What is the cheapest and most efficient way to have and maintain a website for my business?

Question

I'm starting up a salon business and I don't have a lot of money left, and of course I haven't earned any revenue from my salon. Marketing is key right now and I'm trying to figure out the cheapest and best way to build the salon a website that does not require much maintenance and is accessible from search engines. Most options I've found are too expensive or too limited. Since I'm not very computer savvy, I'm also looking for something simple and easy to use. Can anyone help me?

Answer 1

I was in your position too --  I had some professional designers give me bids and could not afford them.  

I used Clickstart.com, have a great website, it was CHEAP and they even give you ideas that help your web presence.  You maintain it or they can help you but it is really easy to do.  We like to change ours occassionally for a fresh look.  Very happy with Clickstart.com

Answer 2

With www.thecubehost.com, you will only have to pay 2.95 a month if you sign up now. I see they are  having a sale so that is why it is soo cheap.

Also, they have Fantastico, which offers many scripts and a couple of the scripts are web designing scripts. I am pretty sure they'll help you out and guide you through everything.

Answer 3

http://casachucky.easysiteb.hop.clickban...

I found this software the best and easiest to use to build a

website quick and with no hassle of dealing with webdesigners.

Good luck

Answer 4

It will depend on what you'll want your website to be able to do. If you just want an "About us" type site, you can get some very low cost web hosting for as low as $3 a month depending on how much traffic you'll be getting. If you want a more interactive website, requiring software running on a scripting language like PHP or CGI, you'll have to pay more, usually between $6 and $20/month, again depending on how much usage your site gets. That will allow you to run for example, forum software, or any number of other similarly interactive software on your site.

When it comes to web hosts, cheaper is not better. Many times, the expression "you get what you pay for" is very appropriate. They will claim to give you lots of bandwidth(for traffic) and lots of disk space (for software scripts and web pages), for some ridiculously low price, run the other way. What happens in that case is they are overselling, with the assumption that most people only use a fraction of the space they offer. So if a user starts to come close to actually using the space they were supposedly offered, the site starts to fail. It crashes, customers can't access your site, etc. I learned this one the hard way. The most reliable web host I've come across is liquidweb.com. They're the only web host I've come across that offers 100% up time instead of the very common 97-99% up time guarantees. Up time is how much of the time people are able to access your website per month. I've never had a problem with them, and their customer service is always very prompt.  You can also go to webhostingtalk.com which is a forum where people talk about the different web hosts they've used, whether they were good or not, etc.

You'll also want to keep in mind, that having a website is only part of the battle if marketing is your main concern. A website is an island until people know about it, and that's where things get tricky. Google adwords can let you do online ads to target your location so only people in your area can see your ads. It's usually pay per click, meaning you pay a certain amount each time someone clicks one of your ads that takes them to your website. that's at adwords.google.com

Answer 5

http://www.ucoz.com/?uz=20473

u can make your website free!!! and it looks very good! u can have forum, chat, photo album and so much more!  it's not a simple personal page - it's website! i made my website...maybe 2 weeks ago. if u need help - they have a forum, ask anything and u'll get an answer! i don't understand anything about codes and links...so i ask many questions there. try and let me know what u think.

Answer 6

In what state is your business located; would like to know for marketing purposes.