How do you create a website on a budget?
- Thread starter MatthewSBN
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Personally, unless you are someone who knows a lot of IT and doesn't require any support, I wouldn't recommend using low budget hosting because the support can be bad. I would invest that bit extra to receive improved support. However, for £5 a month, which is the cost of a coffee and a biscuit, you could easily find a decent website hosting provider.
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Just purchase a shared web hosting which comes under <=$8, You'll get all the tools to setup your Website=> Simply, host your domain there and install wordpress through fantastico then add your niche related theme and install it => Add content, meta tags and your website is ready to go on air.
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There is a difference between creating a website on a budget and creating one for as little money as possible.
Budgets are a necessary part of any sensible business. Obsession with the cheapest regardless of anything else usually ends up with something very, very soft.
(No Labrador puppies were used in the making of this comment)
Budgets are a necessary part of any sensible business. Obsession with the cheapest regardless of anything else usually ends up with something very, very soft.
(No Labrador puppies were used in the making of this comment)
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M
Markymark66
I think a number of post are missing the point why have a dog and wag it's tail for it.
A true entrepreneur looks to have the best tools to do the job. A website that is created and evaluated consistently by marketing professionals with all the right attributes and high quality content is worth good money and achieves ROI quickly. I have seen doityourself websites on hundreds of occasions and when I ask the key question of how much money or how many leads do you get from your website the answer is always the same, I don't or it doesn't!
Don't waste your money or importantly your time producing a that'll do website.
Wordpress is good, but get it created and produced professionally. If you cannot afford the full blown website based on competitive research and specified marketing attributes and functionality, then get a beautifully designed holding page created that emphasises the quality of what is under construction and to come. Plenty of other digital routes to utilise and generate the capital you need to have a proper website, so spend wisely, and the most important ingredient in marketing, spend time on research to establish what kind of website you actually need.
There is no compromise in marketing, it is either right or wrong, and a poor website is wrong in so many ways. Too many to even list.
Just a point... Meta tags are a waste of time, title bar, meta description, keyword rich URLs, h1 , h2 and content are relevant where Google is concerned. But do the research on what people are actually searching for first.
A true entrepreneur looks to have the best tools to do the job. A website that is created and evaluated consistently by marketing professionals with all the right attributes and high quality content is worth good money and achieves ROI quickly. I have seen doityourself websites on hundreds of occasions and when I ask the key question of how much money or how many leads do you get from your website the answer is always the same, I don't or it doesn't!
Don't waste your money or importantly your time producing a that'll do website.
Wordpress is good, but get it created and produced professionally. If you cannot afford the full blown website based on competitive research and specified marketing attributes and functionality, then get a beautifully designed holding page created that emphasises the quality of what is under construction and to come. Plenty of other digital routes to utilise and generate the capital you need to have a proper website, so spend wisely, and the most important ingredient in marketing, spend time on research to establish what kind of website you actually need.
There is no compromise in marketing, it is either right or wrong, and a poor website is wrong in so many ways. Too many to even list.
Just a point... Meta tags are a waste of time, title bar, meta description, keyword rich URLs, h1 , h2 and content are relevant where Google is concerned. But do the research on what people are actually searching for first.
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S
smartwebtek.net
SEO for sure, it`s most effective way to improve online presence ,in comparison to AdWords for example it is a lot cheaper and brings you more traffic from same positions, I have provided both campaigns for many clients to show them a difference, and they usually got 2 times more visitors from SEO for 1/2 (sometimes 1/3) price of AdWords campaign so the difference is huge of course SEO requires a lot more time to make such results but it`s possible. AdWords is a good tool for measuring ROI cos you can do it very fast, if the keyphrase pays off in adwords it will do for sure in SEO 
. Many clients start from AdWords and then switch to SEO for same keyphrases.
For website I would advice Wordpress and some paid themes on the beginning, Wordpress is easy to manage and you will get really good looking theme for less than 50$ (for example themeforest)
. Many clients start from AdWords and then switch to SEO for same keyphrases.For website I would advice Wordpress and some paid themes on the beginning, Wordpress is easy to manage and you will get really good looking theme for less than 50$ (for example themeforest)
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This is a question I've had and pondered for many many years now. 7 years ago now (wow really?) whilst I was at university I came across a problem which I had, and which all my fellow students had too.
This idea progressed in my mind and developed into something which I saw was really a huge problem for everyone nationwide, indeed worldwide, and one which I then set out to resolve.
I had taught myself HTML/CSS back in the days of web 1.0 as a 12 year old, but this wasn't something I kept up with since I was 17 and I was now 20 yrs old, and the industry and technology had EXPLODED and changed beyond all recognition.
At the time 7 yrs ago I'd say my idea was well ahead of the capability of technology back then, and my site would've cost maybe £50-60k given the functionality I had wanted and would've still been pretty basic. Nowadays based on estimates it seems I can get close to the required functionality (variable on finish) for between about 10% and 20% of this cost.
