and skills to achieve the required result.
Before starting to build a website, it is important to make sure that the end result matches what you were hoping to achieve. A business website should ideally help you to meet these 2 main goals:
Customers can find and get information about your website anytime. You can list information and promote your business. The more information that is easily found on your website, the less likely you will have to spend time responding to customer queries.
You could be losing customers to your competitors if you can’t be found online or if your website doesn’t clearly state all the positive features and services of your business
There is an expectation for reputable companies to have an online presence. Having a good quality, easy to use website that looks professional on all devices makes your customers feel comfortable using your services.
Not having a website or having a poorly designed, unprofessional looking website or a website that displays poorly on mobile devices could cause potential customers to mistrust your business.
To build a website that satisfies the above 2 goals, you’ll need good quality, well written content, and you'll need to use a builder that provides:
*May be possible, dependant on your skills and experience
^Also depends on your choice of hosting provider
Information is correct as at date of this article.
Some platforms are free to build, but there are costs associated with ongoing hosting, or some are only free for 30 days.
So what happens if you spend the effort building a website in a free website builder but then you need to adjust your website to meet the goals of your business? The “free” website builders will accommodate you by allowing you to upgrade your plan to a premium plan.
Some popular website builders advertise that you can have your website up and running in an hour… But this will likely not include customising it to the extent that you are happy with it, optimising it for SEO, testing it on multiple mobile devices or connecting a custom domain name.
The answer is: You get out of it what you put in. Unless you are willing to sacrifice hours, days or even months for larger websites, you may be better off hiring a professional who can achieve a more professional result in a shorter amount of time.
Many of my clients find it stress-free and affordable to have their website built by All Design by Lisa. I’ll ensure your website has basic SEO, displays professionally on desktop and mobile devices and has fast, reliable, secure hosting. I can also help you get your business listed on google and assist you with a custom domain name purchase, all with a fast turnaround. All Design by Lisa has affordable options for your business - to find out how much a professional website will cost, view All Design by Lisa's website packages or get in touch for a free quote.
