Maximize Value: 6 Expert Tips for Affordable Small Business Websites

With millions of websites competing for users’ attention, the internet is a huge and competitive place. Making a website that is both economical and successful is a challenge for individuals, small businesses, non-profits, and startups. Affordable websites emphasize making wise decisions and utilizing the appropriate tools and resources rather than sacrificing functionality or quality.

The importance of an affordable website for a small business

A website serves as a digital storefront, providing information, engaging visitors, and facilitating transactions.

A company’s website can:

increase accessibility to small businesses and startups
offer a venue for neighborhood and nonprofit projects
permit people to display their own projects and portfolios
provide a low-risk means to test out new business idea

Defining an affordable website for a small business

The concept of affordability is subjective to an individual’s financial limits and needs. Some people may define an affordable website as a straightforward blog with few out-of-pocket costs, while others may define it as a low-cost e-commerce site. Important elements affecting affordability include:

initial setup costs such as domain registration and web hosting
recurring maintenance fees
additional features and functionalities
investment of time to learn to manage the website

How I am Your Virtual Professional defines an affordable website

Many times your website is your first impression to the world.

It is your electronic shingle hanging on your virtual door. There are many options when creating a website on a budget. The cheapest method is DIY. There are also plenty of people that they will build your website for as cheap as $80 -$250.

But as the saying goes you get what you pay for.

One of my client’s websites started out with an $80 website built on the Wix platform. The freelancer did not listen to her requirements and did not include any SEO (search engine optimization) on the site. Now her site is found on page one of Google organically as well with her Google Business Profile.

Another client’s site was a WordPress site. It was created for $250 which included a logo. The problem was it was up for four years it did not have any analytic tools attached to the site and it was not optimized for SEO. After I took on the client he saw an 80% jump in traffic in 3 months.

The last example is of a client that had a very nice-looking site. Once again it was put online without SEO. We are now working to integrate best SEO practices to his site and are working on a digital marketing campaign.

When I take on a project be it a brochureware site or doing general maintenance on a site I consider the client’s site as if it were my own. I take its success personally. I implement best SEO practices, I create a Google Business account so my client is able to find customers or clients and most importantly I install Google Analytics to track the success of what we did.

Why SEO is important part of an affordable website for a small business

SEO increases a website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). More traffic is typically associated with higher rankings since visitors are more likely to click on one of the top results. Users frequently view websites that rank highly in search results as being more reliable and authentic. When was the last time you used a company that appeared on page 5 of Google?

When weighed against sponsored advertising, SEO is comparatively more affordable. Although there are expenses involved in putting SEO methods into practice, they are sometimes offset by the long-term advantages of organic traffic.

When compared to other marketing strategies, SEO can provide a larger return on investment (ROI). SEO may increase the amount of qualified visitors to your website by focusing on people who are actively looking for goods or services that are similar to yours.

The results of SEO are permanent, in contrast to paid advertising, which ceases to generate visitors as soon as you stop spending money. For years, an optimized website can draw in organic visitors. Businesses may maintain their competitiveness, relevance, and accessibility to their target audience by investing in SEO, which will ultimately result in long-term growth and success.

Content is king for all websites – especially for an affordable small business website

The foundation of any successful website is excellent content. Increased traffic, increased trust, increased engagement, and eventually higher conversion rates and economic success are the results of it. Good content should include the following:

directed at your audience
be original and unique
be well-written and have a mix of text, images, videos, and infographics
optimized for SEO
updated regularly
include a call to action

Content management for affordable small business websites

Content management is the process of producing, arranging, storing, and managing digital material during its whole lifespan. In order to manage information successfully and efficiently and make sure that it is current, relevant, and easily available to the intended audience.

When I ran my bushiness one of my many jobs was that of being the websites content manager. I added products to our e-commerce site, updated pricing, photographed items, an worked with graphic designer to create call to action buttons.

The 5 components of website content for affordable small business websites

1. Content Creation: Developing engaging and relevant content for your website, including text, images, videos, and other multimedia elements.

2. Content Organization: Organizing the content is key to giving website visitors a positive experience. Many software packages offer users the ability to structure and categorize data or content by tags, and categories.

3. Content Editing: Editing website content, whether it be written or compiled by an individual or a team, is important to ensure that your visitors receive a quality product. For a small business, this could be as simple as having another pair of eyes read the content. For larger organizations, this process usually has multiple stages and requires sign-off by a manager.

4. Content Publishing: Publishing the content is taking the information that has been approved and pushing it out to the web. Some software suites offer version control to allow users to roll back to a previous version if a mistake is found.

