Small Business Owner, Looking for Direction on Getting a Website

Hey everyone. I’m new to the forums, and I’m just trying to gauge people on the best way to get a website that won’t destroy my bank account. I’d like to have a website for my business, but my business is small and web designers and developers are pretty much out of the question right now. Are there any cost-effective solutions that can deliver me a professional website? I have seen some of the Wix’s and Weebly’s of the world, but haven’t been satisfied. Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Why you want to go with any automated web development application website like wix and what ever. If you want to make your website more secure, develop your website with your own developer and designer.

What you need then it is a CMS and a template that adapts to it… sort of. There is no perfect template but they may be many that can fit what you need and be close to perfection.

Now, if the template needs some kind of personalization (and I’m not talking about changing pictures or the font size or colors, as many templates provide that kind of features) then you may need to contract someone else to do it and than may cost you a few dollars but that’s nothing compared to what would cost you a full design and implementation.

Also, the cost will go higher or lower depending if there’s a plug-in or add-on that provides that functionality or not, or if that plug-in needs some rewriting to provide that functionality in the way you want (most of the time, it is not necessary).

You may want to check the major CMSs

  • WordPress
  • Joomla
  • Drupal
  • ExpressionEngine
  • ModX

All of these are open source and free and have good support

For templates, you may want to visit www.templatemonster.com or www.themeforest.com, as an example.