Gosh, putting a website together can be an expensive process and without a frugal eye on the project, costs can spiral out of control until before you know it, the budget has been blown. The secret is in good planning, so here’s a look at some of the ways you can put together a website on a budget.
Have a solid plan and some achievable goals
Before you start, it’s a good idea to have a plan. If you are using a web developer or design team to put your website together for you, then you should gather together as much information as you can – detailing your business objectives and the goals of the website, including what you want your visitors to do when they reach your website and what success looks like for you. If you have defined what winning looks like (and effectively communicated that to your partners), then you will have a measurable set of goals to work towards.
Get your content (and your content strategy) organized
One of the most costly parts of a web build is content creation. It’s often hugely overlooked and underestimated at the start of the project, and after all, somebody has to create it at some point. Not only do you need the content for your core landing pages (the important pages that you will need designed and written to elicit the all important conversions your site will be measured by), but also for your blog content and the content you‘ll be using as part of your wider digital marketing strategy.
Bonus Tip: While you’re saving in other areas, don’t scrimp on your WordPress hosting uk package as this needs to be secure, fast, reliable and well supported so that both you and your customers have a great experience. Too much unmonitored downtime can lead to a huge loss of money, so a good host is a big long-term saving.
Leverage social media in your digital marketing plan
Of course you can spend megabucks on Google Adwords or social media PPC (pay per click) campaigns, but that is not the most frugal approach. A good social media strategy will help you to develop your brand, and garner traffic for your website – providing you plan it right. If you’ve developed a good content marketing strategy (see above), then you’ll be able to use that content to reach influencers and create brand advocates across your social media platforms. Do some research and find out what sort of content your target audience like; what do they engage with and share? It’s crucial to do your homework.
Who are the influencers that you can appeal to for extra reach? What are your competitors having great success with content-wise? If you get it right, your audience will share your content (along with your brand, message, and call to action) for you, and for free. A little competitive intelligence applied to a little outreach can go a long way and help stretch those dollars.