Creating a website doesn’t have to cost you the moon
Regardless of what industry you’re in, a website should be part of your marketing strategy. A good informative, easy to use website will bring credibility to your company and save you money by diverting traffic to it instead of your call centre or inbox. The initial cost of a website can be quite substantial. However, there are a few ways to save you money.
Stock Photography
Adding imagery to your website is a must. Visual communication is one of the best ways to get your message across. But stock photography can be costly. If you really must have that unique picture, then a company like Corbisor Gettyimages might be the only resource for you, but check out the following websites for affordable, if not free photography.
www.istockphoto.com - Photos can be purchased at istockphoto for as low as 50 cents.
www.photos.com - Choose from a one-month or to a one-year subscription period and download up to 250 photos a day!
www.istockpro.com - Istockphoto’s sister company offers reasonably priced individual photos or themed CD collections.
www.sxc.hu - Simply become a member of Stock.xchng and all your photos are free.
Hosting
Hosting requirements will depend on your website features. Is your website powered by a database? If so, what kind; MySQL, Access, Oracle, Foxpro? Will you need PHP, Cold Fusion or Perl capabilities? What about bandwidth and storage space, how much will you need? Answers to these questions will determine what type of hosting provider you should get. Once again, you don’t have to pay outrageous amounts of money if you don’t need it. The following hosting companies offer good services at reasonable prices:
Doteasy.com - This hosting provider is perfect for small to medium static website. Once you purchase your domain name from Doteasy, hosting is free!
www.dreamhost.com - Dreamhost offers similar services to Opus for slightly higher fees, but their control panel is worth the extra money.
www.experthost.ca - For companies wishing to use ASP or Cold Fusion, ExpertHost offers very good database hosting for $15 USD/month.
Templates
Templates are liked canned mushrooms. They are good, easy to use and less expensive, but will never be like the real thing. If money is indeed tight, templates can be used for creating your look and feel. Companies like template monster offer cheap templates which once purchased can be populated with your content.
You get what you pay for
There are many unique and creative ways to work on a tight budget. With carefully planning and analysis the right website can be created to suit any business.