How to Build a Beautiful, Functional Site on a Limited Budget

Limited funds don’t have to warrant a poor quality website. With the right strategy, you can build a beautiful site that’s easy to use but doesn’t exceed your company’s budget. Here’s how to make it happen:

Prioritize

While there may be a dozen features you’d like the site to have, due to budgetary restrictions it’s probably not possible to add each of these features onto the final version of your site. Instead of lamenting your limitations, focus on the features that are most important. Then make sure that these components are implemented effectively.

Focus on a clean, simple design

You don’t need to break the bank to create a site that’s enjoyable to use. Rather than focusing on flashy graphics and video features, develop a site that’s simple and displays enough information without overwhelming the visitor. Craft engaging text and add eye-catching images, but don’t throw in excess details just because you feel like you should. Simplicity is key when it comes to top-notch web design, regardless of budget.

Determine your goals before you begin

To prevent the web design process from dragging on longer than necessary, go into it with clear, well-established goals. Why are you building this site in the first place? Is it to increase sales? Raise brand awareness? Answer frequently asked questions? When you set some objectives before you begin, it makes it easier to keep the design process succinct.

Know what you like and what you don’t like

Before you begin the web design process, take some time to do research about what you do and don’t like in a website. Pick out a handful of websites that you love to use, and identify what it is about them that you find so appealing. Is it their layout? Their color scheme? The quality of the images found on the site? When you understand what makes a site work, you can make sure to include these traits on your own site. Knowing what you don’t like is valuable too, so you can make sure not to duplicate these traits as you go through your own design process.

Know your audience

Remember that what you value in a website may not necessarily be what your end user values. Therefore, before you begin the web design process, take time to think about who will be visiting the site most regularly. What are they looking for when they come to your site? What would make them want to stay and click around, and what would they find irritating? When you create a site with the end user in mind, you’re turning the project into a worthwhile business investment.

If you’re working with a limited budget but still want a beautiful, functional website, I can help. contact me!