Whilst I was at university I tried picking up the web dev skills again, and hashed together a really poor effort at a website for my new business, which I genuinely laboured over for about 3 weeks. I then went and pitched to a local company.
The poor women who recieved my pitch must've felt pity for me more than anything else, and whilst she agreed my concept was where the market was headed, she said my execution needed 'a bit of refinement' - I love the British sense of politeness but really in hindsight a slap round my face and a 'seriously this is pathetic, you have a decent idea, but get it built properly!' would've been much more useful...
Now, back then I had a living budget of about £20 a week to do food, travel & anyhting else I needed, but I had this burning hole in my brain which kept telling me this idea was worth pursuing, so I went about developing it myself. Over the proceeding years I've genuinely spent more time and effort on trying to put the site together myself, rather than even contemplating paying for it.
Whilst I made the best with the resources I had at the time, I did learn about how important it is to reduce costs down as much as possible.
I've learnt a lot about what is possible with the tech available, and when having discussions with developers and freelancers I've now become able to spot the guys who don't know what they're doing vs those who do, and I've developed skills in how to cost up the project. I'm able to have serious discussions with developers about what I want, and how I see the infrastucture working.
What I have still to get out of the mindset is that:
a) my time costs and therefore I shouldn't be happy spending so much of my time on something that will be poor quality,
b) whilst I understand how the script/technology works from a technical point of view and can challenge/assist developers on the sites methodology, I'm not capable in executing it properly
c) I have the basic understanding of how to set up a site and use templates to make it semi decent, but a professional will take the idea and make it work, and this is what you pay the additional amount for.
This is a hard mindset to get out of, because I'm very much self sufficient, and will try and put in elbow grease to get something done if I can do it myself vs paying for it, but I'm now beginning to realise that my unwillingness to actually pay for the development of my site has not only meant that I don't have the site I need right now, but also I might have missed out on the potential to be a market leader and I might now be in a situation where I can't afford to compete because what I have is perhaps not as revolutionary as it would've been back then.
However, I also think perhaps there is still a chance, but I don't know how to justify spending the sorts of cash I need to in order to get it off the ground given the level of technological competition now compared to 7-8 years ago... Since then I've seen companies come up and become national multi multi million pound businesses based on lesser technology than I was trying to build in my bedroom years ago, and if I'd been savvy enough to find a way to fund it, or been less stubborn, worried about the idea being stolen, and indeed proud of my ability to develop basic sites, it might've been my business that has gotten there.
Hence why even now, the site I've recently tried to put together for my business is more shaped by my capability than what I actually want it to be.
The dilemma continues for me unfortunately!
TLR - I thought I could do it myself, turns out I can't, if I'd had the cash I still wouldn't have hired someone, but probably should've, and now as a result I'm probably not going to be able to be the revolutionary success story I thought I should've been, because it's not so much of a stretch for an already existing market leader to implement the same idea, and I'm still trying to do things on the cheap to the detriment of the idea, and more importantly MY ability to implement it as a business idea in the current technological environment.
As a result I think if you have an idea, it's worth paying for it if you believe in it, as the unwillingness to have it done properly can be life changing, and you could be like me looking back and thinking 'well if only I had...?'
In answer to the question - yes it's important to drive down the web development cost, but you might lose out on many opportunities in the process of trying to make do with lesser.
This idea progressed in my mind and developed into something which I saw was really a huge problem for everyone nationwide, indeed worldwide, and one which I then set out to resolve.
I had taught myself HTML/CSS back in the days of web 1.0 as a 12 year old, but this wasn't something I kept up with since I was 17 and I was now 20 yrs old, and the industry and technology had EXPLODED and changed beyond all recognition.
At the time 7 yrs ago I'd say my idea was well ahead of the capability of technology back then, and my site would've cost maybe £50-60k given the functionality I had wanted and would've still been pretty basic. Nowadays based on estimates it seems I can get close to the required functionality (variable on finish) for between about 10% and 20% of this cost.
Whilst I was at university I tried picking up the web dev skills again, and hashed together a really poor effort at a website for my new business, which I genuinely laboured over for about 3 weeks. I then went and pitched to a local company.
The poor women who recieved my pitch must've felt pity for me more than anything else, and whilst she agreed my concept was where the market was headed, she said my execution needed 'a bit of refinement' - I love the British sense of politeness but really in hindsight a slap round my face and a 'seriously this is pathetic, you have a decent idea, but get it built properly!' would've been much more useful...
Now, back then I had a living budget of about £20 a week to do food, travel & anyhting else I needed, but I had this burning hole in my brain which kept telling me this idea was worth pursuing, so I went about developing it myself. Over the proceeding years I've genuinely spent more time and effort on trying to put the site together myself, rather than even contemplating paying for it.
