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What are the best photography website designs?

Female photographer in front of waterfall - Iceland thinking of the best photography website designs

Designing a website for a photography business can be an exciting process; there are so many options in terms of layout, design and types of content that you could include. 

Building the right website for your business can be difficult, and with so many options you may fall into some bad web design habits, such as creating an overcrowded website. However, at Go SiteBuilder our ready made templates are designed to guide you every step of the way to help you create a professional and stylish website.

In a creative industry such as photography, showing creativity and flair in your web design is incredibly important. Without a well-conceived web design visitors may be discouraged from using your services or browsing through your work. Creating a website that displays your photographs beautifully and gives the visitors all the relevant information is vital. 

Key aspects to consider:

Web design can be confusing and overwhelming, especially if this is the first website you have designed. When designing a website, there are some key elements which you must think about before designing your website. The best photography businesses carefully consider these key components when designing their websites:

  • Web design – does your web design really reflect your business and your aesthetic?
  • Layout – is your website easy to use and navigate?
  • Portraying your business model – does your website show what kind of photography you offer?
  • Showing your work – what type of gallery layout do you want? For more inspiration read our blog on how to create a photo gallery.

For more information on what to include in your website check out our blog on what features you should include in your photography website. Below we are going to give some examples of the best examples of photography websites in different styles to help you design the best website for your business. 

Landscape Photography Website: Colin Prior Photography

Source: Colin Prior

This website is a stunning example of how great web design can show your photographs in their best light. The large header photograph is part of a slideshow that changes between equally beautiful landscape pictures. The layout is simple yet effective, with a clean minimalist aesthetic allowing the photographs to shine. 

Portrait Photography: Joe McNally

Source: Joe McNally Photography

This photography website clearly shows the type of photography that the company specialises in. There is a range of photographs on the homepage, immediately exposing visitors to the photographers style. The sidebar menu shows the various styles of photography that they specialise in. Although this layout may not be an option with many website builders, there are more simple ways to achieve the same look. For example using a collection of photographs in a gallery on your homepage will give a similar effect. 

Fashion Photography: The Fashion Camera

Source: The Fashion Camera

This fashion photographer has taken a slightly different approach to her website, by focusing on her personal connection to her work. This creates a connection between the visitor and the website owner. Certainly not a strategy every business may want to use but for this type of photography using your point of view can be useful. The muted colours and font create a stylish website with an effective design and layout. 

Art/Concept Photography: Shaw and Shaw

Source: Shaw and Shaw Photography

Shaw and Shaw’s photography website is a great example of how colours and unique design can elevate a website. This is particularly effective in this photography style of art or concept work, where aesthetic is so important. The multicolored menu draws the eye but doesn’t detract from the photograph above. The website mostly operates on a slideshow with a page of information at the end. Although not the most informative, the unique elements of this website make it memorable and successful. 

Wedding Photography: Holly Rose Weddings

wedding photography site homepage with married couple

Source: Holly Rose Weddings

The design for this wedding photography website is very effective. The colour scheme is muted and the design is minimalist. These soft design decisions create a beautiful wedding website which ties in with the photo shoot chosen as the header. The menu is simple and easy to navigate as a header menu. 

If you’re ready to build an amazing website for your photography business, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, including multiple gallery options our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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What is the difference between offline and online business?

Female Inventory Manager Shows Digital Tablet Information on difference between offline and online business

You might think the difference between online and offline businesses is obvious, but if you’re starting a new business or looking to move your business from one to another, it’s important to understand the opportunities and possible pitfalls of each one. 

In 2020, an offline business doesn’t mean a business that doesn’t have a website; on the contrary, it’s crucial for all businesses (online or offline) to have a functioning website that acts as a marketing tool. This helps you gain more visibility and attract more customers to your business. Try a simple website builder like Go Sitebuilder; you can have a website up and running in minutes just by uploading your images and content into our ready made professional web designs. 

There are some businesses that thrive online and others that can only really be carried out on an offline basis, so let’s have a look at the differences between them. 

