How do you make sure that your website is cost-effective?
Here's some expert advice on how to build the website you want, using whatever level of skills, time and budget you have available....
....so your site gets RESULTS.
There is an overwhelming variety of choice available in web design, with prices ranging from free to $100,000 or more. So how do you decide how to proceed?
If you answer four questions, this site will guide you to the best option for your needs — whether you do everything yourself, or hire a design team to do it for you.
Keep in mind that less than 1% of business websites ever make a profit, because there are a lot of elements that need to be done just right before someone will trust your site with their credit card number.
And even if you do have the best site in the world, it still needs to have visitors if it’s going to earn you anything. The two most basic things a website needs are a strong flow of traffic, and the ability to convert those visitors into customers.
As you read through this site, you’ll find out how to get a website that fulfills both of those needs. I'll guide you to the best way to achieve your goals, regardless of how much or how little time, money and technical expertise you want to contribute to your site’s design.
But before I get into the nitty gritty details, let me briefly introduce myself to you:
I’m your host, Arvana Robinson, and the founder of Arvana Design Studios. My design team and I are an eclectic bunch of freelancers, who specialize in consciousness-oriented sites for clients around the world.
Because we work in virtual offices, we have almost no overhead costs, and I can offer the highest quality of website development at a much lower price than other firms.
But this site isn’t just here to promote our services. It also gives you a ton of free information on building a profitable online business — and I also offer some advanced resources for sale, if you are sincere in your quest to build a profitable online business.
I’ll also point you to some of my favorite Internet services. If you make a purchase, a few of them will pay me a referral fee, which doesn’t affect the price to you — and I promise to only refer you to sites that have the very best information, products or services that I know of — whether I earn anything from them or not.
OK, now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can (finally!) get on to talking about your site:
A good website gives many benefits
No matter whether you’re aiming for income, exposure, or personal satisfaction, a website can be a very cost-effective way of making it happen.
Compared to the expense of colour brochures... sales presentations... tradeshows... newspaper & magazine ads... television advertising....
....the price of a website is practically negligible.
And a website gives you an expandable and instantly updateable medium, that can literally reach millions of eyeballs. Yes, even if you’re just a one-woman show.
Plus your site also has the power to automate everything — from the ordering process, to....
- customer relations,
- record-keeping,
- marketing,
- inventory,
- statistics....
....in fact, just about anything you can imagine that can be scheduled, calculated or recorded.
And once your site is up and running, it costs almost the same whether it gets read by 1 visitor or 1,065,479. Which makes Internet marketing the most cost-effective way of reaching your target audience and turning them into customers.
But only if it’s done right.
Exactly how you get a site that gives you results will depend on several different factors:
Finding your best path to success:
There are lots of different approaches to getting a website online. So let me ask you a few questions first, so I can give you the right information for your particular situation.
I use active content here to guide you on to the next step, based on your responses. If you don't have Javascript enabled, you can use this decision table instead.
These four questions will determine your best approach to getting your site online. Just select the answers that suit you best:
OK, that’s it!
Now you can scroll down to see which approaches I would suggest you consider taking for your site.
Your action plan
I’ll give you an executive summary of each option first, in the box below. Then you can click for more detailed information on whichever one looks best.
If you see a looooong list of choices, it either means that you haven't yet answered all four questions above, or else Javascript isn't running on your computer — please use the decision table instead.
• Subscribe to an all-in-one design & hosting package:
There are a number of services on the Internet that can help you automate the website design process, without having to know HTML, graphic design software, or application programming.
Some are definitely better than others, and they range in price from free to $45/month or more. I can tell you about several of them, but the one I recommend is Site Build It 
.
• Work with a mentor to help build your site:
If you know — or are willing to learn — some of the basics of web design, then you may be able to find a web or graphic designer who can work with you, and guide you towards making your site profitable.
You can always get technical help from a local designer through word-of-mouth; or you can find somebody online by posting a project on a freelance site like Elance or RentACoder . But most programmers don’t really know what it takes to turn a website into a successful online business.
• Hire a developer to design the site you want:
It may seem like an obvious choice.... simply hire a web designer or a development firm to create your site for you. But there are a zillion different web designers out there, who all have different standards of quality in their work.
So how do you narrow down the field? What criteria do you use to select the best designer for your needs — one who can give you the results you want at the most reasonable price? And how much should you expect to pay?
• Have a content management system designed for you:
A content management system (CMS) is a piece of software that runs on your website’s host server. It allows you to log in through your web browser — from anywhere in the world — and make changes to the site’s content.
The initial cost of a CMS-based site is higher than you’d pay for a static site, but if you expect to be making many changes and additions over time, it will almost certainly save you time and money in the long term — and it makes it very convenient to manage your site.
• Create a website yourself for free:
It is actually possible to get yourself a website without paying a single penny. Yes, even without needing any technical skills to get there.
Everybody has to start somewhere, and if you really can’t afford the $100 or so that it will cost you to get set up professionally, then here’s all the info you need....
• Read our page on low-budget web design:
It doesn’t have to cost a lot to create your own professional website. But there are some basics, such as a domain name and web hosting, that you will need to have if you want to get yourself set up right.
It also makes a difference whether you are willing or able to do your own HTML coding — there are some inexpensive services available that will take care of the technical side of things for you, but they are never quite as good as programming the site yourself.
If you have the time, it is perfectly realistic for you to be able to put together an effective website for under $150.
• Set up your own content management system:
There are lots of different content management systems available — ranging from free, open-source programs that you can set up yourself, to enterprise-level solutions that come with everything and just need to be customized to your business.
If you want to take the time and develop the technical skills to do it yourself, you can set up your own CMS-based website. It will take some work, but the big payoff in the end is that once it’s done, it is very easy to add and edit content on your site.
• Find a web developer to partner with you:
If you have a truly unique and visionary idea that’s likely to be profitable enough to attract business partners, then you may be able to find a professional web developer to work with you on your site concept, in exchange for a stake in your business.
Keep in mind that when you find a web designer whose work is good enough to really make your business succeed online, they will be used to getting paid well for their time. And if they are taking a risk on your business success as well, then you will have to make sure that your offer is generous enough to make it worth their while.
