'm sure you have all seen those sites where they offer cheap business websites, or free templates, or cheap website builders. Truth is most of the websites produced by these website builders really suck. And yet you are a starting business, or even a well established business, and you really need to have a business website that is affordable.
Here are your options:
1. You get a free website from a one of the website builders that are available on the web.
Although this may seem like a good idea (and cheap!) I'm not sure if it would work for you in the long run. Here are the problems:
- Many of these sites look 'cheap' and unprofessional. This will not give a lot of confidence to many potential customers that you would be the right person for the job.
- They often have no options for search engine optimization. As there are now millions of website on the web good search engine optimization is essential if you want your business to be found online
- Many of the builders still require some upfront payment, so if you are not happy with your website, you will not get your money back
- Not a lot of flexibility when you want to make specific changes in design or layout
- It often misses important functionality like online forms, image galleries, a blog and online payments.
2. You hire a web designer
This is a very good idea if you have the budget. A good web designer can really make your business stand out. However, make sure that you hire someone with a good understanding of interface design and someone who understands the internet and the importance of search engine optimization and internet marketing. Unless you are a well established company with great brand awareness, you will need other ways for your business to be found on the web.
What are some of the issues then?
- The big disadvantage of course is that a web designer / developer can be expensive.
- You are never quite sure of the experience and level of expertise and may not end up getting what you were aiming for
- You will also need to make sure that you can edit the website. It is important that a website stays current and up to date and a good content management system (CMS) is essential to achieve this.
3. You create your website with an online content management system that can accommodate any web design and try out the system free
Pronta CMS is a web content management system that is free to try and can accommodate any web design. If you are on a low budget you can start out with one of the free business website templates and if you have a higher budget you can have a custom design created for the CMS
What are some of the benefits?
- Low price; you can setup and use a free 3 page website absolutely free
- High quality design; even the free designs are of high quality and can be completely customize
- You can edit your website yourself. It's really easy to do and editing and adding pages has never been this easy
- Completely customizable: this CMS will work with any design
- Lots of functionality: lots of functionality is built in, like a blog, online forms, online payments, image galleries etc.
- Software stays up to date: so no need for high maintenance fees.
- Very search engine friendly: each page can have their separate title tags, descriptions and keywords
So if you are looking for a free business website that can work for and grow with your business, I recommend you give Pronta CMS a try!