Just about every business needs a website in 2022, especially with the ongoing pandemic. Yet, many are afraid that web development is too expensive. However, that’s just a misconception. It’s easy to build a website for a cheap price.
And today, I’m going to cover how you can do that using WordPress.
Why Do People Say Web Development Is Expensive?
Make no mistake, web development can be expensive if you are hiring a web developer to create it for you.
In these cases, you could easily spend over $5000 to make a website, but that’s pretty rare today. You see, the difficulty of building a website has decreased significantly over the last two decades.
In the past, websites were designed with HTML, and that wasn’t something the average mom and pop shop could do. Today, modern Content Management Systems (CMS) have simplified the process and do not require a line of code.
Instead, most of the interfaces are simple enough for beginners to use without issue. As a result, instead of hiring a web developer, you can build your own website and save a ton of money.
You might think that the website won’t turn out well. But thanks to templates, it’s pretty hard to make a bad one.
How To Build A Cheap Website With WordPress
Step 1: Choose A Platform to Build With (WordPress)
The first thing you need to decide is what platform you are going to build your website with. In this case, you want to find the cheapest website builder, luckily there are a lot to choose from.
Yet, only WordPress stands at the top. It’s free, easy to use, and there are a ton of tutorials to help you get started. It is the perfect choice for beginners and doesn’t require a single line of code.
The platform relies on themes and plugins to do all of the heavy lifting. A theme is a collection of style sheets and templates that determines the appearance of your website. And it is fully customizable through a series of settings.
Whereas a plugin is a small software package that adds a specific feature to your website. Think of it as an app for your smartphone. Just install what you need and it’s ready to go. As a result, WordPress is easy to use.
Most importantly, it’s versatile.
You can build any kind of website with WordPress because it has thousands of plugins and themes to choose from. There’s something for everyone.
Step 2: Choose A Web Host
Next, you need to find a web hosting company. If you are not familiar, a web host is a company that rents you a web server to store your website on. It is also responsible for maintaining that website.
As you can imagine, the web host you pick will have a huge impact on your website.
Yet, all web hosts are not created equal. Here at GreenGeeks, we strive to deliver the best customer experience we can, and that has led us to become one of the top web hosting companies in the industry.
And most importantly, we did this while keeping our commitment to the environment. Every time a new customer signs up, we plant a tree. We also carefully calculate how much energy your website will use, then we purchase three times that amount in renewable energy.
This ensures that you not only have no carbon footprint but that your website is helping reduce emissions.
Web hosting is also the only absolute cost associated with building a WordPress website. The good news is that it’s really cheap. In most cases, the cup of coffee you bought this morning will cost more than a month of hosting, but there is a slight catch.
Web hosts require longer contracts that must be paid upfront.
Thus, while you may only pay a few dollars a month for hosting services, you typically have to pay for 3 years’ worth.
Step 3: Pick A Domain Name
Next, you need to pick a domain name. I know I said web hosting was the real cost of building a cheap website, but that isn’t always the case.
At GreenGeeks, we give you a free domain for the first year, so you’re good to go by signing up. However, not every web host does this. You will have to pay to get your domain name, but the cost depends on the registry you get it from.
To put it simply, the domain name is the URL of your website. It is what a visitor needs to type into their web browser to reach your site. There are a few simple rules that you should follow when creating one.
- Keep It Short
- Easy to Remember
- Make Sure It Reflects Your Website
If you are a business, I recommend using your business name as the domain name. It’s simple and anyone who visits your physical store will know your website as well.
Step 4: Begin Building A Cheap Website
At this point, you have everything you need to start building a website. How you go about it depends on the website you want to build.
For example, if you own a landscaping business, you probably only need a single-page website. Something to list your contact info, the services you provide, and pricing. In these cases, there’s not much to it.
Yet, if you’re building an online store, it gets really complicated. Regardless of what you build, the first step is the same: pick a theme.
I touched on themes a bit, but they basically determine your website’s appearance. They come in both a free and premium variety, but since we’re trying to keep the website as cheap as possible, free is the best option.
There are over 4,000 free themes to choose from in the WordPress theme library. Simply search your website types or theme and see if a theme catches your eye. For example, look up landscaping, and presto, a bunch of themes dedicated to it will appear.
Pick one you like and install it.
Next, you would begin looking for plugins. Plugins also come in free and premium forms, but not every website will need one. Looking at our landscaping example, you really won’t need a plugin, but an online store would probably need several.
Since I don’t know what website you are building, I can’t recommend any. But just like the theme, search for a function or feature you want and install to use it.
Step 5: Marketing
Large companies spend billions on marketing each year. And that’s exactly why companies like Apple are known by everyone.
However, that doesn’t mean your website needs to spend anything. There are a lot of ways to market your website for free. For example, both Google Ads and Facebook Ads offer free trials where you can run ads for free and test the results.
More obvious methods include social media. It’s free to sign up for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. You can build a huge following on those platforms without spending a penny.
If you run a physical location and already have business cards, add the website to them when you print the next batch. Or better yet, have the website address printed on your receipts.
Marketing is important because, without it, no one will find your website.
A Cheap Website Can Be Awesome
Now, just because you didn’t spend a lot making your website, that doesn’t mean your website is going to look bad. Most free WordPress themes look great and are fully functional. The important thing is that you have a website.
You can always upgrade it later and even hire a web designer if necessary.
Did you find it difficult building your own website? Did you consider a different cheap website builder?