Online Business

An online business is one that carries out its services entirely online and gets its revenue from selling products and services that are either digital or shipped to the customer’s home. 

Always open

An online business doesn’t adhere to opening hours, which means that customers can browse their products or services at any time. According to Workarea ecommerce research, the primetime for online shopping starts at 8 p.m. when the majority of physical shops are already closed. 

Less expensive to establish and operate

Setting up an online business does require some capital, but only the amount you need to pay for a good quality website builder with an ecommerce platform. As it is always online and can take payments autonomously, you don’t need to hire extra staff to supervise the website. 

Harder to gain trust and reputation

Competition is fierce in the ecommerce business world, and you need to find a way to stand out to your customers and persuade them that your products or services are superior. This means you need much more detailed product descriptions and multiple high quality product photos. It’s also vital to include reviews and testimonials so that potential customers can see that others have been happy with your services. 

Growth opportunities

If you start your online business on a small local scale and it picks up traction quickly, growing your business can be fast and efficient. If you are online then you automatically have a global reach, so just by offering worldwide delivery you can exponentially increase your target audience. 

Offline Business 

An offline business either sells physical products in a store, or services that are limited to a geographical location. An electrician or a plumber, for example, has to travel to visit their customers’ homes in person, rather than offering online services. 

Limited hours

A physical store will be limited to their opening hours, and will not be able to sell their products outside of this time, in the same way an electrician will have specific working hours. This limits the amount of revenue you can receive in a given time frame.

Easier to persuade customers to buy

Once you have a customer in your shop, you are much more likely to get them to buy something, in comparison to having a visitor searching on an ecommerce website. Sales are much easier to achieve with face to face interaction, and you are also helped by the fact the customer can physically touch and hold your product. 

The way you interact with your customers will also help you gain a good reputation; if you are helpful and friendly, people are more likely to recommend you to others. 

Easier to tap into local demand

If you are opening an offline business in your area, you understand exactly what people need and what the gap in the market is. If you are providing products or services that weren’t previously available in the area, then you are likely to start seeing revenue immediately, whereas it can take longer for an online business to gain a loyal following. 

More expensive to set up and run

If you have a physical store, then you will have to factor in the price of renting and insuring a space, as well as paying for running costs such as utilities and staff salaries. If you visit other people’s houses to provide a service, then you will have to pay for your own transport. This can significantly add up, and you might have to raise your prices in order to ensure your offline business turns a profit. 

Choosing whether to run an online or offline business depends on the amount of capital you have to start your company, and the type of product or service you provide. Regardless of which one you choose, you will need a website to either function as your online business, or to market and provide visibility for your offline business. 

Go Sitebuilder is a simple website builder with ready to go templates tailored to your industry. We have an integrated ecommerce platform that allows you to easily sell your products with no limitations, and our responsive design means that potential customers can visit your website from any device. Try our 14-day free trial today and see where a website can take your business. 

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How do I attract customers to my website?

Shot of happy and successful business colleagues giving high five in office after attracting customers to their website

Every burgeoning business needs an online presence. Bringing your business online means you can massively grow your potential customer base, as well as giving you the opportunity to stand out amongst your competitors with a slick website. Already got your website made? Then you’re halfway there! The next step is attracting customers to your site, and we have some useful tips for you on how to do just that.

Not got your website made yet? Visit our site builder here and get started! 

Design the perfect site

One of the most important aspects of your website will be the web design. A well laid-out, easy to navigate online store demonstrates professionalism and reliability to your visitors. You don’t have to be a web design pro to help your online business flourish. Go Sitebuilder boasts a huge library of website designs that help you easily build your website exactly the way you want it.

High quality descriptions of your product will also convey professionalism to potential customers visiting your eCommerce site. Sprinkle some key words and phrases that people would search for in your product descriptions to ensure that visitors stumble upon your website. 

Product photos are just as important as product descriptions; professional-looking photos of your products show a degree of credibility to your online store’s visitors. Make sure they show all aspects of your product and that you have at least two or three images for each one. 

