You did it. Finally, you decided to create your own small business. But you don’t have the time or the skills to design a website from scratch? Well, we have a great news for you. Here we will explain how you can create a website that looks professional with sites that help you make it much easier.
You might be asking yourself, why does your business need a website? We will give you five important reasons:
- You need credibility. People will search about you on the web to find out if you are the best option.
- To offer 24h customer service and generate feedback.
- People can find you, since currently the highest percentage of professional searches are done on the internet.
- To get new customers and retain the ones you already have.
- To get advertising with the greatest reach at the lowest cost.
Now we are going to recommend some sites that are easy to use, do not require much time or effort, and will certainly give a much more professional and personalized to your business, ideal for customer loyalty and attract new eyes to your small business.
Recommended website builders
WIX Free Website Builder
Wix is a simple platform that allows you to create websites in a didactic way, with many editing options. Let’s see some advantages of this platform:
It’s easy to understand. Its simplicity gives you the opportunity to create your website according to the tastes and needs of your own business. You also have the option to create your page from scratch with a blank template, or, if you prefer to save time, you can use any of the predesigned (professional) templates.
Also, Wix is free! This reduces many costs to your small business, since all you would need is a computer with internet access. Now, if you want to get a domain, remove ads, or more advanced tools, you probably have to pay.
WEEBLY Free Website Builder
Weebly is another online platform dedicated to the construction of websites. It’s very well-organized and helps you to visualize all the functions at a glance, in addition, as well as Wix, it has a very good drag & drop system to add text, images or forms with a click. It also has a free basic plan and shows an advertising link in the bottom bar of the screen. Weebly’s most advanced plans are paid but allow you to completely customize your website.
WORDPRESS Free Website Builder
No doubt WordPress is one of the most popular options, used by media companies, large brands, and even famous personalities. One of those reasons is that WordPress has free and paid themes that allow users with very little design skills (or none) to have a modern website adapted to all devices. In addition, WordPress is in continuous growth, improving its versions every day as well as the security and performance of the platform; it has a lot of plugins easy to integrate that add functionality to the web, making it scalable.
Not only that, WordPress offers easy combination with e-commerce through free plugins, and it’s very easy to use. Finally, WordPress manages diverse formats of content, so it isn’t limited to text only, and allows an optimal management of users (it allows creating different roles, such as authors, editors, administrators, etc.).
JIMDO Free Website Builder
Jimdo is a platform that has more than 12 million websites created around the world and offers the possibility to create your web page using its editor. Like Wix and Weebly, this platform has the option drag and drop as well, it has 38 different templates to choose from, it’s mobile-friendly, it has a customer service with a toll-free telephone number (although above all it is for commercial information, not solve technical doubts).
In addition, Jimdo offers something great to your small business: the ability to integrate a massive email manager, such as MailChimp, into your site. Finally, it offers statistics of your site, like the other platforms.
How to choose a small business website builder ?
Above we presented you several options for website builders. Now, how to choose one? What features should you look for?
First of all, it’s important that before creating your website you know who your target is, who your audience is and if you want it to be a website of advertising for your small business or if you want to have the style of online store.
We’re going to present you with four important factors, perhaps they are not the defining ones, but they can certainly help you decide:
- Ease of use. Since you are not a professional in terms of web design, the idea is to get a platform to help you build your website in a simple, fast and convenient way. It must be user-friendly. Most of these platforms offer free trials, so you can experiment with them before deciding.
- Social media integration. This is fundamental, given that social media is basically the best way for your customers to be updated about your brand. Many platforms offer gadgets for this.
- Email marketing. If you know how to use the email tools (without spamming) then it can bring you many benefits, since it’s a very effective way to connect with your consumers.
- Images and Templates. The themes and the design should be graphically pleasing for the person browsing your website, only then will they know if they’ll stay there and if they continue to know your brand. Choose a platform whose templates look like professionals.
Conclusion
In summary, having a website for your small business is more a necessity than a simple preference. This will give credibility, strength and greater visibility to your company, in addition to customer loyalty. If you don’t have the time or the staff to create a website, you can build it yourself in very easy ways: using website builders, which will save you a lot of time and money.
It’s not necessary to be a professional to look like a professional thanks to these platforms.
Now, if you want a much more advanced website, you can always go to a paid package of the sites we recommend above or contact a website design company, which will further increase your credibility.