Building on a Budget - Low Cost Or Free Website Creation Tools at BlinkWeb, Synthasite - Weebly

The very thought of creating a web site usually sends chills up and down the spines of most small or home business people. Creating even a simple web site can greatly enhance your business image and definitely help establish contact information with prospective customers.

Why then do many budding entrepreneurs experience a quick feeling of anxiety or sometimes down-right fear at the thought of developing a website?

Two factors often collide leading to those undesirable reactions:

1. The vision of high costs since many feel the need to hire a web designer and don't know low-cost options for hosting the site; and
2. Knowing even less about the programming behind web pages (all that HTML, XHTML and CSS stuff).

Fortunately, several options exist and are available for any small or home business owner capable of using a personal computer for editing documents, creating spreadsheets, or create digital presentations to build and host a low-cost website. Most online companies offering free website creation and hosting venues include a web-based, WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) construction environment to build your site.

They also provide a variety of hosting packages that range from one with no charge but have a small advertising link at the bottom of the page and a sub-domain URL. Another option includes a low-cost (usually monthly fee-based) where you purchase your own domain name through them. After purchasing your domain, they host the site using your personal domain and without their advertisement on your site pages. This latter option provides a greater sense of professionalism as prospects and customers visit your site.

At this point in time, I have investigated three different service providers all with similar WYSIWIG website creation editors and hosting options. These include:

1. BlinkWeb;
2. Synthasite; &
3. Weebly.

Each site's WYSIWIG editor includes the ability to add a wide variety of design elements including:

• text paragraphs with or without title or graphics;
• title only elements;
• elements with only pictures;
• video elements;
• single or two column layout elements,
• custom HTML elements (auto-responder capture widget code), etc.

All three of the sites also include online help system in the form of how-to files or tutorial videos to assist in maneuvering your way around their editors and help guide you through the site creation process. I have found these sites great for developing simple websites and lead capture (squeeze) pages; an important tool for any online marketer. Any or all three are well worth the time investment to evaluate and help increase your web presence.