How Hard is it too....

by brit16
18 replies
....create a small business website?? I am a beginner; I have one blog that is earning a small amount of money each month. I am working on building that up, but in the mean time I have been considering ways to make money that won't require constant maintance like my blog.

So, my hair dresser recently opened a new salon. When searching for her online I realized she did not have a website yet. So, I have a few questions....

1. How hard would it be to create a nice website for a small hair salon????
2. Could a beginner who is only familiar with wordpress blogs do a decent job???
3. Would a hair salon even benefit from a website??? If so, what would the selling points be?
4. What would be a good price to ask.... I was thinking around $300. $150 up front and $150 after the project is done.
5. Is there an easy _____ don't know the proper word, but like wordpress for a static site?

If I convinced her to buy the site and it was sucessful I know there are many small businesses in my town. If I could get her to write a review...maybe I could build it into something bigger. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
#hard
  • Profile picture of the author ZaphodBeebleBrox
    1. How hard would it be to create a nice website for a small hair salon????
    Not hard at all, especially with WordPress. The hardest part is always nailing down the actual content planning FIRST with your client.

    2. Could a beginner who is only familiar with wordpress blogs do a decent job???
    A bit of a loaded question I would recommend you at least be familiar with working with different theme layouts to get away from the the standard content/sidebar look. I've been working with WordPress since 2004 and have settled (mostly) on using StudioPress and other premium theme providers.

    3. Would a hair salon even benefit from a website??? If so, what would the selling points be?
    Absolutely. Everyone who has a business should have a website. For a salon the benefit would be akin to having an "online business card". Look up some stats on local searches and prove how many people look for local businesses online FIRST.

    4. What would be a good price to ask.... I was thinking around $300. $150 up front and $150 after the project is done.
    This all depends on your experience and ability to deliver...not to mention what kind of "bells and whistles" your client may want.

    5. Is there an easy _____ don't know the proper word, but like wordpress for a static site?
    Use WordPress

    If I convinced her to buy the site and it was sucessful I know there are many small businesses in my town. If I could get her to write a review...maybe I could build it into something bigger. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
    I wish you the best of success and although a bit self-serving here, I would suggest you visit WP Pro Business and take our free WordPress setup course and read our articles
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    • Profile picture of the author brit16
      Originally Posted by ZaphodBeebleBrox View Post

      Not hard at all, especially with WordPress. The hardest part is always nailing down the actual content planning FIRST with your client.


      A bit of a loaded question I would recommend you at least be familiar with working with different theme layouts to get away from the the standard content/sidebar look. I've been working with WordPress since 2004 and have settled (mostly) on using StudioPress and other premium theme providers.


      Absolutely. Everyone who has a business should have a website. For a salon the benefit would be akin to having an "online business card". Look up some stats on local searches and prove how many people look for local businesses online FIRST.


      This all depends on your experience and ability to deliver...not to mention what kind of "bells and whistles" your client may want.


      Use WordPress


      I wish you the best of success and although a bit self-serving here, I would suggest you visit WP Pro Business and take our free WordPress setup course and read our articles
      Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I will take a look around your site as soon as I have a chance. I did plan on looking at the local stats...not sure there will be too big of numbers considering we live in a somewhat small country town. Would you also include some backlinks or what that be a totally seperate cost? I did not realize you could create a website, not just a blog, from wordpress. Are there any good free themes for this purpose?

      As far as nailing down the content....I was wondering about that. How do you go about getting everything. Do they have to email you any info they want on the site or how does that work? Thanks again for the response!
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      • Profile picture of the author ZaphodBeebleBrox
        Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I will take a look around your site as soon as I have a chance.
        I did plan on looking at the local stats...not sure there will be too big of numbers considering we live in a somewhat small country town.
        I meant to just show her stats of how people are using Google and other search engines to search for local places. Not specifically you're own town. Just a general "hey, here's proof that when Adam is looking for a new salon, he does an online search expecting local results. He doesn't look at newspaper inserts or (GASP) the yellow pages."

