6 Tips for Building a Website on a Limited Budget

Posted by kboon on February 10, 2010 under Business Building Strategies | 3 Comments to Read

Imagine you have an important business meeting.  You worked hard to get this appointment and you know this person would be a great partner for your business.  You want to make a good impression.  You take extra time to prepare for your meeting and you make sure you dress professionally and appropriately.

Chances are you wouldn’t dress in a pair of sweat pants, an old t-shirt and running shoes.

Yet many businesses dress their website this way.  Their website is an afterthought.

Website as a Central Source

Social media strategists often say, the first step to creating a social presence is to have a good website.  The main purpose of social tools like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other forums is to drive people to your website.  According to the Edelman Report Barack Obama’s election team used 15 social networking sites to get the word out.  They created a central website at BarackObama.com and that had videos, blogs, calls to action, and resources that people could use and share.  (I’ll include a link to the report at the end of this post)

There are 3 components to a good website.

1. Graphics Design & Layout
2. Programming & Development
3. Usability

It can be difficult to find website design companies who have mastered all 3 of these skills.  If you do, you’re likely to pay big bucks!  IT companies will tend to hire in-house, but small businesses usually have limited budgets.

6 Ideas for Building a Website on a Budget

My website is about 3 weeks old and has been created on a small budget.  This is still a work in progress but here are some resources that I use today:

1. Wordpress – Wordpress is easy to use, includes great themes, and it’s free.
2. Netfirms – URL Registration & Hosting – Hosting is generally inexpensive
3. IstockPhoto – For low-cost images – or Flickr for free images
4. Website Grader – from Hubspot – this is a free tool that lets me grade my website for design, web usuability and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
5. Technical & Design Support – I am not a techie so I have a friend who helps me with any coding or technical work.  Usually all it takes is an email and he can create something quickly for me.
6. Access to Communities – Accessing web communities is one of the most powerful resources I use.  With Twitter, Linkedin and a new community called Third Tribe Marketing, I can get answers to most questions, business, marketing, sales or web related.

Developing a good website is worth the time investment.

At the end of the day your website can make your day-to-day sales efforts a lot easier.

Resources:

1. Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit.  Here is the Edelman website.
2. Website Grader is free.  Hubspot has other free graders for Twitter, Facebook and Press Releases.

7 Questions to Ask About your Business

Posted by kboon on February 2, 2010 under Business Building Strategies | Comments are off for this article

In the last few weeks I have made some great new connections within the business community, both online and in-person.  I generally like to ask a lot of questions because I want to get to know the person and understand their business.

There is usually a common theme that evolves.

Most businesses are looking for answers to the following questions:

1. What are my target market and who is my customer?
2. What is the right product or service for my business?
3. How do I create an effective website?
4. How do I monetize my business?
5. What are the best ways for reaching customers?
6. How do I tap into new markets and grow my business?
7. How do I manage my time?

Over the next few weeks I plan to go into more depth with each of these topics.

If there are other questions let me know by commenting or connecting with me on Twitter or Linkedin.