When creating a website for your business, it is important to create a domain name that reflects your brand. Ideally, you want your domain to match the name of your company. This reinforces your brand and makes it easier for customers to find you and return to your online store. 

Understand the power of social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. The list of possible social media platforms available is exhaustive. Share a link to your new website across all of your personal social media accounts to increase traffic to your store. Networking on LinkedIn, at both a personal and company level, will also be a valuable tool in promoting your business.

Don’t just rely on personal accounts, as it can look unprofessional. Create social media accounts for your business as well – social media is a great way for your business to interact with potential customers online. Maintaining a regular flow of updates helps to keep followers informed about your business, as well as bringing a sense of personality and approachability to your brand. As many as 80% of users on Instagram alone follow at least one business, so this is a channel you should definitely be exploring. 

For each of your business social media accounts, make sure you have a link to your website in your bio, as well as sharing it in individual posts.  That way, every time someone visits your page, they will always see a link to your eCommerce site first.

As well as helping your customers stay abreast of your business, social media is a great tool for learning about your customers. Using analytics (usually built into the platform) to stay informed of your customer base’s interests, demographics and what time they are online, can help you to create content valuable to them at times they’re most likely to see it.

A blog is a great platform to allow customers to keep up to date with any news or updates from your business. Sharing a link to your online store throughout your blog is an absolute must if you want to drive up clicks. Remember to keep up a steady stream of updates in order to build a bigger following. With Go Sitebuilder’s fully integrated blog platform you can get started on yours right away.

Promote your business everywhere

A bulletproof way of ensuring people hear about your new online business is to tell them about it. Simple, right? Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone who’ll listen. As long as you keep talking about your online store, people will keep hearing about it.

Post in local groups to get your website in front of a relevant audience. Most towns and communities have dedicated Facebook groups for their residents to post in. Utilise these to keep everyone in your area informed about your business.

If you’re using Facebook as part of your social media strategy, then you can reach potential customers through Facebook’s targeted advertising, where adverts for your website will appear in front of your target audience. You can apply the same principle to Instagram, who are also under the Facebook umbrella, but you’ll have to do some research to work out who is more likely to buy your products.  

For local businesses, registering your business with Google Places is really handy as it means it can be found more easily with Google searches, as well as ensuring it appears on Google Maps. Yahoo! and Bing have similar business databases which are also well worth signing up to.

The only thing left to do…

…is get your website started! We hope you’ve found this blog helpful. Make sure to let everyone know that your website is up and running and your online business will be flying!

Get your website set up now – Register for a 14 day trial today and see how our website builder can help you create a beautiful, professional blog hassle-free. 

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How do you introduce a current website to social media?

Happy smiling black woman using smart phone. Thinking about how she can introduce a current website to social media

So you’ve already set up an amazing website but are yet to connect your website to your social media. Creating an integrated online presence for your business will drastically improve interaction with your business, on your website and on your social media platforms. 

The most important aspect of integrating your online presence is to ensure you have a strong website. Using a website builder such as Go SiteBuilder can be a really useful way to ensure that you have stunning web design and an effective layout. Make sure all pages of your website are finished and you have added all the information you need to before you start to introduce it to your social media. 

Use your social media presence

If you already have a strong social media presence then introducing your website to potential new customers is much easier. A strong social media presence is indicated by a high number of followers and engagement levels (i.e. followers like and comment on your posts). If you have a strong social media presence there is a higher chance that followers and others will visit your website once you integrate it into your social media platforms. 

However, if you do not have a strong social media presence already there are some ways you can easily improve it. Social media is extremely important in growing your business; with over 3.48 billion users across social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, creating a presence is vital to access such a large market. 

Ensure you have social media accounts across multiple platforms, whether you pick two or all social media platforms. Think about what you post and how often you post, as this will increase engagement. For more tips check out our blog on how to create a social media marketing strategy.