        Would you also include some backlinks or what that be a totally seperate cost?
        I wouldn't include any. This would be seen as a separate cost of "marketing" not web development.

        I did not realize you could create a website, not just a blog, from wordpress. Are there any good free themes for this purpose?
        Yep, WordPress is NOT just a blogging platform. It's a full featured content management system that can do a lot of things...including blogging, very well

        I would steer clear of freely available themes unless you find them in the official WordPress.org theme repository. Not all free themes found elsewhere are inherently bad, some are awesome I'm sure, but if you aren't confident of the source, you could be opening yourself up for some major security issues. I speak from experience and have an upcoming product that will tell two sad stories about WordPress security.

        As far as nailing down the content....I was wondering about that. How do you go about getting everything. Do they have to email you any info they want on the site or how does that work? Thanks again for the response!
        I would recommend sitting down with the client and discussing the pages (and content) you are suggesting they have. Make a short list...main page, services, staff (possibly), contact. Then ask them if there is anything specifically that they would like to promote (maybe they give free nose hair clipping on Tuesdays or something...

        ...what you're after is to agree on the most important elements that they want to promote on their site. After this, then you agree on who is supplying the actual content...written text, images, etc.

        Hope that helps!

        Oh, and PLEASE don't neglect to put the contact info somewhere on the main page! Ever googled a small business to get the phone number and have to click through pages to find it? Not good...

        ...oh, and setup a Google Places page right away too...
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        • Profile picture of the author brit16
          Originally Posted by ZaphodBeebleBrox View Post

          Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I will take a look around your site as soon as I have a chance.

          I meant to just show her stats of how people are using Google and other search engines to search for local places. Not specifically you're own town. Just a general "hey, here's proof that when Adam is looking for a new salon, he does an online search expecting local results. He doesn't look at newspaper inserts or (GASP) the yellow pages."


          I wouldn't include any. This would be seen as a separate cost of "marketing" not web development.


          Yep, WordPress is NOT just a blogging platform. It's a full featured content management system that can do a lot of things...including blogging, very well

          I would steer clear of freely available themes unless you find them in the official WordPress.org theme repository. Not all free themes found elsewhere are inherently bad, some are awesome I'm sure, but if you aren't confident of the source, you could be opening yourself up for some major security issues. I speak from experience and have an upcoming product that will tell two sad stories about WordPress security.



          I would recommend sitting down with the client and discussing the pages (and content) you are suggesting they have. Make a short list...main page, services, staff (possibly), contact. Then ask them if there is anything specifically that they would like to promote (maybe they give free nose hair clipping on Tuesdays or something...

          ...what you're after is to agree on the most important elements that they want to promote on their site. After this, then you agree on who is supplying the actual content...written text, images, etc.

          Hope that helps!

          Oh, and PLEASE don't neglect to put the contact info somewhere on the main page! Ever googled a small business to get the phone number and have to click through pages to find it? Not good...

          ...oh, and setup a Google Places page right away too...
          Good point about the contact info, that does irritate me when I can't find it! I am not to the point of sitting down and talking, I don't even know if she is interested. But I agree that the price would have to depend on what she is wanting. I looked up some of the competitors sites and they seem very plain. I know I could complete sites like theirs pretty easily. Hopefully I could go above what they have. But the search results were really low for "hair salons (town)" and some like terms. Thanks for all the advice!
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          New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

          My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Chicas
    What could also benefit her business would be if she gets listed with Google. That way her business pops up when someone does a search for such businesses in the area. It's really easy to do. You can actually turn this into your own business of helping others list their businesses on line and also helping them build their websites.

    Best of luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author magiclouie
    Hey brit16,

    Have you thought of considering hiring a wordpress web developer? Yes, you have guessed it, it's all about outsourcing.

