In the new digital age, no business has an opportunity to be offline. Nevertheless, most small businesses feel that they have to pay a lot of money to obtain a quality website. The good news? You would get affordable web design and hosting to suit your business objectives, provided you understand what to look for. This article will take you through the key considerations, the way to pick the providers and assist you in making a wise decision that will be cost and quality.
The meaning of cheap web design and hosting.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind whenever you hear of cheap web design and hosting? Maybe low pricing, but that does not imply low quality. Hosting is available in the UK market and affordable design packages at a small number of hundred pounds. As an example, the UK cheap web hosting is indicated as beginning as low as £ 1.85/month.
But “cheap” should not mean “low”. An intelligent entrepreneur seeks value: tolerable performance, decent up-time, mobile friendliness, security, and design worthy of the brand. Then it can be stated that you have indeed attained low-cost web design and web hosting without skimping.
The importance of cost-effective web design and hosting.
The ability to have a cheap web design and hosting does help you to use the money elsewhere, whether it is marketing, content generation, customer support and not just to pay someone to have a website. In addition, the user experience, search engine ranking and brand credibility are enhanced by having a properly-designed, well-hosted site. Slow and unreliable websites or old sites demean the business. It is prudent therefore to invest in good value, as opposed to all-cheapest-option.
Major considerations on cheap web design.
In selecting a web design provider (as a component of your cheap web design and hosting package), one should take into account the following:
- Responsive design: the site should be mobile, tablet and desktop. The design in many UK services focuses on being mobile-friendly.
- SEO friendly structure: proper utilisation of headings, metadata, clean code and fast loading. This is often bundled by the low-budget designers.
- User experience (UX): easy navigation, quick loading, appropriate pictures and calls-to-action.
- Competency and right to ownership: you are the owner of the domain and the hosting and have the right to perform minor revisions (or do it through your designer).
- Support and maintenance: A certain amount of support and future-proofing should be provided in even the cheap package.
By ensuring these, you will never fall into the trap of cheap and useless products and can be sure that you are getting a good deal.
The main aspects of assessing cheap web hosting.
In hosting, focus should be on reliability and performance even at a low cost. Key aspects to check:
- Location of the servers: In case of a UK audience, it is best to have servers in or closer to the UK so that they can have higher loading speeds.
- Uptime guarantee: Find 99.9 or higher. Poor availability strikes a fatal blow to credibility.
- SSL certificate was included: Security: Security is a must; a free SSL is these days to be expected.
- Bandwidth and storage: Be certain that the plan can sustain your anticipated traffic and volume of content.
- Backup and support: Daily backup or at least regular backup is an added advantage even with low budget plans.
Once more, an integration of these with web design has meant that one can get a truly integrated package of low-cost web design and hosting that works.
Design + hosting: how to get the best deal.
To get the most out of cheap web design and hosting, it is advisable to have a single provider do both the design and the hosting (or to get a designer to do the integration with the host of your choice). Benefits:
- A single point of contact for design and hosting problems.
- Perhaps reduced prices in the event of service bundling.
- Compatibility and optimisation (design is aware of the hosting constraints and is made to decisions).
But – pay attention to one thing, each service should be evaluated on its own merits (do not believe in design which is cheap).
You might choose:
- Hosting on a low-cost host of good reputation based in the UK.
- Design of a smaller agency that will focus on budget websites, which focus on SEO and mobile responsiveness.
The two intelligently combined create a pack of affordable web design and hosting that is not out of place with business development.
Decision Making What to choose (and size later)
Depending on the size and the ambition of your business, you can resort to cheap web design and hosting. Ask yourself:
- What will be the number of pages my site will require now and in the future?
- Is it e-commerce, blogs, memberships etc. I need?
- How much traffic will I have within the first 12 months?
Will it use existing resources (i.e. logos, branding, photographs) or will this require additional spending?
Begin with a low monthly cost package and make sure that it can be upgraded (hosting upgrade, design upgrades) so that as your business expands you can continue operating on the same package instead of starting all over again.
Conclusion – The smart way forward.
To conclude, it is quite possible to get cheap web design and hosting but one has to be knowledgeable about it. When you concentrate on the value and not the lowest price as such, you make sure that your business is supported by your site and not slowed down.
Choose a respected budget host that has UK friendly servers, free SSL, decent uptime and customer support. Combine that with a designer who focuses on responsiveness, SEO and usability. Elude drunken costs, underperformance and lock-in. In that manner, your site will make a worthy investment – not an expense liability.
Keep this in mind: cheap does not mean cheaply made; it only means that it is priced intelligently and that there is no compromise in quality. The best thing to do is to invest well and your online presence will be rewarded.
