Websites for small businesses generally start at around $5000 and go up from there. We been able to build great small business websites starting at about $2000 that are really impressive. What can you do, though, if you really need that website and you don’t have the $2000. What are your options?
Option 1: The Cheapest
This route is the cheapest, simply because it is free. Can’t beat that. You don’t need to buy any hosting, domain name, software. With this approach you are using an existing hosting and blog support software. Although there are several host sites that support this, we encourage you to use http://www.wordpress.com. Log in, setup your account, and start blogging. This is all free, and you have the WordPress experience when you decide to move on to your own WordPress site with your hosting.
The disadvantage is is something called commodity. It’s hard for your website to stand out in the crowd when everyone is using the same software and layout. You don’t look serious.
Where this does work might be for a high school teacher wanting her students to submit there homework on the computer and put it in the class blog. You create a blog for the class and the students can interact, dialog, and learn a lot about blogging.
Note: All of the next options involve purchasing hosting and a domain name. Hosting and domain costs vary by how long you want your contract before renewing. Purchasing more years at a time means less cost per year. Be sure you are comparing apples and apples. Also, reliability and support are both very important for your host. We use oneworldehosting.com and like it – it stays at the top of the ratings. Also, your host will need to support PHP 5.2 or later and MySQL 5.0.15 or later. The WordPress version installed should be 3.1 or later.
Option 2: Template Approach
We can provide you with a domain name for $20 and hosting at $140 a year. Included in this is a very good website builder: RVSiteBuilder. This has over 700 templates in it. Pick the template you wish and fill in your own custom information. You can hang a WordPress blog off of this at no extra cost.
Frankly, we aren’t too keen on this approach. You will need some HTML expertise, and optimizing the site for the search engines is not a gift for the inexperienced. We can back you up on a per hour basis. This is a great approach, however, if you want to learn the HTML.
Option 3: Take it all the way with WordPress
With this approach, you need the domain name and hosting ($20 + $140/yr) as before, but you don’t need the website builder. You can build both the website and blog with WordPress. WordPress is the back-end, and you control the layout by using a theme. There are probably thousands of WordPress themes out there. Some are free, some have a small cost. A major plus here is that you don’t need to know much HTML to get started. There are plenty of on-line tutorials and books. Another advantage is that when you wish to upgrade later for a professional framework, you don’t have to go through much of a learning experience.
I will give you a big warning here, however. Never use a free WordPress theme. I’ve had my experiences here. From the professionals, though, here’s why. You are giving someone permission to steal your system.
Option 4: Use WordPress with Genesis and a Genesis Child Theme
Your user interface is the same as the WordPress interface with some new options. The Genesis system we sell adds about $100 for the Genesis and your child theme you can select. You have full license rights and access to the support forum. Over a quarter of a million people are already using Genesis.
Summary
In summary, here is an option we recommend when you don’t have much start-up cash.. Get the hosting ($140) and domain name ($20). Get the free WordPress installed and the books and do a little experimenting with the included free theme to see how it works (WordPress comes with one). There is no programming involved. Now add to this the professional Genesis framework to replace the them with a child theme on top of Genesis. The cost of Genesis + the child theme is $90, and both are professionally designed, reliable, and beat the search engines hard.To purchase this, use the StudioPress link in our blogroll and pick the layout you wish to use. Since you then own the license to Genesis and the child theme, you can use the StudioPress forum support. We are an affiliate for Genesis. For about $259, you have all you need for a professionally designed website. You just have to put your work into it.
