As accountants and/or other types of small business owners, you are probably well aware that if you don't have a website by now you are missing out on sales. Not only that, with local search becoming so prevalent with Google and other search engines, your potential clients are expecting to find you when they search for accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs, and any other type of small business. Having a website is near mandatory and will continue to be even more so. This is especially true if your small business has recently considered rebranding (see our blog post which asks: Is It Time to Rebrand Your Accounting Firm).
But what if you can't afford or just don't want to spend the thousands of dollars professional website designers charge? If you have at least a basic understanding of the internet and can follow instructions, you can build a website yourself.
To accomplish this, you'd do well to follow the step-by-step, in-depth advice from the following article from SEMPals.com. We have never seen a more comprehensive beginner's guide to building a website. With this guide you CAN build your own website. Below is the link to the full article-which covers every single thing you need to know and do, so it is quite long- and the first few pieces of advice for building your own website:
How to Make a Website (Complete Beginner's Guide)
This step-by-step simple guide to creating a website is for people who want a professional site with great design and functionality that's easy and cheap to make. Knowing how to create a website today is more about knowing what website builders, Web hosting services, and Web design tools exist to do the job for you.
Here's the thing: you don't need to understand the internal combustion engine to own and drive a car, and you don't need to learn unnecessary things about how the Internet works to have a website.
Here's an outline of what you'll need to know (click on a link to jump to that section):
- Costs
- Important concepts
- Find a domain name
- Ways to create a website
- Understand your site's requirements
- Choose a Web platform
- Choose a Web host (if required)
1. Costs of having a website
It is possible to create certain types of website for free. However, you should be prepared to spend at least $5 - $10 per month (and possibly more) to maintain a website of decent quality and around $20 - $30 per month to host an eCommerce store.
There's a full roundup of specific costs associated with everything from buying domain names, cheap shared hosting plans, VPS plans, dedicated servers, website builders, and eCommerce hosting in their respective sections below.
2. Understand these important components
Terms that you should understand before you can take your first step:
- Domain:
- A website domain is the address that people type into their browser in order to view a site
- Every website needs a unique domain name which will direct the browser to your website’s home page
- Domains are usually the same as the business name - but not always, because most domains are already taken
- Web host:
- A Web host, sometimes also called a hosting service is a company that provides the resources and connection to the Internet that your website needs to operate and serve pages over the Web
- Most Web hosts offer facilities to purchase a domain name, when you purchase a monthly Web hosting plan from them
- Website builder:
- Website builders offer online Web design facilities in addition to Web hosting - i.e. everything, all in one place
- Modern website builders are easy to use, fast, high quality, and very affordable
- Using a website builder is the easiest way to set up a website for beginners
3. Find a domain name
Finding and registering great domain names can be a real hassle for small businesses. But, with a bit of imagination and creativity, it is still possible to buy a reasonably cheap domain that works. The problem for most businesses looking to register a new domain is that either someone else is using it, or the dreaded cyber-squatters are holding it ransom.
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