In today's technologically driven society just about anyone can build a website but not everyone can build a website that works. The reality is that while there are many affordable tools and services available, there is a large number of website that are just sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Just because you can build a website doesn't mean that the world is going to beat a path to your site. Understand that your website is like a needle in a haystack. How will you drive traffic to your website?
You can drive traffic to your website through various marketing method such as Paid Per Click (PPC), Banner Ads, etc... The problem with most online marketing is that they can be very expensive. When you are operating on a shoestring budget it is essential that you build a website that is optimize for the search engines. You can save a lot of advertising dollars by ensuring that all your web pages have quality keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that the world uses to find what they are looking for in the haystack (World Wide Web).
Getting the world to view your web pages may not be important to you. Great! All you need to do is find a reputable hosting company, register a domain name, singed up for an account, build your site, and then publish it. Note that publish it does not mean that your website will be viewable to the world (remember the needle in the haystack). Yes, building a simple website is that easy. Just make sure you find a hosting company that offers domain name (your website name) registration, hosting, and site builder tools.
Some site builder tools require a steep learning curve. If you are not HTML (Hyper Text Mark Up Language) savvy look for site builder tool that used the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) method to create your pages.
To build a website that works require some upfront planning. After deciding what niche you want to pursue, you will need to come up with a name for your website, build a keyword list, register your website name, signed up with a hosting company, and submit your website to the search engines. All of this can end up costing you quite a bit. Although there are many hosting companies out there touting free this and free that, my experiences with these types of company are generally poor.
The average registration fee at Go Daddy is about $8.99/year for each domain name. Some company will offer a site builder for free others may charge you for that feature. Expect to pay approximately $97 if you use Go Daddy. Hostings are generally sold on terms bases. The longer the term the less you can expect to pay. Go Daddy charges about $76 for 12 month. So between your domain registration, hosting and the site builder tool you are looking at roughly $182. You will still need to find a keyword tool. Google has a free tool you can use. I prefer to use Word Tracker, which is a monthly subscription program. Finally, you might want to use a simple photo editing software such as Photoshop Element or Paint Shop Pro.
In summary, building a Website That Work is going to cost you. However, you have control over how much it cost you financial and emotionally. All you have to do is figure out exactly what you want the website to do, identify the resources that you will need, establish a budget, then go build your site. It is that simple!