How to Build a Website

Godaddy has been around for ages. I first created a site with them five year ago and I enjoyed the fact that they had several templates to choose from. Whether a person wants a personal website or one for business, they have templates to meet every need. 

They give two options when creating your website. You can allow them to build your site or you can build it yourself  as I did. I advise you to talk with support if you have no knowledge in building sites and ask them which templates they feel are more user friendly. Once you learn how to build a site, you will find that most of them are similar. If you are new at this, don't feel surprised if you do not build your site over night. Even the best sites can take weeks even months to create. Feel free to ask support any questions that you have but prepared that they will try to get you to allow them to build your site. 

If you are not a person that writes well, you can pay freelance writers a few pennies to create content for your website like your about page or really any other page. This is cheaper than allowing them to build the site professionally for you. The writers that you hire are inexpensive and their content is professional. Who has to know that you paid someone else to write the content for you! Click on the blue virtual assistant link below if you are interested in a freelance writer.

Virtual Assistant Services

Your website does not have to be unprofessional just because you choose to build it yourself. Here are a few pointers that will help you build an attractive site that will attract visitors. 

1. Use a font that is large enough for most viewers to see. If I visit a site and the font is too small, I immediately leave the site. 

2. Make sure if you do not pay a professional to create product or service photos that your photos are clear and professional looking. Any photos that you will add to your site will need to treated as a photo shoot with pictures free from certain things from your home in the background. I purchased a simple piece of black material that serves as a canvas from a fabric store. I make sure that I iron it every time I take pictures. Most of my pictures will have the same background. Also the pictures should be clear and not too dark.

3. You do not need a lot of pages within your website to have a nice site. You can start with about five pages and build more pages if you like.

4. The color of your site is very important. Dark sites tend to be too drab. Try to keep the site simple but cute. In other words not too flashy but attractive.

5. Don't leave out anything! Try to answer any questions within the site that people may ask. You may include prices for products or services. You also may want to add a FAQ's page or section. This is a frequently asked questions page where you display the questions first, then under the questions, you provide the answers. Think about any questions that viewers may have and then fill in the blanks.
 
If you build the site yourself it will be very inexpensive. Anywhere between 5.00 and about 10.00 per month. However Godaddy is offering specials that will cut the cost down. Click on the orange banner to the right top side of the screen above to see their latest specials. You will need to purchase a domain name for example: www.imasmartmom.com from them just as I did. I paid one inexpensive fee for a years worth of hosting. A site host is a company that sort of houses your domain name. To see in full detail what a website host is go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_hosting_service

Thanks so much for visiting my blog. To see more how how to build a better business and more on how to create a website follow this blog.

Victoria Sheffield, blogger, author, marketer, business manager

Find out how to effectively market your business here: 

 http://advantagemarketingsolutions.blogspot.com/2013/04/targeting-marketing-101.html

Any questions - email me at sheffieldvictoria39@gmail.com

Ten Mistakes Business Owners Make

Mistake #1

It's an awful thing that people say they have a business but when people ask for a business card they can't give them one. I absolutely do not like when people hand their telephone number on a piece of hand written paper. That is something that I feel is very unprofessional. 

Mistake #2

Start a business but does nothing to market that business. How will a business grow if people do not know you exist? The moment you say you have a business the hard work starts then.

Mistake #3

Not using social media to market your business. Social media is the biggest marketing tool available. Does your business even have a website. There are free sites available and sites that can be hosted for only $5.00 to $7.00 a month.

Mistake #4

Assuming that because you have a website that your site is visible within search engines. You may be on the web but unless you direct traffic to your site, people may never know you are there. A lot of the people that are visible actually pay for traffic through a program called Google Adwords. It's not that expensive and it's worth it.

Mistake #5

When people ask business owners questions about their business and there is a blank stare. This makes people wonder just how qualified you say you are. You should be ready, willing, and able to answer ANY questions that people may ask.

Mistake #6

Over spending-It takes investments in any type of business with the exception of a few but a person should never spend more than they make. Risk are great if you almost 100% know that there will be a return but the money you invest should be a certain percent of your businesses earnings. In other words, you are taking a small percent of the money that you have ALREADY made from business and reinvesting it.

Mistake #7

Starting a bad business investment. You MUST study the market and make sure that this is for you. Many people see what others are doing and want to play copy cat but honestly what works for someone else may not work for you!

Mistake #8

Not presenting yourself as professional.  Do you have a portfolio? Do you have brochures handy. Please do not give a person a dirty business card, or a wrinkled brochure. :) :):) (I'm really laughing but I am serious) Is your website attractive?

Mistake #9

Not having a plan B. Your plan B is not to say that plan A will not work but when your business is not making the money that it needs to handle all of the expenses, then you need a plan B. This may be doing odd jobs to help fund that business or working a part time job until your business pick up.

Mistake #10

Not keeping accurate business records. Every business owner is required to pay taxes. You must keep a cash flow log. This is a form that you can make your self. You must keep a daily record of all money spent and all money received for your business. There are programs like quick books that can help you and also make sure you find out everything that business owners can write off for tax purposes. I will find a link and post it.

* Bonus Mistake*

Not being qualified for the services that you offer. If a person says that they build homes and can't, now that's a huge problem. Honestly is the best policy and besides if you are not qualified then they will find out sooner or later!

To learn what business owners can write off on taxes go here: http://www.ehow.com/how_5140183_write-off-business-expenses-taxes.html

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Why You Should Invest In You!

People say that they want to start great businesses but I find that some do not want to invest money and time into their business. Then there are the other people that are always looking for something free. I love the word free but sometimes in order to make money one has to spend money. So take advantage of the free resources that are available to you but don't under estimate the power of investments because if you are one that knows how to market your business effectively then trust me the money you spend will return to you more.

{free websites vs. paid sites}   

There are many great free opportunities online that will help you with your business but I find that with free websites which I pretty much had to use to start my businesses are limited when it comes to website builder tools within the sites. Also if something should go wrong with your site then there is no technical support for you. I started out with free websites and then upgraded a couple of my sites. I say sites because I only have five and five blogs to maintain :). So I still use them but keep in mind that if you are really trying to compete with other business owners then you may want to upgrade your site eventually. 

{Purchase what you need for your business}

Sometimes starting a new business is hard especially if you are not making that much money to begin with. So start out with the free resources but gradually purchase what you need as you start making more money to present yourself professional. If people know the time, money, and energy that I put back into what I do some would be surprised. In doing so I am building credibility. 

By taking a look at competitor's, you can see what they are doing not to copy what they are doing but to see how you should better yourself as a business owner. I have always said that people should blossom where they are planted!! 

You should invest in you because you have one goal in mind and that is to make money doing what you enjoy and what makes people happy. This can not be accomplished if a person does not put there all into presenting themselves in a way that attracts. What you put into something is what you get out of something!

Free Resources For Business Owners Here

Learn How to Build a Website Here
 http://avantagebusinessservices.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-build-website.html

For more marketing and business tips please follow my blog.
Victoria Sheffield/Marketing Expert/Business Manager/Author 



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