5. Multichannel Content Distribution: Distributing new content across various platforms helps reach and engage your target audience. It improves your brand’s visibility and improves the customer experience. Customers or prospective customers might come across an advertisement on social media, follow a link to your website, and then they can receive a follow-up email containing additional information. Having a uniform and seamless experience across all platforms builds trust with your customers or perspective and will build your business.

Remember content is king and one of the most important jobs you have is managing it, to give your users a reason to come back.

Subscription services vs. paid service options for an affordable small business websites

There are several subscription services that allow users to create their own sites. Companies like Wix and Squarespace offer easy-to-use and relatively intuitive platforms for those comfortable using a word processor.

There are also web design companies that charge you a monthly fee to service your site. Several ears ago a friend of mine signed up for a service like this. She wanted me to manage her site. When she contact the person who created it she was informed that the company owned the domain and that if she wanted to make change they would need to pay the company to update the site or of course for a fee they were willing to sell them the domain to her.

At I am Your Virtual Professional I know what it is like to be a small business owner. I ran a small business for almost two decades before consulting. Having another monthly expense is the last thing a small business owner be it a solopreneur or an entrepreneur wants.

I create a website in WordPress for you that is easily maintainable. I am happy to help you as needed or to do regular maintenance as you want. The difference is that I am only charging you when you use my time. I create a password file that I give to you at the end of the project. The domain is registered in your name, the content is yours. I am simply the tool that helps make it happen.

I use best SEO practices when building a site or when I do website maintenance on it. When the project is done you no longer need to pay me monthly. Rather you only pay for the services that you need and when you need them.

Website maintenance needed for an affordable small business websites

The term “website maintenance” describes the consistent, continuing work needed to maintain a website. To ensure the website functions smoothly, is current, and offers a positive user experience. For a small business website maintenance looks different than that of a large corporation.

Small business owners need to keep the following maintenance items in mind to ensure their website perform:

updating content – making sure the content is timely
security checks – having security plugins installed in a WordPress site
software updates – updating plugins on a regular basis to keep them current
Backup and recovery – installing a Plugin to back up your site on a regular basis
user experience improvements – improving functionality when possible to improve the user experience
monitoring analytics – watching your analytic data so you can make changes to your site to keep it relevant

Website maintenance is crucial regardless of the size of the company. If you are using a subscription service security, software updates backup and recovery are usually covered as part of the price with the large subscription services. If you choose to use a website company who has a subscription service please be sure to ask if their package includes keeping your data safe.

I am Your Virtual Professional will save you money for your affordable small business website

My website is hosted by Hostgator. One of the reasons that I like this company is that they offer 24/7 technical support. Additionally, as a Hostgator affiliate partner, I am able to offer my clients or anyone who clicks on the link a FREE domain for one year, a SSL for one year and 33% of the cost of your web hosting package.

The cheapest way to build an affordable small business website is do it yourself or DYI

Building your website by hand can result in significant cost savings. To assist in learning the fundamentals of web design and development, YouTube offers an abundance of FREE how to courses. Though you are not paying out of pocket you are spending a valuable resource on your time which has a cost.

6 expert tips for an affordable small business website

-1- prioritize essential features: Concentrate on key elements that have a direct bearing on the user experience and organizational objectives. Steer clear of pointless plugins and add-ons that could raise prices.

-2- create riveting content: A website that looks pretty but does not provide information is not useful. Spend time creating content that is a value to your users and prospective customers.

-3- start small: Begin with a basic website and add features as your needs grow. This approach minimizes initial costs and allows for incremental investment. Spend your time creating content to tell your story.

-4- optimize for SEO. By increasing your website’s exposure and drawing in organic visitors, search engine optimization (SEO) lessens the requirement for expensive advertising. Make use of SEO best practices, which include neat URLs, high-quality content, and keyword optimization.

-5- utilize free resources: Make use of free resources like online tutorials, open source software, and stock photos. Numerous excellent resources and tools are offered without charge.

-6- monitor and analyze: Use technologies such as Google Analytics to track website performance on a regular basis. Finding areas for improvement.

Cost components of an affordable small business websites cost

Budgeting requires an understanding of the costs associated with creating and maintaining a website. Depending on the provider the costs will vary Be ware not all providers are equal. Some offer technical support either via chat, phone or email while others pffer only email or chat or none at all.

When you pick a provider keep that is mind.

• domain Name: The domain name is the website’s address on the internet. Costs vary depending on the domain extension (.com, .org, .net, etc.) and the registrar. Average cost $10-$30 a year.

