Tip: Own a Website for $1 a Month

I understand the importance of every business having a website containing a brief summary of the business, contact information, and links to relevant sites, including social media accounts used to communicate with customers.

Websites can be very confusing and costly if you are not careful. You'll need a logo, some website design, a domain name, a hosting company, and a way to edit the site when you want to make changes. I've tried multiple options and a variety of budgets from professional web designers to hiring free interns from a local school and in the end my entrepreneurial spirit took over and now I write, design, and maintain a few websites myself using a free website recommended to me by another small business owner.  

If you ask people in the web design industry I bet they would consider $1000 a decent price to have a five page website designed including hosting and editing for a year. I am going to explain how to do it yourself for about $1 per month.

First you'll need to buy your domain name.  This can be done by googling "buy domains" or visiting popular sites like GoDaddy.com or Register.com.  With a little creativity you should be able to buy an available domain name for about $10 per year.  If you are really set on a domain name that is already owned by someone, be prepared to pay top dollar for it.  Selling domains is a hot business right now and domainers are not letting go of names at discount rates.  Try adding words before and after your desired domain until you find a suitable name that you don't have to pay a premium to purchase.  I have experience finding website names so if anyone need help, feel free to contact me. 

Next, you'll need a company to host site your site. GoDaddy.com, Bluehost.com, LifeTimeHost.com are all good hosting companies that charge a monthly fee to host your sites.  There are also some places online that host your site for free like Tumblr.com and Weebly.com. Tumblr.com is great if you already have a site built or prefer a more blog related website.  Weebly.com allows you to build and host your sites for free.  Other companies will charge you big bucks to design a website so it is worth taking a shot for free with Weebly.

Weebly.com has been around since 2006 and has helped millions of people build their web presence. Their easy to use site has everything you need to build a professional looking and functioning website.  Some features include blogs, image galleries, detailed web traffic stats, online stores, tutorials, and a support center to help you with any problems.  Sign up for a free account, read some instructions, and start playing with the drag and drop interface.  Its easy to control and like everything else, you will get better with practice.  Before you know it you will be able to barter using your newly developed web design skills.  You might even want to upgrade to a paidversion which is about $3 per month, allowing you to build and host multiple sites. Formsite.com is good site to use with Weebly because you can create more advanced custom forms and surveys.

I have designed about a dozen sites using Weebly, Bluehost, and Formsite and I would be happy to help any local Patch readers interested in managing their own websites.  I hope someone learned something from this post and that you were able to save money and/or take control of your own web presence. I enjoy helping people and believe we should all be thinking positively about our futures.

Sharing is caring, November is Small Business Month so be sure to share your tips!