How To Build A Unique Website On A Tight Budget

Building a website can be pretty expensive if you don’t know where and how to find budget-friendly options. And hiring a professional website developer could also hurt your finances. In addition, doing it on your own can also be a waste of money as you may spend on unnecessary tools and designs you might not need, especially if you’re a first-timer. To ensure you don’t make these mistakes, here are some steps to help you build a unique website on a tight budget:

1. Hire Students

The first is to hire a student from a local university. Preferably, you’ll want to work with students who have strong website design skills. To ensure that you get a skilled web designer, you must hire correctly. One way to do that is to ask them the right questions, which you can find in this post. That way, you can verify if they’re well-knowledgeable in this area through their answers.

Many students would be willing to take on the tasks to build a professional portfolio for themselves, so all you need is to find one. Plus, you can get the job done for a much lower price.

Once they completed the design, you can then hire another student with good web development skills. Again, you can arrange lower prices than you’d have with a professional developer, and the student will thank you for allowing them to practice their skills. So, it’s a win-win situation for both of you.

2. Exchange Your Services

Next is to try offering your services to a professional web developer. If you have real marketable skills like photography or video editing, try reaching out to designers to see if they need your expertise. To make your offer more inviting, you can offer them free edits. In exchange, ask them to edit or improve the website your student designer has done.  

You can also find many platforms that promote this synergistic relationship between creators. In there, you’re more likely to find web designers who are also looking for creators via exchange of services.

3. Use A Template

If you want to build your website on your own, you can use customizable templates. They come pretty much for every budget, so you’re more likely to find one that’ll fit your budget. Templates are form builders that you can personalize. You can customize the entire layout which some providers allow.

For instance, WordPress is an excellent example of an affordable website building service that offers customizable templates for a low price. They also have several benefits like simple websites or blog designs that you can avail of for free.

Perhaps, the only downside of using a template is that it makes backing up the entire website quite tricky. So, if you choose to upgrade later on, you might need to move to an entirely new website.

4. Leverage Free Resources

Lastly, make your website visually appealing. You may want to use numerous design tools that are free of charge. All you have to do is conduct some research to find them. With the plethora of free resources on the internet, you can definitely have a professional-looking website without paying anything.

You can use free stock images and even videos for the visuals of your website. You can also find websites that have delightfully curated images of pretty much anything. Thus, you’ll indeed find something that suits the theme of your website.

In addition, these images can come in raw image format so that you can do heavy editing on the pictures. If you want, you can also stick with simpler edits. Regardless, the most important thing is that it offers you the freedom to do what you want with the pictures that you got—no worrying about copyright issues.

And if you’re looking for a powerful but free photo editor, there’s also several free editing software available for download. Software like Adobe Photoshop Express Editor comes with a free version. Although the paid software has complete functionality, the free one is still substantial if you’re only looking for simple edits. Alternatively, you can try browser-based options that require no download. All of which are perfect for making your website visuals more appealing.

Conclusion

Building your website on a budget is possible; no need to spend hundreds of dollars to launch your website. If you consider the tips above, you can create a professional-looking website that fits your budget. Whether you’d like to do it on your own or let someone else do it, your options aren’t limited. What matters are these steps won’t take much of your budget.