The collapse of many brick-and-mortar businesses led to a meteoric rise in new startups in the United States. According to economist John Haltiwanger, in 2020, the IRS saw its most significant influx of EIN applications in recent history. Startups are booming for two reasons; entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the growing online economy and a remedy for long-term unemployment. A big part of that is an online presence, so here is how to make a website.
You have your business plan, the appropriate licenses, and some clever branding in place, so now you’re ready to tackle a website. You may have saved this task for last because you don’t know where to start. Do you hire a professional, or do you try to build one yourself? Hiring a web designer and developer can cost you thousands of dollars based on the design and functionality of the site.
Website Costs
You can go to an agency with a great portfolio and stellar reviews but expect to pay between $5000 and $25,000 for their services. (Those standup workstations and latte machines aren’t free!) If your site is a custom design, you may also have to return to the agency for changes or updates at a high hourly rate. Also, it is essential to consider the visual content posted on the website, such as using five-star photos and high-quality graphics. You can even make a collage of your best photos to make your website look more appealing and engaging.
Think of your website as a commercial for your brand that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
It might be the only point of contact between you and a valued customer, so this is not the place to skimp in your startup budget. So how do you make a business website?
You can always find inexpensive freelancers on sites like Upwork, Stack, and Fiverr, but you get what you pay for. And sometimes, that includes a site with limited functionality that is difficult to update. You’ll need to go back to the company managing the freelancer to make any necessary changes.
You can go to a WordPress Agency with a great portfolio and stellar reviews, but expect to pay between $5000 and $25,000 for their services. (Those standup workstations and latte machines aren’t free!) If your site is a custom design, you may also have to return to the agency for changes or updates at a high hourly rate. Also, it is essential to consider the visual content posted on the website, such as using five-star photos and high-quality graphics. ”
Now you know why there are so many do-it-yourself website builders available. You’ll be doing the work yourself with easy-to-follow instructions. The truth is that most of them are a bit more complicated than they advertise. Sites like Wix, Weebly, WordPress, Squarespace, and GoDaddy offer free industry-specific templates to use as guides, with the option to choose premium themes from $20 and up. You’ll also pay monthly hosting fees and a small upcharge to remove their branding from your URL.
Wait, did you say GoDaddy? They’re best known for domain registration and web hosting but recently introduced a new and improved web builder. Now customers can simplify their online presence by keeping their domain registrations, web hosting, and website building and maintenance services under one umbrella.
When seeking top-notch web design services, consider collaborating with a reputable agency like Digital Silk for a combination of quality design and effective branding strategies. After this: You can even make a collage of your best photos to make your website look more appealing and engaging.
Who is GoDaddy?
GoDaddy has been around since the 90s, and with nearly 80 million names registered, it’s no secret that they are the largest domain registrar on the planet. Just type in the URL you want to check, and if it isn’t available, a domain generator tool can help quickly choose an alternative. Anyways, traditional idea generation flow comes from the value you are about to create. Using a business name generator for business niche-oriented AI brainstorm and then checking out related domains’ availability can be more natural and less forced. They also have brokers that can arrange purchases of domain names between sellers and buyers.
With over 20 million customers, they are also the world’s leading web hosting service. With award-winning support and a 99.9% uptime guarantee, GoDaddy attracts web designers, developers, bloggers, and online businesses, who want to grow their online presence.
“If you build it, they will come” works in the movies, but not always in business. Creating a website that your customers will love should not be an anxiety-inducing event. The GoDaddy Website Builder offers several ready-to-launch templates that are designed for even the least tech-savvy business owner.
Build, protect and grow your brand reputation online with marketing tools and personalized support from GoDaddy Guides. These trained experts are ready to help you select and integrate the solutions you need to build the most engaging customer experiences. They can also provide guidance and proprietary tools to help you improve the visibility and performance of your site.
GoDaddy Competition
While GoDaddy is the world’s go-to provider for domain registration and web hosting, they are relatively new in the do-it-yourself web builder space. Here’s how they compare to four of their biggest competitors:
- Wix seems to be the gold standard when it comes to web building sites. They have a relatively easy drag-and-drop interface that provides a surprising amount of customization. They offer hundreds of design themes and apps. Where they lack is customer support. (Business Unlimited Plan: $26/month.)
- Weebly offers its own version of the drag-and-drop interface and provides some pretty impressive themes to choose from. They have some helpful eCommerce tools, but you’ll have to pay extra for them. (Professional Plan: $26/month.)
- Squarespace is well-known for its beautifully designed templates, but their interface takes a bit of extra time to master. They offer several helpful eCommerce and blogging tools. (Basic Commerce Plan: $26/month.)
- WordPress has seemingly endless options for themes and plugins and has built some fiercely loyal fans over the years. Their interface is not the easiest to use, so you may need to hire a professional to help with setup. (Business Plan: $25/month.)
GoDaddy Pros and Cons
Pros
- Build a website from scratch with one of the easiest user interfaces available
- Build a website for free with no credit card required
- Mobile-friendly templates
- Web security (SSL) auto-installed on your site
- On-the-go editing (use your phone or tablet to post updates, add products)
- Search Engine Optimization with a built-in website optimizer
- GoDaddy InSight™ uses analytics to help you improve your site
- 24/7 support from expert GoDaddy Guides
- Create and manage pages for social media platforms
- Send marketing emails directly from your Go Daddy dashboard
- Accept multiple types of payments and customize shipping options
- Earn extra cash by becoming a GoDaddy affiliate
- Upgrade to the Ecommerce Plan for all the bells and whistles (just $17.49/month)
Cons
Limited customization
Where do I Start?
- Now that you are ready to make a business website, first, register and protect your domain for just $11.99
- Select your hosting plan based on the level of service you need
- Pick an expertly designed template
- Use the easy drag-and-drop editor to add your images and content
- Add videos and social media links
- Use built-in SEO and email marketing tools
- Manage all your data on your GoDaddy dashboard
Who says you can’t get anything for free? You can create a GoDaddy account with your email, name, and password without adding any credit card information. Choose a template, build and publish your free website with a GoDaddy-based web address. To add your domain, online store, and additional functionality, you can upgrade anytime for less than $20 a month!
Payline + GoDaddy
Payline is proud to be a payment processing partner for GoDaddy customers. We have the same goal, to help business owners grow their online presence by providing the tools they need to complete simple and secure transactions. Payline offers everything you need to take care of all your eCommerce merchant services:
- Reduce chargebacks and keep customer data safe
- A dedicated payment expert to work with
- Seamless Integration with hundreds of shopping carts
- Your software with our hardware
- A virtual terminal and dashboard that syncs in real-time
- Retail POS systems that perform invoicing, scheduling, and accounting functions
- PCI compliance, updates, and support.
Payline Pricing
Now that you have made a business website, you need payment processing. Payline offers transparent interchange-plus pricing plans. We pass on the wholesale cost from the credit card issuer and then add a small fee that we disclose upfront.
An online purchase costs 0.4% plus 20 cents. Add a monthly fee of $20, and that’s it.
Your first month with Payline is FREE with no risk, no upfront fees, no long-term contracts, and no cancelation fees. No hidden fees, no fine print, and no surprises! Click here to calculate what you’ll pay using our payment calculator.
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