Ensure you link your website correctly

This seems like an obvious step but many social media platforms fail to put the correct links in the right places for their website. Your website’s homepage should be linked in your ‘bio’ or ‘profile’ depending on the social media platform. Remember that on Instagram you can’t add links to separate posts, so you need to make sure the link is in your bio. 

If you make a post about a specific part of your website, for example your gallery page, make sure you put a link to your gallery page in the description. Although this will not appear as a hyperlink on some social media platforms, having the link is still very important as users can copy it and find the page your post is about. 

Launch your website

Even though your website already exists, having some kind of recognition on your social media is really important. You may wish to launch your website as if you have just published, if so check out our post on how to launch a new website on social media. However, if you want to create more of an integrated ‘soft launch’ to your website, this can be done in a number of ways, for example:

  • A post dedicated to each section of your website – include screenshots of your website 
  • Reviews of your website/comments on your website 
  • Tips on what website builder you used or how you created your website
  • Showing any new changes you have made to your website 

Promote your website

Introducing a website to social media can be difficult, especially if you do not have a large social media presence. There are a variety of ways to promote your website. The easiest way is to ensure you use hashtags and location tags to your advantage. This means following trending hashtags and adding them to your posts when relevant. By using trending hashtags you increase the chance that social media users will see your posts. 

Location tags are a little different as they do not work for every business. However, for businesses such as photography, travel or fashion they can be a great way to promote your posts. This is most useful on Instagram, but can be used on other platforms. Users search for a location to see posts relating to an event in that area. Therefore, if your post is featured among others in this location tag then more people will see your posts. 

If you’re ready to build an amazing website for your business, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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How much does it cost to make a website for a small restaurant?

Diverse small group of four attractive laughing friends having wine and a meal together in restaurant talking about how much it cost to make a website for a small restaurant

Did you know that 62% of diners research restaurant choices online before dining out? Having a website for your restaurant is of paramount importance and in a previous blog we looked at why you need a website for your restaurant. Whilst you might understand why having a website is key for your restaurant, you might be a bit apprehensive about the costs of building a website. 

Although there isn’t a set price when it comes to building a website, there are multiple different routes to take, and some are cheaper than others. If you have the time and the necessary knowledge, you may want to build a website from scratch, or you may opt to enlist the help of a website builder, such as our simple, easy to use site builder, for a quicker and simpler option. We break down the costs of these two choices, so that you can build your website with a rough idea of prices. 

Building a website from scratch 

Web hosting 

If you’re building a website from scratch, you’ll need to find a web host, as it is a service that will allow you to post your website onto the internet, and in turn, lets others find you on the internet. Of course, this is vital to attract new customers – if potential site traffic can’t even find your restaurant on the internet, then you’re not going to be able to entice any potential customers, regardless of how appealing your web design is. 

The costs of web hosting can cost anything from a couple of pounds a month to £700 a month. If you want to find the cheapest option, then shared hosting is your best bet – however, as numerous other websites are sharing the resources of a single server, your site can become slow and more difficult to use. If you want more control over your server, dedicated hosting gives you your very own server, although it is the more expensive option. 

SSL certificate

An SSL certificate is an important feature for your restaurant’s website: as you’ll be taking bookings via your website, you’ll need to collect personal information from site users. As an SSL certificate ensures that any information stored on your site is protected from potential site hackers, having one helps to build trust between your website and a potential customer. 

Again, the cost of a SSL certificate can vary quite widely, depending on the scale of your business. If you’re building a website purely to take bookings, then you could be looking at a cost of roughly £50 a year for your SSL certificate. However, if you’re building an ecommerce website for your restaurant to sell products that you make, you may want to have a higher level of protection, as your customers will be handing over their bank details. This could cost you anything from £90 to over £200 a year. 

Web designer 

Part of the attraction of a restaurant is its aesthetic appeal – in fact, there is a complete psychology behind what pulls us into a restaurant. This means that you’ll want your website to look as good as your restaurant itself: if you have a bad web design, it sends the message that your restaurant is similarly of low quality. 