    Here in my location, a website like that will cost 30 to 50 USD and it's already a good money here. I can tell you, it would be a quality one.

    But of course, you need to negotiate first to that potential client of yours.

    Cheers,
    Louie Tugas
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    You might want to post this question here
    Offline Marketing Discussions

    A lot of local marketing discussions going on
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveParkinson
    Have you considered Weebly.com..... I have earned many thousands of pounds building websites in Weebly. You can do a good website in an afternoon. It offers FREE domain names and FREE web hosting.

    Its drag and drop.

    Check my personal website @ steveparkinson.weebly.com


    Also Google "div tags weebly" for addition themes...

    If you need more information and tips... message me.
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Originally Posted by SteveParkinson View Post

      Have you considered Weebly.com..... I have earned many thousands of pounds building websites in Weebly. You can do a good website in an afternoon. It offers FREE domain names and FREE web hosting.

      Its drag and drop.

      Check my personal website @ steveparkinson.weebly.com


      Also Google "div tags weebly" for addition themes...

      If you need more information and tips... message me.
      But, the client won't be receiving their own, easy to remember domain name, for example snipperandclippers.com. Instead it will be snipperandclippers.weebly.com. Just doesn't have the same professional ring to it.
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      • Profile picture of the author brit16
        Originally Posted by AnniePot View Post

        But, the client won't be receiving their own, easy to remember domain name, for example snipperandclippers.com. Instead it will be snipperandclippers.weebly.com. Just doesn't have the same professional ring to it.
        I agree. It does not seem far to have them pay for a site that would not even have an owned domain name. Could I use my hosting to host their site or would I have to creat a hosting account for them?

        I don't want to hire anyone else, because I would really like to learn more about creating websites myself. You can't learn without doing!

        Any suggestions for a good (free) theme for this type of site?
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        New to IM, any honest advice appreciated!

        My blog (first IM project!).....IVF Success Stories

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        • Profile picture of the author nika24
          If you have a reseller account, you can host it there. However if you're using a shared hosting, it's better to check with your host if you can do that. Some hosts suspend accounts if you're "re-selling" space on shared ones.

          There are many free wordpress themes around, one of the free ones that people recommend a lot is Atahualpa.
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  • Profile picture of the author joyfulwraps
    Hi Brit,

    You can easily build a site for a hair salon using WordPress. If you are familiar with WP this should not be that difficult for you to manage. Your hairdresser would defintely benefit from having a website (any business owner would). I target small and medium-size business owners in my offline business. Use good keywords that people would use when searching for a hairdresser, hair salon or salon products (assuming she sells products in her shop).

    Regarding pricing...this would depend on your experience as another poster indicated and the requirements of the site given to you by your client.

    I would not use anything other than WordPress to build this site for her or any other client as WP is easy to use and has great themes and plugins available.

    You can do this Brit!

    Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
    You can build a website for free at Yola

    It is a very simple template driven system that anyone can learn to do in no time.

    You can also pay to get your domain name registered there and hosting but you don't have to.
    so instead of companyname.yola.com they can have their own unique domain name.

    You could start today and create an account under your own email address and practice.

    With their own domain name, you can rank this site too and it has all kind of easy ad ons like blogs, shopping cart, calendar. Very using friendly.

    A friend of mine who is not very good on the computer created her own site in a weekend.
    Signature
    44 days in and we broke the $10K a month recurring bench mark.

    Guaranteed 60% Opt In Rate Traffic-Real People-Fresh Today-High Quality Biz Opp traffic![/URL]
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Chicas
    I would stick with WordPress. Other site building places are overly priced and you don't have full control as you would do with WP. And quite often than not those sites don't look as great.

    It will take you a little while to learn WordPress but you can always hit up Fiverr to get help for cheap and also you can find lots of themes there fore cheap - although I would caution from buying themes so cheap - I would make sure they are not bugged somehow.
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