Websites for startups - quality versus bootstrapping
24th June 2010

To spend or not to spend?that is the question.

A startup is on a tight budget with very limited resources. The future is uncertain and scary. So when the question comes to spending on a website most startup owners face a dilemma.

It goes something like this? "If I spend on a professional cool website it'll eat significantly into my funds but on the other hand if I compromise on the quality of the website it will impact sales and hence the business."

Here are a few strategies startups can use to save a buck but not compromise on the quality of the website

• Hunt Hard & Long for a bargain web designer: There are a gems out there in the web design universe who are superbly talented but don't yet charge a lot. They might be starting off themselves or might not have high overheads so their prices would be reasonable. They might not be listed in the most obvious places or might not come in the top 20 of search results but they are out there and can be found. How do I know they exist?? Cause we were once there ourselves. When we started we gave away fantastic designs at peanuts.
• Use ready to use templates: There are literally thousands of templates beautifully designed out there categorized and listed out there. You can simply purchase one and get a low cost local web designer to customize them. The templates come complete with a photoshop file (PSD) which can be used to create your site as you like it. The cost of these templates are a fraction of what a professional web design firm would charge.

• Curb Your Online Ambitions: Sometimes its better to startoff with a simple small website and grow over time as your business grows. Avoid all the bells and whistles, start with the basics like about the company, yourself and the team, services/ products and how to contact you. The idea is for the website to grow in parallel with your business. If you are doing this don't forget to choose a design which is scalable i.e. one which will allow additional links and pages to be added to it over time.

• Forget a website, start a blog: A blog can be just as useful and powerful as a website if used well. And websites like blogger.com or wordpress.com are literally giving them away free. Blogs come with hundreds of plugins which allow you to change the design and features and also a lot of apps which you can plugin.

But once your business is on sure ground, go in for a professional website cause when you need to grow you need to sell and if you want to sell online you need your website.

Cheers,
Ron