For a beautiful, sleek web design, you’ll probably want to enlist the help of a web designer to ensure your website looks stunning. The price of hiring a web designer is relative to their level of expertise – you could be looking at a cost of anything from £10 to £150 per hour. Ultimately, the choice of how much money you’re willing to invest into your web design is up to you. 

Using a website builder 

Costs of website builder 

With a website builder, you’re required to pay a set subscription fee a month, which can go up if you require additional features for your website. Although you have less control over individual costs with a website builder, website builders will include the aforementioned within their packages and more. Not only do the prices often work out cheaper than if you were to build a website from scratch, but it also saves you the time it would take to build a website without a website builder. 

Of course, you’ll still have to factor in additional costs of hiring a photographer if you want to upload clear and professional pictures. This is extremely important for a restaurant website, as users will be attracted by the look and design of your restaurant as well as appetising pictures of your food. If your pictures are badly lit and obviously unprofessional, this will quickly put potential customers off. 

At Go Sitebuilder, we have ready to go templates especially designed for restaurants so you can easily upload pictures of your stylish space and delicious menu and have a smooth and sophisticated web design up and running in minutes. To find out more about everything we offer in our affordable, yet high quality, package, try our 14-day trial today!

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Do I need terms and conditions on my website?

Caucasian male with a long beard is sat at a desk in front of a laptop editing photos with camera equipment surrounding the laptop

If you’re building a website for the first time, it can be easy to get distracted with creating a beautiful web design, or creating a colour scheme that compliments your logo. We still find it hard to choose between our professional and stylish ready to go templates on our website builder!

But you need to be aware that there are some boring-but-important pages that you must include in your website. We’ve already written a blog on making sure you have a privacy policy on your website, but what about terms and conditions?

What are terms and conditions?

Terms and conditions are the small print that explain how your company works. They set out your rights and responsibilities as a business, as well as the rights and responsibilities of your customers. 

Ideally, a terms and conditions page should be no longer than two pages, and it should include:

  • The products and services you provide
  • The price and manner of payment accepted
  • Any guarantees or warranties you offer
  • Limit liability if there are any errors in your web content
  • Copyright and trademark information
  • Information on what happens when the customer wants to terminate service with you
  • Where your website is operating from and what the governing law is. 

Although terms and conditions are known for being difficult to read, you want to make sure that yours are plain and intelligible, so that both you and your customers can refer to them if any issue arises with your services or products. 

Do I need terms and conditions?

Although for many basic websites it is not completely necessary to have a terms and conditions page on your website, it is wise to have them, as it protects you from being held responsible for things that aren’t your fault. However, a terms and conditions page is required if you collect user data. Even if you just use your website for marketing purposes, there are still multiple reasons why you should think about having a terms and conditions page. 

Prevent people abusing your site

The terms and conditions page sets out the rules and guidelines your users need to follow to access your website and use your services. This can help prevent users writing harmful language or spamming other users on your comments or forum section. 

Make it possible to ban users if necessary

For websites that allow users to register to become part of the community or to access certain services, then it is a good idea to have a clause in your terms and conditions that allows you to ban them temporarily. This could occur if a user is being abusive on your website and is insulting other members. 

Make sure you own your content

The Intellectual Property clause is often included in a terms and conditions page, and this stipulates that you own the logo, content, and web design, and that this ownership is protected by international copyright law. This makes sure that nobody can copy anything from your website to replicate on their own site,  claiming that they weren’t aware that it was protected by law. 

Limit your liability

However many times you edit and reread the copy on your website, there are likely to be a few errors that slip through the gaps. That’s why many terms and conditions sites include a clause that makes sure that the owner of the website can’t be held responsible for errors in the content, or if there are accidental inaccuracies in the information presented. 

How to write terms and conditions

It might seem daunting to have to write the small print for your website, but you don’t have to do it yourself! Although many terms and conditions pages are very similar, don’t be tempted to copy and paste another company’s page and put it on your own. As likely stipulated in their terms and conditions, that would be classed as intellectual property theft. 

