Web sites?

[infinitydiamond]

If you're looking for to design websites, you could always try doing it yourself.
There are a lot of website builders based online that could really benefit you. They're generally affordable, easy to use, and reliable. One in particular that I know you could use is Easy WebContent (easywebcontent.com).Their site builder sets everything up for you with templates and they provide tutorials to help you learn the ins and outs of the tool. And you'd also get a good level of customization, since, you'd be the one building the site.
I hope this helps. Give the online site builders a try!

[Suboo]

This is like how long is a piece of string, it all depends on what you need, however from the post it looks like you need a domain called www.electricfencingsandton.co.za which is available, then you need a 1 page site with a clear call to action, I would recon around R1000 to R2000 with design and all, then a "Get A Quote" form on the page, which must store the enquiry details to a database and email it to you.

You need the database option because sometimes emails don't get sent and you'd hate to lose an enquiry.

That's the easy part, once the page is live you need traffic, Google wont "see" you as important until other sites link to you, so add your site to sites like http://www.suboo.co.za under the Sandton suburb and then you'll get some traffic.

If you need help, hola

[bjsteyn]

Hi @Kevinb, do you have an link to a website that looks similar to the one you want, and is the website completely static ( no user input that needs to be stored in a database )?

As @suboo suggested, a dynamic website with a simple database to store enquirers shouldn't cost much to develop. You would probably want to be notified via email as-well, and be able to login and view all your enquiries in list format and then once clicked on taken to single view. Also you would want to mark of delete which ones you have dealt with , what there status is, and some notes on your interaction with the potential client.

[SilverNodashi]

If you pay peanuts, you'll get monkeys - just keep this in mind.

What most people say here has some value, and you need to weigh up the "costs" (no pun intended) and see what you can afford, and decide how much it is worth to you at the end of the day.

You could:

1. Use Wix or Yola or any one of the other free online website builders to build a pretty decent website. It's free and some of them put a lot of effort into delivering a pretty decent product. You pay more for your domain than with other hosts, and probably for additional "cool features", which you may or may not need.

2. Build a website yourself on an popular CMS which you can master within a few hours. Download a template which suits your business and does what you need it todo. In this case you generally be able to pay less for the domain & hosting than with Wix or Yola, etc

3. Pay someone R400 or R800 for a 5-pager website. This option saves you the time to try and figure out Joomla or Drupal, etc,and you don't need to bother looking for a template. The web designer could either give you a template driven website, or do something himself. But, at that cost he'll need todo a boatload full just to cover his basic needs in life (car, house, insurance, medical aid, fuel, food, internet, etc) and may not be around very long to support you with updates. I've yet to hear about a success story of such a website, where the developer happily supports his clients 10years, or even 2years later.

4. Spend more on more professional website, with a company who has a good reputation and more than 1 developer who can support you later on. Sure, there are companies out there who scam people, but they're in every single industry, in every country around the world. Use a company recommended by others, and compare at least 3 or 4 companies. Some will use templates, some wont. Some will hard code your website from scratch, some will use CMS systems. Some will use a proprietary system as well.


I personally like the idea of using a non-proprietary system like Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal, since anyone can take over the website's maintenance or further development if you later need someone else to redo the website, for whatever reason. A template driven website means you can change the look and feel, and quite often most of the functionality without redoing the whole website from scratch. And even if some of the "uber PC geeks" are completely against the idea of a template, one can design or modify a template to look totally unique, and very professional.
Most CMS's also have a LOT of community developed addon modules which can greatly enhance your website's functionality, often at little to no cost. A hard coded website will be limited, in terms of functionality, to what the developers have, and can code for you - generally at an extra cost as well.

Why re-invent the wheel, every time?





Will most of your clients care if your website was free, cost R400, or R5000? Probably not?
Will you get more business out of either of these 3 website options? Probably yes - it really all depends how well you market your website, and this is key to success
Will a free or R400 website give you a lot of user interactivity? No. Or very limited.
Does your website need a member's section, shopping cart, other useful interactive tools for your clients in order todo what they need todo? IF not, then the R5000 website might be overkill. But, if they do, then the free or R400 website may ruin your business or reputation if they tools don't do what you need.





Now, once your website is up and running, you need to advertise it otherwise potential clients won't find it on the internet. SEO is not that mythical, or mystical as most people try and make. And while you'll often spend good money with decent SEO firm, to market your website for you, you could also do this yourself if you have the time, patience and thrill to learn howto do it yourself. If time or the need to learn howto do it yourself doesn't exist, then rather use a good SEO company. In this case it would be wise to budget a few rands (generally from R1000/pm) on google Adwords, and then get someone todo some SEO work on the website as well. SEO will take longer to get the same results, but if it's done right could decrease your Adwords budget in the long run - which is what you ultimately want.
Write new, unique and easy to read articles on a regular basis.
Link to your website from various forums, blogs, facebook, etc.
Get someone to write reviews of your website on forums, blogs, and facebook as well. i.e. if you sell a certain new product, and you've written an article about it, let someone else (spouse, friend, relative, etc) write a review about it, and post it on other sites where you didn't post it.
Setup a google webmaster account and follow their recommendations.
use google analytics to see how well your website performs.
make sure your website have a "call for action" section, preferably on the frontpage.
Readup on SEO techniques, ideally on google's own website(s) since there are may "black hat" and "white hat" tricks which could get your website banned from search rankings if used.