Build Modular: Start a website on a shoestring budget
Building modular is the best way to build a website on a budget. In the web world, modular means you can go from a small 1 page informational website and add features as you grow. A small informational website can be built into a full e-commerce store or somewhere in between without “throwing away” the original website. Nothing is wasted. As Google (and web visitors) start to find you online, you benefit from an online presence while releasing more and more features or contents in the weeks and months that follow. The alternative would be to build a website with all its “bells and whistles” while the entire project is offline to visitors for months at a time. All successful effort is built by implementing in stages. The same is true when it comes to online.
Case study
Imagine starting out on day one with an online store that has 20 categories consisting of 100’s of products. A store that has all the features; recurring billing, special membership-only deals, custom ‘build your own’ product, help desk support for your customers, stock management, etc.. This sounds like a pretty good set of tools to make money through your online store and keep your customers coming back. But imagine managing such a store without the proper planning, training and insight to your market first. By contrast, imagine building your website on a budget as a small informational resource showcasing your service offerings. Gradually, you learn more about the market you are in. In 90 days you would have a good idea of what to implement next.
This is exactly what ActiveFitness did. Back in 2020 (😐 jip, 2020..) they began their journey with the idea of creating an online e-commerce platform selling fitness plants for at home. They later branched out to dedicated fitness plans for the gym. Once they got the hang of managing an e-commerce store it was only a few short months later that further dedicated products where introduced. Products dedicated to building muscle for men and women, according to a schedule that suites the individual customer. Again, more features were added and in two years they have gone from starter e-commerce to a system with membership portal, recurring billing for customers, a nifty “take the test” feature, blog articles and other public resources to further their business.
Decisions decisions..
Should you include an online store with transaction checkout? Or is your market better suited for customers to simply request quotation instead? Later, you might become aware of a special group of loyal customers and you see the benefit of rewarding them. My point is to treat your online presence as something dynamic and bespoke to your business or organization. The biggest mistake is to treat your website as a never changing poster on the internet.
In Conclusion
Building a modular website has by far been the best win for small businesses and organisations. In the past, upgrading an old website to include more advanced features meant re-building the whole thing.. Today this is not necessarily the case. A new small website has the building blocks to use what is already there and build upon it with tools like e-commerce, product quote carts & membership portals.
What this means is you can start with a 1 page website. Get your foot in the door with a domain name, basics of your brand, service offerings and means for people to get in touch with you. All built into a very small website. Who knows what it might grow into the future. This is something only an online marketing journey can tell you. Get in touch today
