When you’re starting a new business or side hustle, a website can be one of the biggest things you invest in. So, often there’s a lot of questions, overwhelm and anxiety about getting it right.
How do I create my website?
What website builder should I choose?
Do I DIY? Or pay someone?
How much should I spend?!
Luckily, building a website doesn’t have to be complicated.
Having built over 11 websites myself for my various businesses - I breakdown the 3 questions you need to ask when it comes to picking your website, as well as go through the pros and cons of our top picks of website builders to help you narrow down the best options for you.
QUESTION 1 - Are you just starting out or do you have a steady influx of customers?
When you’re just starting out, the point of your website should be to find out as quickly as possible, if what you want to sell is what people want to buy.
One of the biggest mistakes new entrepreneurs make is thinking they have a great idea for a business. They decide they want to sell product ABC to customer XYZ. They get super excited, spend thousands of dollars on a fancy website, business cards, logo. They spend 6-12 months creating all of this, before speaking to a single potential customer.
Then when they finally release these beautifully created business assets - all they hear are crickets.
What went wrong?
Well it’s a bit like building a first class plane to Uzbekistan.
It’s a wonderful product, first class seats and all the trimmings - but you build it all only to realise no one wants to buy flights to Uzbekistan.
So what should you do instead?
Follow the MVP principle. Also known as the Minimal Viable Product principle, this teaches you to get out there and get going as quickly as possible.
Instead, what would have been a MVP and smarter approach, would be to create the bare minimum you need to start speaking to customers to see if they want what you’re selling.
So what does that look like?
Rather than spending all that time and money on fancy business stuff - you create the bare minimum you need to show your offer to customers.
This could be a simple one page website, where customers can pre-order or sign up to a waiting list for your product.
If you have a network you could talk to, you might not even need a website. It could be as simple as having a conversation with a potential customer and asking - hey I’m thinking of creating this product - it would give you X, Y, Z is this something you’d want?
No website, no logo, not a single cent spent.
The point here is to get as much information as quickly as possible, to see if what you want to sell is what people actually want to buy.
It’s more important to get your offer and message right, than having all the fancy frills.
Once you know your offer - then you decide what’s the best vehicle to present this offer to get as much accurate information as possible.
Which leads me to point 2.
QUESTION 2 - Who are you talking to?
Once you figure out your offer, then you need to look at who you’re talking to?
As I mentioned earlier, if you have access to a familiar network, you might not even need a fancy website to start getting feedback and customers, it could be as simple as having a conversation with your potential customers.
People who know you will be far more likely to buy without the frills.
In fact, for one of our businesses, we got our first half dozen customers without a fancy website!
I know a successful 6 figure business, who’s been operating for years without a website or even any social media profiles!
Of course, if you don’t have a network - no problems. Then it would be useful for you to create a page or website - as new, cold leads will be more likely to want to see you have a “storefront”.
If that’s the case - then a website would be useful. But again you don’t need to spend $1000s. You can get up and running for as little as $9 a year. All depending on your expertise and skills.
QUESTION 3 - What are your skills?
Depending on your level of skills and expertise - there are a number of options out there when it comes to selecting a website builder.
If you have some basic tech skills - you can use DIY website builders such as Carrd.Co, Squarespace or Kajabi to build the website yourself.
These website builders require no special coding skills, you can just drag and drop and add items on screen.
However, if opening a computer and website browser - sounds like a total nightmare - no fret.
You can hire someone on Fiverr or Freelancer to build it for you.
If you choose this route, I DO NOT recommend spending more than $1,000 MAX for someone to build it.
Because remember - use the MVP principle here as well.
You don’t need anything fancy, just a simple few pages and a way for customers to contact you. Forget trying to pay for SEO, CMS or any other acronyms. Go with good enough to go.
This is because early on, when you’re still fine tuning your offer - you will probably change your offer multiple times.
You don’t know what your potential customers want yet. Unless you’ve talked to at least 50 of them - any information you get from 1 or 2 customers isn’t proof that your offer is a solid business idea.
When we started off, we changed our website provider 3 times - and changed our offer 5+ times. We used the MVP principle, figured out an offer - got out there - talked to customers, tested and kept refining.
Doing this ensures that before you invest a tonne of money, you're actually creating something people want.
The biggest reason people fail is not because they aren’t skilled entrepreneurs, it’s because they spend 12-18 months trying to build something only to find out no one wants it.
They spend all that time building something, whilst not talking to or not getting any customers, and therefore not earning a single cent. They end up running out of time, running out of money or get emotionally deflated and give up.
So don’t do that. Be smart - you can build AND earn at the same time by getting out there quickly, getting paid customers and refining as you go.
ONLY when you start having a steady influx of customers, and therefore a proven business offer do we then recommend you invest in all that jazz.
So now that you have the 3 key principles - which website provider should you choose?
Let’s break down some options with some pros and cons.
PROS AND CONS OF WEBSITE PROVIDERS
1. Carrd.co
Carrd.co was designed to build simple, one page websites real quick. If you have some tech expertise though, you can actually build multiple pages with their website builder as well.
Pros
Very low cost - at the time of this article, their basic plan starts at $9 USD per year
Quick to get going
Beautiful ready to go templates
No coding required - you can drag and drop elements to create website pages
Cons
Basic functionality only
Website pages are not fully customisable
No integrated blog or checkout options
Creating multiple pages is slightly complicated
2. Wix and Squarespace
Wix and Squarespace are website builders that offer more functionality than Carrd.co including checkout and blog options.
Pros
Low cost - at the time of this article, basic plans start from $15 AUD per month
Quick to get going
Beautiful ready to go templates
No coding required - you can drag and drop elements to create website pages
Cons
Slightly more complicated to set up than Carrd.co
Website pages are not fully customisable
3. Kajabi
Kajabi is an all in one platform. Not only does it include a website builder, blog and checkout pages - you can also create automated marketing pipelines, set up webinars and host your course or membership site.
Pros
Combines everything in one place (website, blog, email marketing, webinars, your course etc), rather than using multiple providers
Beautiful ready to go templates
No coding required - you can drag and drop elements to create website pages
Cons
Expensive; at the time of this article, basic plans start from $149 USD per month
Complicated to set up
Website pages are not fully customisable
Wordpress.org (not to be confused with Wordpress.com) is an open source system that allows you to build your website from scratch. What that means is, instead of using pre-built templates like the other website providers above use - you can design and build your website to look exactly the way you want and include any features you want.
Pros
Very customisable - any look, design or feature can be included
Very popular system, so it’s easy to find someone to help you build or make edits
Cons
Can be expensive - there is no cap on how much you could spend on building your website
Coding required - you’ll need technology expertise or to hire someone
Time consuming and complicated to set up
CONCLUSION
The world of website building can be complicated and expensive, but if you ask yourself the 3 key questions above before you build, it’ll save you a tonne of time and money. Not only will it ensure you are building your business AND earning at the same time, but it will also ensure you’re creating offers that customers actually want, which will help you create a successful, long lasting and sustainable business.
Which website provider will you choose? Let us know in the comments below.