• web Hosting: The service that saves the files for your website and makes them available online is called web hosting. The monthly cost of hosting can vary greatly, ranging from a few dollars for shared hosting to much more for dedicated servers. Average cost $2-$10 a month.

• SSL certificates: To improve security, an SSL certificate encrypts data transferred between a website and its users. Average cost $10-$50 a year with many hosting platforms offering the first year for free.

• design and development: Design and development costs can vary widely. Using website builders services can significantly reduce the short-term expense but then there are monthly recurring fees.

• graphic design and stock photography: Having a good branded logo and good stock images improves the look and the feel of the site and lends the site credibility. Create a logo in Canva the cost is about $25 higher a graphic artist prices vary. Good graphic artists charge around $150 for a logo. Free stock photography is available but subscription services pricing varies based on your plan.

• maintenance: Constant upkeep guarantees that the website stays current, safe, and operational. This covers content updates, backups, security monitoring, and software upgrades, web hosting and domain registration.

Affordable small business website hosting services free domains

There are many options for web hosting companies many of which sell domain names too. Hostgator offers a a FREE domain for one year, a SSL for one year and 33% of the cost of your web hosting package when you use this link.

Cheap website hosting can cost you money

Finding the cheapest website hosting company might sound like a good idea at first but it can actually cost you money. How you ask? One component of SEO is technical SEO. One of the criteria is making your website faster. Using the cheapest hosting company can have a negative impact on your website traffic and cost your company money by not getting found. With Hostgator you get a fairly priced provider that provides that provides a quality service.

Free website builder for anaffordable small business website

The old saying that you get what you pay for is true. Nothing is really free in life. everything comes with a cost. WIX which offers https://www.wix.com/ a free website is a great platform but it has its limitations such as the URL or web address has wix.com as part of it which is not ideal for marketing purposes. In order to have a custom domain you have to upgrade you site to a paid plan.

WordPress is a free platform that I use at I am Your Virtual Professional but requires using plugins. Plugins are software that add new functionality or extend existing functionality on your site. Many plugins are free but to unleash the plugins’ full potential licenses need to be purchased. A great example of this is Elementor. The Elementor free Plugin is used to create most WordPress sites but by purchasing an Elementor license you increase the the number of tools and widgets.

Other free website builders for small businesses are:

Are the above services really free? Some have free trial periods while others offer limited functionality that requires a package to be purchased to access more functionality.

Remember as a small business owner your greatest asset is your time. Looking for a free option might sound good initially but realize that there will be costs. Those companies need to pay their rent and employees too. How much time are you taking out of your schedule to try a free program and what could you be doing with the time to grow your business?

What do affordable small business websites cost?

So what is the bottom line what is the cost? You can go to Fiver and find someone to build your website for as little as $80 on the Wix platform. You can also find people to build a WordPress site for as little as $250. But what are you actually getting?

For $80 the customer who is now my client got the the following:

a person who did not listen to her requirements
a website without any SEO
attitude when asked to make changes

When she had enough I was brought onto her team. We took her WIX website, from a bunch of pages with images that had nothing to do with her practice to a functioning marketing tool that included SEO. In addition, I worked with the client to create a Google Business page and helped her with marketing materials.

For $250 the customer who is now my client got the following:

a website that was not found on Google for over 4 years
a website without any SEO
an unresponsive contractor who ghosted him when he asked for the login information, so he was locked out of his own site

When you work with I am Your Professional you are getting a professional building your WordPress or Wix website.

I start by asking what are your goals for the website. Then I ask who your target audience is. Once the conversation is complete I spend time doing keyword research so we can build content together that will make your website work for you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

When I build a WordPress website I use Hostgator web hosting. As a Hostgator affiliate partner, I am able to offer my clients or anyone who clicks on the link a FREE domain for one year, a SSL for one year and 33% of the cost of your web hosting package.

When I am Your Virtual Professional is done with your affordable small business website you get the following:

a responsive website so it works on all screens and devices
a website that is built around the best SEO practices that include Keywords, optimized images, and plugins to improve speed
a password file so you can edit and make changes after the project is done
a professional with over 2 decades of small business experience you will be your advocate

Costs vary depending on the number of pages and the amount of content that you create versus the amount of content that I help you create.

A typical WordPress website starts at $3000 and goes up based on the number of pages, the amount of content needed to be created, and the number of photos that need to be found, then approved, and finally optimized. Working together we can build you a website that is found on the first page of Google and gives you a return on your investment.

Affordable small business websites, content management & website maintenance

If you are going to DIY your website I wish you much success and am confident you can succeed if you put in the necessary time and effort. I hope your site drives traffic and brings you so much business that you need to reach out to me for other small business consulting services