If you have a basic website that you are using as a marketing tool and that doesn’t take users’ personal information or payment details, then you can use an online terms and conditions generator where all you have to do is fill in certain information fields and it is created in a matter of moments. 

If your company is slightly more complex, for example if you have an ecommerce website or a subscription service, then it may be worth hiring a lawyer to write up your terms and conditions for you. This can be done fairly inexpensively using an online lawyer who specialises in this field, and will save you a lot of hassle in the long term. 

If you still haven’t decided on the best website builder for you, why not give Go Sitebuilder a try? We have an integrated ecommerce platform, and give you a personalised domain name and five email addresses, as well as many other benefits that make creating a website simple, fast and fun. Try our 14-day free trial today to see how beautiful your website could look. 

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What’s the difference between local and global web design?

Pleasant conversation. Pretty young woman holding her kid while having telephone talk about the difference between local and global web design

If you’re building a website for the first time, or want to improve the web design of your site, you’ll need to work out whether you want to target a local or global market. Whilst it might be tempting to create a web design that falls into both of these categories, if you’re building a website from scratch for a brand new business, then it might be a good idea to focus your web design on just one of these categories. 

Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go sites which are completely customisable, so that you can build your website with a web design that perfectly suits your business, whether you’re aiming to keep it local, or to make it global. We take a look at some of the differences between local and global web design to help you decide which is the right web design for you. 

Colour scheme 

The psychology behind the colour scheme of your website is more important than you might think. According to TrueList, 42% of shoppers base their opinions of a website on the overall web design, and colour is an incremental factor when it comes to forming these judgements. When selecting the colour scheme for your site, think about what emotions you want to evoke, and what emotions the colours might inspire. 

If you’re building a website with the aim of targeting local customers or clients within your area, consider if there are any colours you can use that resonate with your locality. For example, if your town or city has a renowned sports team, you may choose to select a colour scheme which slightly mirrors the colours of that team. However, you also want to have a distinctive colour that resonates with your own brand – see if you can incorporate a colour which is unique to your business into your web design. 

On the other hand, if you’re building a website with the purpose of selling your products or services globally, you’ll want to pick a colour scheme which is more general. For example, some colours have negative connotations: in South Africa red is the colour of mourning, so you might want to opt for a more neutral colour scheme to ensure your web design is appealing to your global audience. 

Images 

Images also play an important role in the aesthetic appeal of your web design, as they not only add to the overall appearance of your site, but they help to convey a message. Using images is one of the quickest ways to communicate with your target audience – according to MIT, the human brain can process images in 13 milliseconds. That means it’s crucial to choose the right image for your website, as it is a great way to capture the interest of site visitors. 

If you’ve created a web design targeted at a local audience, one of the best ways to boost your image as a trusty, local business is to use local images. This doesn’t mean uploading a few snaps of some local landmarks onto your site – try snapping images of your products being used in a local area, or maybe upload a picture of your business collaborating with another local business. 

For a global web design, images of your local area are much less important: you don’t need to use images to highlight the fact  that you are a local business targeting local audiences, so you have more freedom in choosing which images to add to your web design. Use more general photos: stock images are a good way to add a professional touch to your website, without the cost of hiring a photographer. At Go Sitebuilder, we offer a huge range of stock photos to choose from, helping you build a website perfect for a global market within a few clicks. 

Content 

When building a website, your content not only conveys a message to your audience, but it also plays a big role in SEO, which affects your ranking on Google. You’ll need to decide how you want to structure your content for your web design: if your aim is to build a website for the global market, then you might want to focus mainly on keywords referring to the the products or services you sell, so that Google’s algorithms rank you higher on its search page results when someone searches for a specific item or service. 

If you’re a local business, you’ll still want to use keywords for your product, but you can also capitalise on local keywords, as it is fantastic for SEO: if you incorporate your location within your content on multiple pages then Google will rank you higher when someone searches for your products or services within the area. 

