How to setup a beautiful business website for $60 in 58 minutes

This is one of the most useful guides for non-technical startup CEOs

You had a wonderful idea recently and you want to turn it into a business. Perhaps you have chatted with multiple friends and relatives who all think it’s a great idea.

Congratulations, you have done the first steps. By now, you probably have a good mental image of what your product and services do and how they could add value. The logical next step should be to offer your product or services to your potential target customers.

You are now ready to present your idea to the world. How do you do it cost effectively? Welcome to the world wide web. It is the most efficient way of getting your ideas out to more people than you would ever meet in person. There is just one little problem. You might not know how to create a website.

Today, I will show you how I did it in less than 1 hour and for US$60. The best part is, it looks quite neat too!

Step 1: Find a web hosting service (5 min; $60)

There are lots of options out there. GoDaddy probably rings a bell. However, to stay true to under $100, I will go with Bluehost. I have been using their hosting service for years. Their starter promotion plan is really good: you can get 12 months term for $5 per month, plus a free domain registration. Just create your account, pay $60 and you are good to go.

Step 2: Find a domain name (5 min; free included in first $60)

This is where you could spend hours searching for a good domain name, as most easy-to-remember domain names are already taken. Here is my secret:

1. Always look for “.com” to avoid confusion and trademark issues later on.
2. Come up with a name that really resonates with your target audience
3. Instead of going for a long domain name like “BestDonutShopInNewYork.com”, I target domain names with 7 characters or fewer. One simple trick is using acronyms, then you get “bdsiny.com”

It’s very much an art to come up with an acronym that’s both catchy and easy to pronounce. Don’t spend too long if you can’t find a really good one. You can always pay another $15 for a new domain name.

Step 3: Install WordPress (10 min; free)

WordPress is the most widely used template website creator out there. You would find tons of free themes to help you get setup. You can customize it quite easily. There are also many free or paid plugins that can help with all sorts of tasks from collecting contact information to collecting payments. If you are using Bluehost, all you need to do is click “My Sites”, then “Create Site”, then “No, skip to WordPress”. Then enter the name and a tag line and you are done.  On the next screen, your domain name should already be selected. Click Next. 

The WordPress site installation usually takes about 10 minutes or less. Once ready, you can navigate to “yourdomain.com” and you should see an “Admin Login” button.

Step 4: Select a Theme (5 min; free)

To make your website look beautiful, you need a good theme. Themes are templates that define the look and feel of a WordPress website. There are many free ones out there. You need to pick one depending on your needs. My 2^nd secret: I tried quite a few themes before and my favorite free ones are: Editorial and Mesmerize.

Editorial is great for sharing news and updates. If you blog often on multiple topic areas, this could be a good choice.

Mesmerize is very slick and mobile ready. You can easily customize it into a business website of your own. This is the one I use for several of my websites.

To pick a theme, in the left menu of the Dashboard, hover over “Appearance” and then click “Themes”.

Step 5: Customize (30 min; free)

There are many things you can customize. If you are using Mesmerize, many text and image elements can be edited directly inside the customizer. If you are using Editorial, just make sure you change the Front Page to use the “Magazine Template” and then add widgets that start with “Editorial” in the customizer.

In terms of content, let’s focus on what’s most important first:

1. What does your product do?    Add a page, title it “Product” and write a couple paragraphs.
2. Who does your product help?  Make sure all your front-page texts focus on your customer.
3. Who are you?   Add another page titled “About” and put in a short biography of yourself.
4. How can people reach you?   Add a “Contact Form” or simply add your email to the footer.

This part is best done on a desktop or laptop computer. Most of the editing requires no code, and it’s as easy as using Microsoft Word. Upload a couple of photos to make the site look more relevant to your target audience. Upload a flowchart or write a blog post to get your point across. Keep it simple! You don’t need every pixel to look perfect yet.

Step 6: Launch (3 min; free)

You are done! You have just created your first business website. I bet it looks 100 times better than the one you created in your Grade 10 computer science class. Now you can take a 3-minute break or take another look at your website before launch.

When you are ready, just hit the “Coming Soon Active” at the top and then “Launch your site”.

Share the web domain name with your friends and relatives and ask them to spread the word! 

Hope you had a blast creating your first business website! Please leave comment below or let me know if any questions.