Whilst I made the best with the resources I had at the time, I did learn about how important it is to reduce costs down as much as possible.
I've learnt a lot about what is possible with the tech available, and when having discussions with developers and freelancers I've now become able to spot the guys who don't know what they're doing vs those who do, and I've developed skills in how to cost up the project. I'm able to have serious discussions with developers about what I want, and how I see the infrastucture working.
What I have still to get out of the mindset is that:
a) my time costs and therefore I shouldn't be happy spending so much of my time on something that will be poor quality,
b) whilst I understand how the script/technology works from a technical point of view and can challenge/assist developers on the sites methodology, I'm not capable in executing it properly
c) I have the basic understanding of how to set up a site and use templates to make it semi decent, but a professional will take the idea and make it work, and this is what you pay the additional amount for.
This is a hard mindset to get out of, because I'm very much self sufficient, and will try and put in elbow grease to get something done if I can do it myself vs paying for it, but I'm now beginning to realise that my unwillingness to actually pay for the development of my site has not only meant that I don't have the site I need right now, but also I might have missed out on the potential to be a market leader and I might now be in a situation where I can't afford to compete because what I have is perhaps not as revolutionary as it would've been back then.
However, I also think perhaps there is still a chance, but I don't know how to justify spending the sorts of cash I need to in order to get it off the ground given the level of technological competition now compared to 7-8 years ago... Since then I've seen companies come up and become national multi multi million pound businesses based on lesser technology than I was trying to build in my bedroom years ago, and if I'd been savvy enough to find a way to fund it, or been less stubborn, worried about the idea being stolen, and indeed proud of my ability to develop basic sites, it might've been my business that has gotten there.
Hence why even now, the site I've recently tried to put together for my business is more shaped by my capability than what I actually want it to be.
The dilemma continues for me unfortunately!
TL
R - I thought I could do it myself, turns out I can't, if I'd had the cash I still wouldn't have hired someone, but probably should've, and now as a result I'm probably not going to be able to be the revolutionary success story I thought I should've been, because it's not so much of a stretch for an already existing market leader to implement the same idea, and I'm still trying to do things on the cheap to the detriment of the idea, and more importantly MY ability to implement it as a business idea in the current technological environment.As a result I think if you have an idea, it's worth paying for it if you believe in it, as the unwillingness to have it done properly can be life changing, and you could be like me looking back and thinking 'well if only I had...?'
In answer to the question - yes it's important to drive down the web development cost, but you might lose out on many opportunities in the process of trying to make do with lesser.
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S
shazi
well now many online solutions are available to get this done in proper way , first there is site named fiverr where you may get you site in even in 5 $ , on other hand there are some four dollar site also exists ,mean site will be done in 4 $ .
if you are looking for some advance level website with customized features then you may give a try like freelancer, or elancer site , there are plenty developers who will give you really amazing solution . but on such kind of website there is one big problem that you can not express your ideas properly to developers , therefore i prefer to have some physical firm to do this all stuff , you may check some yellow pages site which will have list of all local firms/software houses which does this kind of stuff , by having face to face meeting you can express your ideas on paper and even can check and point out the problems easily . but finally choice is your !
if you are looking for some advance level website with customized features then you may give a try like freelancer, or elancer site , there are plenty developers who will give you really amazing solution . but on such kind of website there is one big problem that you can not express your ideas properly to developers , therefore i prefer to have some physical firm to do this all stuff , you may check some yellow pages site which will have list of all local firms/software houses which does this kind of stuff , by having face to face meeting you can express your ideas on paper and even can check and point out the problems easily . but finally choice is your !
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And this is about the question in the thread, how?
They are for after a site is built, (with the provoso that onpage SEO should be baked into the build).
Never mind, keep building your post count.
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Steve Alphabet
You can find good developers on websites like Elance or oDesk. Just check their feedback closely, and make sure that when launched, they give you all the login details so you retain control of everything. Why spend time trying to learn web design on top of everything else you have to do when growing your business!
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Why should you trust an SEO expert to build a website on a budget?
Did you even read the title of the thread? Nobody is asking about SEO are they?
Well done you.
(On the subject of SEO experts, there are some very good ones and some idiot snakeoil salesmen. Bit like posters on this thread then.)
BTW: you wrote
"there only there to fill there pockets"
Did you really not see anything wrong with that? It is wonderfully bad.
Well done you, again.
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MatthewOlszewski
In a network is a lot of CMS on which you can set up a website. The most popular are wordpress, drupal, joomla. All have their advantages and disadvantages. The most flexible is wordpress, it has a lot of plugs, so on your website you can have almost anything you want. In addition, Wordpress has many nice and cheap themes. I have my website on WordPress and I'm very pleased.
