Get Creative to Create a Small Business Web Site

A Home Business Article Contributed by K. Anne Brauer

Get Creative to Create a Small Business Web Site

As more and more businesses carve out their online presence with web sites that range from simple splash pages to complex online shopping or database management wonders, a small business might have been feeling the pressure to get wired. If development costs would put too big a dent in your business budget, get creative!

Create Your Own Small Business Web site

If you've managed to start a small business and manage all of the different functions required to keep it going, one more task won't be the straw to break the camel's back. You must be a proficient juggler, so throw this project into the mix: design your own web site. Web editors such as Macromedia's Dreamweaver and Microsoft's FrontPage allow users to take an almost purely visual approach to designing their web site, while the program takes care of the HTML coding in the background.

There are so many tutorial programs and free courses online to learn either one of these projects you don't need to worry about tracking them down. Just make sure to spend a little time checking out various options until you find one that clicks with your learning style - getting completely frustrated because your first tutorial is a badly written one isn't a good way to kick off the experience.

Intimidated at diving in on your own? There are as many opportunities to take courses in creating your own small business web site as there are online tutorials. High end courses are provided by almost all of the technology chain super-stores, like CompUSA, most of which offer subscription-type tuition, where you pay for a period and take unlimited courses during that window of time.

Less expensive courses are commonly available through university extension courses, while the most budget-minded can check out adult education centers in every major city in the US. Frankly, it would be difficult to find a basic web design course that costs more than paying a professional to do the job for you, and that's not counting the new skill you're developing. It's just a matter of time - if you don't have another moment in your day, keep reading.

Get Creative in Hiring for your Small Business Web site

You want a web site, but you're unable or unwilling to add one more thing to your To-Do list. You really need to hire someone to get your web site going. You don't need to walk into the fanciest web design firm in town and bare a vein. Think outside the box for some lower cost solutions.

Do you have a small business that would lend itself to bartering? Maybe you can trade a service of your own that a web designer would love to take advantage of. Is there a web design certification program at any of the universities, colleges, or junior colleges in your area? Could they design your web site as part of class project? Or are they looking for work at student rates until they get their certification and go professional?

Take on the Maintenance of Your Small Business Web site

Maintenance is another cost you need to figure into the equation. If you're positive you'd have an easier time designing the Eiffel Tower than a web site of your own, but you're not a technophobe and you do sincerely want to learn more, ask your web site designer to create a page that's not so complex you'll have trouble maintaining it.

Many web designers will set you off running with an hour tutorial on keeping the web site they designed up to date, showing you ways to drop in new content and archive old news so that you can keep the site relevant to your clients -- on your own. Then you only have to reach for the red phone hot-line if there are serious technical problems, cutting down on your maintenance expenses substantially.