It is a fact of business life that you must have a website to represent your business. Building a website has historically been a daunting experience. It can still be quite a chore if you have complex needs. However, most small businesses do not need complicated web pages. And now many internet companies are determined to come to your rescue. These companies provide easy tools to build your own web presence.
You can find them simply by doing a Google search for “do it yourself website builders”.
These services are inexpensive and are designed for the average computer user that has no technical skills. They usually offer web hosting and e-mail packaged into the price, so it’s a one-stop-shop. You can be up and running very quickly. One big worry with websites, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is also built into the tools. SEO helps you bring your website to the top of search engine results.
My favorite, and the one we used for Artisan’s Palate is Wix (www.wix.com). Wix has a great WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface for generating your web pages. This means that rather than using cumbersome software code, you are designing it graphically. You move text and images around exactly as they will appear when you are ready to go live.
You can save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars by using a Do It Yourself Website Builder. For example, the cost for a Wix website can be anywhere from around $5/month to just over $20/month depending on what features you want and how much storage space you need. If you want to sell products on-line, most builders have e-commerce solutions built right into their tools.
With a couple of photos of your product you can be selling in no time. Payment can be connected directly to your PayPal or Google Wallet account. Artisan’s Palate is in the process of building an e-commerce section for our website. Check out www.artisanspalate.com over the next few weeks as we start to add and sell our gourmet gift totes.