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P
Phoenix IT Support
Wordpress is a good starting point. We originally set up our website using Wordpress and have gone through 2 revisions on design as we progressed. We are currently reviewing and re-developing our site to be non-Wordpress but that is our preference at the moment. Wordpress certainly worked for us in the early days and for a new business looking after the pennies it is a good solution. I agree that Wordpress can be used free but like with a lot of "free" services it costs in your time.
If you are starting up a new business you have enough to do with:
- accounts
- insurance
- premises
- day to day administration
- employee(s)? - PAYE etc.
- HMRC (tax and VAT offices as minimum)
- services/products
all these as well as actually doing business
- finding customers
- supplying quotes
- actually supplying products/services
- invoicing
Adding something like
- generating the website
- updating on a regular basis
- ensuring details are up to date and working
is just taking more of your time that is better used on your clients.
I notice SEO is mentioned, this can be important but if and when that was to be considered it is much more cost effective to do this yourself. You are more focused on this and that is much more effective than paying a third party. This can be done (we do supply it if a client insists) but we would suggest learning about SEO and do it yourself. I can provide more information on why paying third parties is not a good idea, so if you are interested please let me know. We are producing some free e-books about these areas,we can provide a link to download them.
One approach that can be taken is to outsource the website generation and hosting to a third party and also tie this into social media marketing. Companies that want a long term business relationship will be happy to generate your website and assist in the social media marketing, content updating along with SEO training for a small monthly payment.
This is our approach so again if this is something that is of interest contact me.
If you want more information or advice then simply contact me, it really costs nothing to chat.
If you are starting up a new business you have enough to do with:
- accounts
- insurance
- premises
- day to day administration
- employee(s)? - PAYE etc.
- HMRC (tax and VAT offices as minimum)
- services/products
all these as well as actually doing business
- finding customers
- supplying quotes
- actually supplying products/services
- invoicing
Adding something like
- generating the website
- updating on a regular basis
- ensuring details are up to date and working
is just taking more of your time that is better used on your clients.
I notice SEO is mentioned, this can be important but if and when that was to be considered it is much more cost effective to do this yourself. You are more focused on this and that is much more effective than paying a third party. This can be done (we do supply it if a client insists) but we would suggest learning about SEO and do it yourself. I can provide more information on why paying third parties is not a good idea, so if you are interested please let me know. We are producing some free e-books about these areas,we can provide a link to download them.
One approach that can be taken is to outsource the website generation and hosting to a third party and also tie this into social media marketing. Companies that want a long term business relationship will be happy to generate your website and assist in the social media marketing, content updating along with SEO training for a small monthly payment.
This is our approach so again if this is something that is of interest contact me.
If you want more information or advice then simply contact me, it really costs nothing to chat.
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I assume that Naheem either owns or is being paid to promote craftive
A quick check on their domain
Domain name:
craftive.co.uk
Registrant:
Domain Administrator
Registrant type:
Unknown
Registrant's address:
PO Box 67899
Panama
Not Applicable
678990
Panama
Data validation:
Nominet was not able to match the registrant's name and/or address against a 3rd party source
So not someone I'd be parting with any payment in advance to.
A quick check on their domain
Domain name:
craftive.co.uk
Registrant:
Domain Administrator
Registrant type:
Unknown
Registrant's address:
PO Box 67899
Panama
Not Applicable
678990
Panama
Data validation:
Nominet was not able to match the registrant's name and/or address against a 3rd party source
So not someone I'd be parting with any payment in advance to.
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@Nuno in response to the 'price by the page' that is a bit of a throw back to when CMS's were not common place and websites were created with content & format together (in dreamweaver).
However it seems at the budget end it is something that small / inexperienced businesses can relate to. It is a bit more complex to explain what page templates are and how they can be re-used, subject to content etc. on a landing page designed for the less knowledgable. And at that sort of price you can't afford to 'educate' the purchaser by meetings / phone calls.
However it seems at the budget end it is something that small / inexperienced businesses can relate to. It is a bit more complex to explain what page templates are and how they can be re-used, subject to content etc. on a landing page designed for the less knowledgable. And at that sort of price you can't afford to 'educate' the purchaser by meetings / phone calls.
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@Naheem lol .. but just to explain ... yours is a typical profile, make a few short posts to get the credibility up and then start posting about your own business... and it seemed a pretty random post, as craftive wasn't mentioned ... and this is a bit of a 'honeypot' thread for cheap web design promoters.
But as you put out you are genuine. I'd be wary of a company (with no name provided, against nominet rules) that registers a dot co dot uk in Panama. I hope you get what you want out of it and it doesn't go wrong for you.
But as you put out you are genuine. I'd be wary of a company (with no name provided, against nominet rules) that registers a dot co dot uk in Panama. I hope you get what you want out of it and it doesn't go wrong for you.
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