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thablewprnt
03-14-2016, 06:58 PM
Hello guys. I operate a Home Care business. I'm looking for an affordable all in one company to build/design my website with social media intergration and seo.

On paper Yodel is exactly what I'm looking for but upon research I will not be choosing this company.

At the end of the day I want a simple and clean website that will bring me new clients. Would it be better to get a low cost website then hire a company to market it?

I've spent weeks on this and just keep going in circles. I need to get my website up as soon as possible as this is how most new clients are found in my line of business. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Harold Mansfield
03-14-2016, 11:04 PM
Hello guys. I operate a Home Care business. I'm looking for an affordable all in one company to build/design my website with social media intergration and seo.

On paper Yodel is exactly what I'm looking for but upon research I will not be choosing this company.

At the end of the day I want a simple and clean website that will bring me new clients. Would it be better to get a low cost website then hire a company to market it?

I've spent weeks on this and just keep going in circles. I need to get my website up as soon as possible as this is how most new clients are found in my line of business. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
There are people/companies that provide a variety of design and marketing services, you'll just have to do some leg work, make some phone calls and ask some questions to find the right fit.

Simple, clean website that brings you customers...yes that's what everyone wants. Unfortunately that's not exactly how it works. Good website is important and there are many elements that make it so, but it's going to be your marketing strategy that brings in customers. The website doesn't physically go out and get people, you have to do something to bring the right people to it, and when they get there the site should be the closer.

Without a decent advertising budget, It takes time to build website traffic or attention to your business in general.

I can't tell if it would be better for you to get a low cost website. What's your idea of low cost? What I can tell you is that if you expect your website to be the foundations of your marketing and new client acquisition, going cheap is the opposite of your expectations. Again, what is cheap to you?

I think you should first determine what your skill level is. How much work are you able or willing to do yourself? Do you have any skills? Know some basic HTML and/or CSS?
How much do you understand things like design, SEO, copy writing? How much control/management do you want?

If you know absolutely nothing, and don't have much budget you'll likely being doing it yourself. In that case start checking out solutions like Squarespace, Wix and other all in one solutions. They aren't going to make you a marketing or design wiz, but at least their site builders are limited in a way that tries to keep you from making ridiculous mistakes. You can get something online until you learn more about what you want, how much it will cost, and how to hire someone to build it for you.

KristineS
03-15-2016, 12:08 PM
In my opinion you're asking two different questions here. One is "where/how can I create a good website" and the other is "how do I market/bring people too that website". It's kind of a chicken and egg sort of question. If you don't have a decent website that converts visitors into customers, it doesn't matter how many people you bring to the site. If, on the other hand, you have a really great website, but no one knows about it, you've accomplished nothing.

Simple and clean is always a good goal for a website, but you also need one that's interesting, easy to navigate, and contains the right calls to action to turn visitors into customers. In web design, the saying "you get what you pay for" is often accurate. There is a science and an art to designing a site that converts. You can start with something templated and do it yourself, and you might find you do very well with that, but it is worth investing in creating the best site you can.

As far as marketing and social media, a lot of that can be done by you at first. Social media accounts, I think, are often done better if they're managed by the company ownership or at least someone who works inside the company and understands it. Keep in mind that social media is not about selling, it's about building trust and a community. One way to do that is to have people who are actually connected with the company be the representatives on social media.

What it comes down to, ultimately, is what your budget is and how much time you have to invest. One way or another, either in sweat equity or in actual dollars, you will have a cost for creating and marketing a site. The question is which cost is more palatable and more achievable for you.

FlyingRobotMoose
08-02-2016, 09:34 AM
I think one of the main things to keep in mind is that regardless or whether you build the site or if you have it built for you, it needs to be easy to update. You will likely want to regularly do things like change the basic copy and images, you may also want to add current testimonials, etc.

This is easy to do if your site is in a content management system (CMS) like Drupal, Wordpress, etc. If your site is not built in one of the major CMS you are likely tied to the company that built the site. If they go out of business or if you decide you don't like them, it is frequently cheaper to start over than to pay someone to get a good understanding of your site.

With one of the major CMS (many like Drupal and Wordpress are open source) you will have many companies to choose from to work on your site and they will instantly know how it works (if the original builder follows basic conventions). You will also find a lot of information online about building these sites of making changes to them if you want to do it yourself.

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Good luck with your search.

turboguy
08-02-2016, 11:45 AM
Rather than create a web site and then hire someone to market it I would suggest getting someone to build the web site who knows what they are doing and they are going to build in some decent SEO right from the start. As to marketing the website through social media I agree with the others the social media aspect is better handled by you. Someone not in the industry isn't going to have the knowledge to create content that informs and attracts potential customers.

journalist55
03-02-2022, 10:23 AM
Hello, I would even take the step to give it a try and make your own social media platforms! You can save money this way also!