It is time to build your website and create an online asset that you can be proud of. When you are on a limited budget, it can be challenging to know where to spend the money. You want to ensure that you have a good site, but you want to save as much money as you can.
Always remember that your website is like your company’s face. You want to make sure that your face is nice, neat and attractive and you want the same thing for your website. Here are some tips to save money when you are building your website.
1. Use a CMS (Content Management System) That Is Reliable
If you use a CMS that is not reliable, it could be anywhere from annoying to downright catastrophic. Even a little down time or errors here and there can hurt your brand and make you look like you are not a professional so you need to use a CMS like WordPress. WordPress is one of the most popular options for building a site.
The WordPress.org version allows you to build a site on your own hosting so that you can create a space all your own where no one else has say over what happens. If you’re built on WordPress and aren’t using a specialized WordPress hosting services, you may not have the reliability you could have.
When you want to set your site up on WordPress, all that you need is a website domain, hosting and your WordPress software to be installed on your hosting. If you aren’t very technical, you can always ask your host how to set things up and they should be helpful.
2. Know What Kind of Site You Want
Having a vision and a plan for your site is very important. You can’t start building a site without knowing what you want to create or you are going to find yourself running in circles and achieving very little. When you know what design you want for your site, you are going to be able to move forward quicker than if you were trying to create everything throughout the process.
You need to figure out if your site is going to be primarily a blog, if you want a static home page, a membership site or some other sort of site. Depending on what you want will depend on the tools that you need to build it.
3. Use a Template that Is Ready Made
Whatever type of site you decide that you want to build, you can use a template that is ready made instead of trying to fix a design on your own. Even if you use WordPress page builders, it is going to take you more time to customize than if you were to use a template that is already made for you.
There are plenty of templates that you can find both free and paid. If you search through enough templates, you are sure to find a good match for you that will work for the plan that you have in place.
4. Take Advantage of Free Learning Online
Even if you don’t know anything at all about WordPress, you can learn it. You don’t have to learn complicated code, but you will have to learn the ins and outs of WordPress if you want to build a website on the cheaper side of things.
Learning how to do the work on your own not only allows you to take care of any site issues, but you will now have a valuable skill that you can monetize if you decide that is something that you want to do.
Being your own webmaster isn’t always easy but you will save a lot of money. If you have more time than you have money then you are better off to get to work on learning how to fix your own WordPress site. The main WordPress website has plenty of tutorials that will help you get your start and they break them down easily for beginners.
5. Use Free Stock Photos
There are many different sites that offer free stock photos. Some of them require that you give credit, but free is free. If you can create a nice looking website and all you have to do is give credit, that isn’t a bad deal.
You can look on sites like Unsplash and Pixabay if you want to find some good free stock images. Many of these sites advertise paid stock photos and you may see some that you like better so if you want to put a budget aside for photos, you certainly can.
6. Choose Your Writers Carefully
When you start work on your site, you need to have content. While you may not have a good budget, if you can’t write, you need to find someone that can. The best writers do not come to you on the inexpensive side, but the writing they do will remain on your site and is a major part of your online asset. You do not want to put out money on writers that do not speak proper English. Either write the content yourself or find a good copywriter that will be able to do the work for you. When people read your site, the content that is there is a reflection of you.
Conclusion
These are just a few effective tips for anyone who wants to build a website, but there are other budget friendly ways to save on costs. If you have any experience starting a website, leave us a comment with your expertise in the section below.
