Things to Know if You are Planning to Have a Website for Your Startup

In this digital age, its a no brainer for every Startup to own a website if they can afford it. Here are the things to know if you are planning to have a website for your startup.

1. Creating a Website Costs Money

YES! Whether you like it or not, if you are planning to have a website for your startup, you will have to pay for it. Now the main question is, how much should I be paying to have my own startup website?

If you want to have a website, you will have to pay for the hosting services and the domain, you might want to check out some of these websites to go through their services and prices. GoDaddy, Bluehost, Hostinger, GoogleCloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure, just to name a few. Once you have chosen your service provider, its time to build your website.

If you have little to no knowledge in web development, it might be a good idea to hire a developer to build the website for your startup. Of course you can learn to build a website yourself but you are better off spending that time on other aspects or parts of your startup and leave the coding work to the developers.

Here are some good articles for reading, WebsiteBuilder, WebsiteFX, SmashingMagazine.

2. Alternatives to Build Your Startup’s Website

There is an alternative that you can take if you are running on a low budget or in case if you are not in the position to hire developers to develop your website. Check out some of these sites and their service:

1. Wix
2. HostGator
3. ConstantContact
4. MyShopify (For ecommerce)
5. Shoppegram (For ecommerce)

These sites offer you a simpler way to build your website with cheaper cost however keep in mind that there are limitations if you decide to go with this option. The downfalls include:

1. You don’t have 100% controls over your website styling as much as you do if you hire a developer. Yes, the website builder offers you variety of styling to help you design your website but you may only use whatever they are showing you.
2. Over time, you might want to add more functionalities or features to your website, but you will find it hard to do since you are not a developer. Even if you go the extra miles and learn to code yourself, usually the site you build using the above services Instead you will have to contact the service provider’s support and ask them about it. Depending on the features you are planning to add, you might not be able to do so.

3. Your Website is Your Long-term Investment

By now, you should already be accepting the fact that having a website cost you money and it may or may not be cheap depending on your decision.

Do not get discouraged by this though. Instead, treat your website as a long-term investment that can help you to grow your startup. Why ?

1. Website can improve your client’s trust on your startup services or products
2. Website can help you to market your services or products better.
3. Having a website can help you to engage your audience better.
4. You can monetize your website and get that side income.

4. A Website can help You Grow Your Audience

Though it may be the case that you already know that having a website can help you grow your audience but you are not sure how, well here are some of the ways:

1. You can create multiple landing pages on your website for marketing purposes, the URL for the landing page can easily be shared through social media.
2. Create a subscription section in your website where people can subscribe to your website and you can grow your email list from there.
3. Display your products on your website through images and videos.
4. Create a section on your website where your customers can fill in to for any services if you are selling products.
5. You might also want to consider creating a blog as part of your website so you can engage your audience.
6. Finally, in my personal opinion, having a properly built website with legit information will already be helping you to improve your startup authenticity.

The End..

Hopefully, by now you would be able to jumble around your options and decide which course is the best for your startup.

If by any chance you need insights or want to discuss more about having a website for your startup, don’t be shy, just drop me an email.

See you in the next article!