Whether you’re building a website for a local or global market, it’s important to find a website builder that is easy to use, but also offers quality services; Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go sites with completely customisable web designs, so that you can build a site that’s perfect for you. Our 14-day free trial gives you all the freedom you need to try our services, completely free of charge – try it today!

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What are the costs of a new salon website?

Young blonde woman smiling and looking at her reflection in a mirror while sitting in a salon chair discussing the costs of a new salon website

Whether you’re venturing into the hair and beauty industry for the first time, or want to build a new and improved website for your current salon, it’s important that you get each feature of your website right. Considering salons are so popular – hair and beauty businesses have a much higher survival rate after five years compared to other businesses – you’ll want to build a website which stands out. 

Whilst it might be a popular field to work in, the competition is fierce: in the UK, 12 new salons open each week. Nevertheless, this isn’t to say that the market is completely saturated; there are endless ways to draw in new clients. 

To capture their interest, however, you need to build a website which has a fantastic web design and is easy to use, as word of mouth isn’t solely enough to drive in customers. Whilst some use a website builder – such as Go Sitebuilder – for their salon website, you may want to build a site from scratch. We’ve broken down the costs of a new salon website to give you some idea as to where to begin. 

1. Web host

When building a site, you’ll need a web host for your website. Web hosts are essentially companies that rent out their services to host websites on the internet – a bit like renting out a chair in a hair salon for a freelance hairdresser to use. 

There are different types of web hosting options available, depending on the amount of control you want over your site. Shared hosting is great if you’re just starting up a salon business: it’s the most affordable option (costing around £5 a month) as your server space is shared with other sites, and it is relatively simple. However, due to the shared space with other websites on the same server, your site could become slow, and you also have little control over the server itself. 

Dedicated hosting gives you complete control over the administrative server and you don’t have to share your server space. However, this is a much more expensive option, costing anything from £40 to £100 a month, which is why it might only work for you if you already have a thriving salon business with spare cash to put into building a website. 

VPS hosting is a more advanced version of shared hosting, but cheaper than dedicated hosting, as whilst you still share servers, you are given your own resources which aren’t shared with other sites. 

2. Domain name

Your domain name is the name of your website: it’s the address people use to search for you on the internet. It must be distinctive to you, as not only does this characterise your salon brand, but it also prevents confusion, as customers could click on to the wrong site if you had a very similar domain name to another salon. A domain name normally costs between £8 to £10 a year.

3. Web design 

This is where it gets a little more complicated. Part of the attraction surrounding salons is the appeal of the aesthetic. You’ll want to reflect this in your website: a low-quality web design can give the impression that your salon is tacky and has poor standards. You’ll want to have a stunning web design so that you stand out; a professional and sophisticated website can elevate the image of your salon business even higher in the minds of potential clients. 

Unless you have extensive coding knowledge, you’ll need to get into contact with a graphic designer to take charge of the web design element. This can seriously eat into your budget: the price of a free-lance web designer can range from £15 an hour, to over £100 an hour, depending on their level of expertise.

4. Ecommerce platform 

One of the ways you can make your salon stand out online in a competitive market is by selling your own products. If you have any beauty or skincare products which you sell in your salon, why not sell your products online? With an ecommerce website, you can reach out to more people, and your products can act as an advertisement of the high-level services that you provide. 

Unfortunately, the cost of an ecommerce website can be incredibly expensive: ecommerce platforms don’t come cheap, and even website builders charge you quite a bit extra if you want to sell products online. 

If you don’t want to go through all these steps just to get a website up and running, Go Sitebuilder offers all of these – a web host, domain name, ready-to-go web designs for salons, an integrated ecommerce platform – and more!

If you don’t have endless amounts of time spare to build a website from scratch, and are worried that the prices could quickly and uncontrollably mount up, we suggest you try Go Sitebuilder: our free 14-day trial means you can experience all we have to offer, without having to spend a penny!

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Is it a good idea to have a personal website?

