Can you Build a Website On a Limited Budget
Build it and they will come!
One statement that I would advise to ignore anyone believing that is truly up there with the fairies.
Right first things first the above question has been asked to me more times then I have fingers and toes so to hopefully aid new business owners to the internet I wrote this.
The first thing you will need to do is learn a little basic html trust me it will help you out bucket loads in the future and find a good WYSIWYG editor if you are lucky enough you may already have Front Page if not you can get a free trial of some great editors out there. Next find cheap website script from one of the auction sites I brought a full web site script for £2 of Ebay a search of any of the major search engines for GPL or open source scripts will throw up quite a few scripts.
Next you will need a good FTP program to upload your script to you webspace. Cute FTP is one of my favorites and is easily laid out, great for beginners again you can get a free trial so once again costing you nothing.
Once you have found a good script read the read me file in detail obvious I know but you would be surprised at how many don’t.
Now this is where knowing a small amount of HTML will come in handy if you have brought a script or got a open source script chances are hundreds of other people have to I would say take some time in just making a few changes adding you logo change the colors around a bit, maybe add a link page or add a remotely hosted forum to your site all you have to do is a basic HTML link pointing to where your forum is and you have a forum (this is where knowing a small amount of HTML comes in handy. Some open source sites come with support forums take the time to read them they can be greatly beneficial.
Next Domain names there are sites that offer free domain names and sites that offer sub domain names but I would say buy one they are cheap enough but remember try to avoid domain names that are too clever for there own good like Mi11iondollarhomepage.com you notice that there a two number ones in there looks good but try advertising that on the radio or two people talking about your website chances are when they type in your address they won’t find it. Keep it simple, keep it short as you can.
So you’ve got your site up and running it all works properly but wait you have no traffic! This is where you will feel frustrated and at times and will even come close to giving up but I advise you don’t, it will take time but eventually it will pay off. Now what I am going to say will have some people spitting out there dummies especially those overpaid so called gurus of the internet. Paying loads of money for advertising is not a guarantee that you are going to have loads of traffic come flooding in. The only way to do that is search the internet for forums that offer advice on advertising and spend time not money on building up your reputation and your links to your website.
If followed the above will cost you next to nothing and a whole load of sleepless night and a lot of time
Good Luck with your venture.
And Remember fools rush in where angels fear to tread.