Why you have to have a website:
I can’t just tell you that you have to have a website. It is far more complex than that.
If you have any kind of business at all then you have to have some sort of web presence. The most known method is the website.
A website is an online portal to your business. It tells your prospective customer/client all about and your business. It is sort of like an online brochure but way more informative. And if the website is properly set up then there will several pages (at least five) that explain you, your business, the services and products that you offer, how to contact you and your physical location, etc.
And if you are really good or have hired a true webmaster professional then that website is choc-a-bloc with useful hints and tips and information that you customers get for free. This could be useful articles, videos and products. And this information is stuffed with keywords that your customers are looking for when they search the internet. This helps to drive your customers to you. And if you have a physical location then the website is also garnered for geo-targeting; meaning it is geared to bring in local customers and not someone from India.
But why do you need to have a website?
Because, the old tried and true methods are no longer tried and true. They are dying out. Gone are the days where you could pay for a listing in the Yellowpages and put an ad in the local newspaper. In fact, in some places newspapers and phone books are being outlawed as more and more communities go green.
Your customers are now going to the internet to find the stores and shops to visit. And if you have no website then your customers are not going to find you.
Recently a survey was done of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 and they found that 99% of this public have at least one social media profile online. 99 percent. Your future is on the internet folks.
It was also found that 80% below the age of 40 go to the internet before they even think of opening the phone book. So in this case, the future is now.
So have an online presence is your best ticket to drive new and future prospects to your business.
Where to go to get a FREE website:
You can search online and check out the internet for website designers and developers, or you can visit sites like Craigslist.com, Backpage.com or Kijiji.com, which are online classified ad sites to find a web designer. And most of these guys are very good at what they do. But, lets be honest, they are not necessarily going to be cheap.
Typically a well produced nice looking website that will do everything that you need it to do as described above is going to run you around $2000-$5000. That is quite a lot of money and it is worth every penny. But is there an alternative, or free way, to get a website that will do everything that you need it to do? Yes there is. (By the way, if you do want a nicely designed website designed by a true pro, then you need to talk with my friend Paul Starr. Just go to paulstarrproductions.com)
There is a company called Wordpress. They are an online database developers and they have designed and produced a blogging platform that you can use for free to build your own website. I make all my own websites with Wordpress, and the one that I make for my clients all use Wordpress.
There are two alternatives with Wordpress. The self-hosted and the Wordpress hosted choices. Got to wordpress.org for the Wordpress hosted sites and go to wordpress.com for the self-hosted sites.
I used the self-hosted Wordpress. It gives me the options to really make my websites zing. With the Wordpress hosted sites you cannot make it do what you really want it to do, and they don’t allow you to use the site to make money from. Which is not true for the self-hosted Wordpress.
But don’t worry, they are both free.
To use the self-hosted Wordpress for your website you’ll need a hosting service. There are many out there, but only two really cater to Wordpress. You should look into BlueHost or HostGator. I use Bluehost exclusively because I have found that they have the best customer service, and you can call up someone on the phone and talk with a real live technical support person that is not from India or the Phillipines.
I am not going to go into how to make and develop your Wordpress as that would require a lot more than I am willing to do with this quick article. If you are interested in learning how to make your own self-hosted Wordpress website then sign-up for my free newsletter. I am also planning on producing several how-to videos that will go over this step by step. Let me know if you are interested in this.
If you decide to use BlueHost then their customer service people can help walk you through the entire process of hosting the website.
I last thing that you will need with the self-hosted Wordpress site is a domain name. This is your internet address. Again the Bluehost people can help with getting you a domain name. Domains are not free, but they also are not very expensive, maybe $10 total.
How to make your Wordpress website really zing:
There are some things that you will need to really make your Wordpress website standout in the crowd.
Wordpress comes with a website template already installed. You can use this or one of the many very well designed free templates that Wordpress offers. And let me say that there are a lot of beautiful and well designed templates to choose from. Or you can choose to buy a premium website from web designers that exclusively design templates for Wordpress. All you have to do is Google “Wordpress templates” and you’ll get a lot of companies providing those templates. Do be prepared to spend between $75 and $150 and sometimes more for a premium template.
Another thing that you will need to make your Wordpress site explosive are what is called “plugins”. These plugins are small software programs that enhance the functionality of your Wordpress site. They can do all sorts of things like: make your website the bees knees when it comes to SEO (search engine optimaztion), or to add Twitter, FaceBook and/or YouTube integration, Or myriad list of different useful and cool tools.
The best thing is that these plugins are free.
So, except for the domain name and the hosting which adds to about $20, you can have a totally free website that will help you get discovered on the internet and drive in hordes of new customers/clients everyday.
To get more useful and specialized information on creating a website and a social media presence on the internet then please sign up for my free newsletter that will go into more detail.
