As a small business owner, you know you need a website. But there are so many options. Is it something you can research and create yourself? Is it something you can pawn off to your techie kid? Is it something to invest real money to create a lead generating engine?
Website Builders
Wix, Squarespace, or similar website builders are good options if you want to build a simple site. They will let you build it yourself by dragging and dropping different elements and require little if any coding.
Most come with several different templates to help your site look slick and professional. It’ll be more difficult to get it optimized for search engines, which depending on how you need people to find your site will be an issue. If you want your website to be a way to broaden your market and attract new customers, this wouldn’t be the way to go. You could have your website set up and online tomorrow with this option.
There’s also the cost issue with this type of website. For instance, right now Wix offers their pro-level of website for $22 a month, or $204 year.
If you instead went with a WordPress website and had it hosted on DreamHost, their starter plan is $4.95 a month, or $59.40 for a year. For slightly more, they offer unlimited website hosting for $10.95 a month, or $131.40 for a year. This price decreases even further though if you purchase hosting for the next three years, you can get unlimited web WordPress sites hosted for $4.95 a month. And since you’ll have your website for as long as you have your business, it makes sense to buy hosting for the next three years.
WordPress
A website built with WordPress for your small business is a great option if you want more control over how your website looks, are doing e-commerce, or want to use the website to reach new customers. It also allows your website to grow over time. It’s easy to pivot a WordPress site into an e-commerce store, for example.
If you want to create and design a WordPress site for your business yourself, know that it is more complicated than using a website builder. There are good free templates out there and plenty of YouTube videos if you have the time and motivation to do it.
You can hire a web designer, like Always Relevant Digital, to design, build, and even manage your website. This upfront cost will help you quickly get a good-looking site that has all of the features your business need, and will likely be cheaper in the long run than using a website builder.
Which is Right for Your Small Business?
I feel WordPress is the way to go if you want your website to be more than an online brochure or if you are selling more than a few items online. WordPress gives you the flexibility to have your business’s website designed exactly how you want. It also gives you the ability to eventually expand your website if your business expands to new locations or new products. It really depends on what your small business is and what your current and future plans for the website are.
Reach out to us if you’d like a consultation about your small business’s website. We offer single page websites perfect for small businesses starting at $500. We can start working on your project today!
