In today’s digital world, creating a website for your your business is a must. For some, hiring someone to design your website can be the obvious choice and go-to solution. But if you’re operating on a tight budget with limited resources, rest assured that there are many free and cost effective online tools that can help you create your very own website in no time! Here are a few things to consider and understand before you get started.
Website Domain and Hosting
When starting a website, the first two things you'll need are a domain name and a hosting service. Essentially, a domain name is your website's address on the internet. The same way your postal service will use your home address to direct your mail, a web browser will use your domain name to direct persons to your website. For example, if someone types createmeproductions.com in their web browser, the web browser will direct them to this website.
Web hosting on the other hand, is like renting a space on the internet to house your website, its files and its data. Think of web hosting like purchasing a lot of land to build your house while the domain name is the address that people will use to find the lot. It's important to note that domain names and hosting services can't be purchased indefinitely. You'll need to renew them sometimes annually or within a certain number of years. However, the costs are usually quite low and there are many cost effective packages available online.
Open Source vs Closed Source Website Builders
Deciding whether to use a closed source or an open source website builder is like deciding on your first home - should I rent a house or purchase one? A website builder is a software that allows you to create a website. 'Closed source' and 'open source' refer to the backend coding used by the builder to create the website. A key difference between the two is customisation, or furthermore control.
Closed source website builders are very popular and provide you with an array of pre-made layout templates with easy to use drag-and-drop features that will have you up and running in no time. But, similar to renting, the 'property' or code does not belong to you and your ability to 'renovate' or fully customise it in the long run can be limited. Also, if you decide to switch services in future, you may have to rebuild your website from scratch. With open source on the other hand, you have full access to the website's code and can modify it as you please.
The mere thought of choosing open source software can be daunting for someone with no experience in programming. But fear not! There are many free online tools with pre-made templates and drag-and-drop features that can make the process very simple. So before you choose your website builder, find out what kind of software it uses and fully weigh the pros and cons for both the short and long term.
Wordpress.com vs WordPress.org
So we've discussed open source versus closed source software. If you decide to go the route of choosing an open source platform, one of the first things you'll hear about is WordPress and the fact that it powers many, if not most, websites on the internet. And yes, WordPress is indeed a powerful tool that should be considered. But before you do, you should understand that there is a fundamental difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
WordPress.org is a free, open source website platform that gives you full ownership and control of your website and its data. All you need is a domain name and web hosting. You can build your website from scratch and customise it as much you like by editing the source code or simply by installing drag-and-drop plugins and apps. This is different to WordPress.com which is a website hosting service created by the co-founder of WordPress, which is why it is often confused with WordPress.org. WordPress.com offers several packages to help you create your website including a free plan, but customisation can be limited and comes with a cost.
Accepting Payments Online
This one right here is for my fellow Caribbean natives. Before you begin setting up your website, you should ask yourself "what purpose will the website serve". Some entrepreneurs may set up a website simply to have an online presence. Others may choose to use it to share stories and information through a blog. But what about using your website to facilitate online sales and payments in the near or distant future? This should be considered carefully and researched thoroughly before you choose a website builder and hosting hosting package.
While most closed source website builders offer online payment apps that can be integrated into your website, some of these services come with a monthly or annual cost, and more importantly, they may also be restricted to specific regions or countries. Before signing up for a service, be sure to find out whether your website will be able to accept and process payments from your home country and native currency, or more specifically, that of the market you're targeting.