When I published my first book in 2007 I knew that I needed a website.
I have always believed that if you have a business, product or service you should have a website. Now there are some exceptions to this rule.
There is a debate about some small businesses. Let's just say that you live in a small town and you operate a small mom and pop restaurant. You may elect not to have a website because there is some cost involved and your business only deals mainly with locals in your community.
In this case I think you need to determine if the website is going to be any value to you. In my area there are some small mom and pop restaurants that do have websites. It's convenient because sometimes I like to know if they're open or what's on the menu, and it's a lot easier to get on the net and get information than it is getting a phone book to look up a number and call for information. But as a business owner you need to decide if having a website is going to be beneficial to your business.
When I decide to create my website I knew absolutely nothing about website design. So I went online and start doing some research into web design companies. I ultimately decided on a company to create a themed website around my book.
Being a newbie I didn't know anything about domain names, hosting companies, SEO's or even how to use my site to make money in any way other than to showcase my book. My web design company charged me close to $500 to create what I now know to be a fairly simple site which included four pages. I was paying a monthly hosting fee of $24.99 (yes, this is outrageously high for hosting 1 site) but I didn't know any better so I went with it. Not to mention, when I needed to make changes to my site I had to submit a complicated form and in many cases it would take up to two weeks for the changes to take effect.
I continued to research ways to earn money with my website. I found Google Adsense and decided I was going to make a fortune by slapping a few ads on my page and sit back and wait for my checks to come in. Well, long story short, after one year I had only made $12.00 with Google Adsense. I knew I had to try something different.
I began educating myself on the key components that make up a successful website. I learned the importance of traffic, and that I needed more control over my site so that I would have the ability to update my content when needed. I also learned a lot about the different affiliate marketing programs.
When I started Pink Kiss Publishing Company I had a whole new strategy than when I released my first book. I stumbled across Homestead and decided to try building my new website using their free trial.
I began building my site easily using their website templates but the feel that I wanted for my publishing company site wasn't quite right. So I called and spoke to one of the designers at tech support and he told me about their Site Builder program and I decided to try it. It was rough going in the beginning because again, I knew nothing about web design.
I called Homestead support center so much that first week, most of the reps knew me by name. Yet it didn't bother them that I was calling so often. They were not only helpful but eager to talk me through any problems that I was having as I built my site. Just recently they have started doing remote access, so if you really just don't get it they can take control of your computer and do it for you. I think that's great.
I tell anyone that I was taught web design by my Homestead support team. Before I knew it I was building sites that not only generated income through the sales of my books and services of my publishing company but also through Google Adsense and other affiliate marketing programs.
This site was created as an information site for not only educating others on starting and building a successful online business, but also to share information about the tools that are available to assist in helping to build a successful business.
Today I have seven websites that I designed using Homestead Site Builder and they are all being hosted by Homestead for pennies more than I was paying my first web design company. Oh yeah, recently I decided to transfer my first domain into my Homestead account and the hosting company offered to host my site for practically free just for staying with them. They went from charging me a hosting fee of $24.99 a month to almost nothing! Even I couldn't pass up a deal like that.
If you're interested in learning how easy it is to use Homestead Site Builder, look for my video tutorial coming soon.
The Benefits of Having a Website! Is Your Business Worth It?
