So you’re at the point in your business where you know you need an online presence, but now what?
The first question we like to ask individuals who find themselves in this situation is:
What do you want your website to do for you?
It seems like a simple enough question, but have
you really taken the time to think about it?
When you envision a potential customer going
to your website:
• What do they see?
• What are you trying to communicate to them?
Let’s look at some options:
Landing Pages
Do you need something very simple to communicate just the basics: your name, company, and contact info? We often refer to these one page websites as “Landing Pages”. They’re a good way to get your foot in the door online and the great part about the web is you can always add to your website later. If you’re on a tight budget, this is about as cheap as it gets to give you a professional looking web presence. The sample shown here is an example of a landing page we designed recently.
View their live site or see other website examples in our portfolio.
Static Small Business Websites
If you think you want to go a little deeper on who you are, the products/services you offer, examples of your work, maybe a contact form but that’s about it. You don’t need to sell things on your website (at least initially) or be able to physically update the content yourself then you’re probably looking for a “static small business website”. These are usually from 3-10 pages and are the most common request we get for organizations that are just getting started on the web.
Here are a few static sites we’ve designed that are located here in Chico:
Content Management Systems
Do you want to maintain the content of your website without a web designer? Then you will need a “Content Management System” (CMS). They generally are more expensive to setup but can be less expensive over the long run provided you are a little more tech savvy and can maintain your website content yourself. The most common-use case for a CMS is to manage a blog.
Here are a few examples of content management systems we’ve created.
Grace Community Church – WordPress Design
Poise Photography – Blog Design
Ecommerce Websites
When you start talking about selling products or services from your website you enter into the complicated world of ecommerce. There’s a smorgasbord of options out when it comes to Shopping Carts, Payment Gateways, etc. For small businesses that are just starting out – the simplest and most affordable option is to use PayPal to handle transaction processing. There’s almost no monthly overhead involved and the cost to setup a PayPal-based checkout process is very reasonable. There are trade-offs to every choice, but we’re firm believers in only building what you need.
Here is an example of an Ecommerce site we put together.
Rhema Apparel – Ecommerce Website
Well, I hope you found that informative, yet pretty easy to digest. If you want to find out more about setting up a website, use the contact form below or give us a call at (530) 675-4575. Consultations are always free!