Smiling african american mother and kid daughter having fun with computer looking at her personal website

For many, the idea of creating an entire website dedicated to you and your achievements can seem unnecessary, even narcissistic. But it could be a great career move, or a way to consolidate your portfolio so your work is easy to find and share. With website builders like Go Sitebuilder, you can have a website up and running in just a few minutes, so now it’s just up to you to decide whether it is a good idea for you. 

A personal website gives you a competitive advantage when job hunting

If you’re job hunting, then a personal website can be an invaluable tool to help you stand out from other applicants. Whereas a CV, cover letter and Linkedin Profile are all restricted in their format, if you create your own website then you have full creative control over how you present yourself. Remember that your website speaks volumes about who you are as a person, so make it reflect your personality. 

All recruiters carry out some research on potential candidates, and if you have a website that comes up after a quick Google, you’re giving them more information in a more dynamic way. It may say on your CV that you grew a blog by 10,000 followers, but your website will have a link to the blog itself, making it more memorable and more believable. Including work samples and client testimonials is another way of proving that your work is valuable and of a high quality.

You can use your personal website to network

If you have expertise in a certain area, you can highlight this in your personal website. Writing blogs on topics in your industry and optimising them for SEO could get more people viewing your site and seeing you as a leader in your field. This will mean others in your industry will be aware of you and your work, and are likely to reach out, for collaboration, job offers or more!

Think of your website as a virtual business card that you can use when networking, and make sure it has all the information you think is necessary to show you in the best light. Don’t crowd it though – make sure all the information is relevant and useful for visitors to your site. 

Creating and optimising a personal website means you acquire new skills

Depending on which website builder you use, you can make your personal website as complicated or as simple as you like. Either way, you’ll gain a plethora of new skills, proving not only that you are tech-savvy, but also that you are capable of learning new things autonomously. 

You’ll learn how to customise a website for your personal use, show different styles of web design, and also prove your copywriting and content writing skills. If you spend some time optimising your site and promoting it on social media, then these are even more skills that are easily transferable to many different job roles. 

Personal websites lend credibility to freelancers

As a freelancer, you are only as good as your online image. There are so many thousands of freelancers on the internet offering work in a variety of sectors that it is extremely difficult for clients to choose which person to go to, especially on freelancer websites like Upwork or Fiverr. If you have a link to your personal website in your profile for these sites, then potential clients can visit your site and immediately see the work you’ve done, as well as testimonials from other clients who have worked with you. 

Having a personal website also means that you can develop a brand for yourself, rather than using a plain, uniform profile like those supplied by Linkedin or Upwork. Creating a brand means that you will become more memorable and your style will be more recognisable. This gives you a headstart against other freelancers who are struggling to stand out in a saturated market.

Personal websites are perfect for visual industries

Imagine you’re a designer, photographer or videographer. How are you going to showcase your work using just your CV and cover letter? If you’re a freelancer or looking for a job, the best way to show what you’re capable of is by publishing your work so others can see it. If you’re worried about people stealing your hard-earned work, check out our blog on protecting your images from being stolen by strangers. 

When done right, your personal website can be an instant portfolio that will be potential clients or recruiters’ first port of call when they want to find out about you and your work. 

If you think you’re ready to get stuck in and create your own personal website, why not choose Go Sitebuilder to do it? We provide hundreds of pre-designed templates that can easily be customised to your personal brand and style, all in a matter of minutes! We know you’re busy, so our streamlined web design services can be carried out from your laptop, tablet or smartphone, so you can control your website wherever you go. 

Why not try our free 14-day trial to find out what your personal website could look like? 

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What should you put on your personal website?

Young Asian man using the laptop in the living room thinking about what he should you put on his personal website

A personal website is a great tool to help you present yourself on the internet. Invaluable if you’re job hunting or if you’re a freelancer (or just starting out as one), a personal website is potential clients or recruiters’ first port of call when they start researching you – so you want to make sure you stand out. 

Website builders like Go Sitebuilder can help you have a beautiful and professional-looking website out in minutes, but when you’re customising your website, there are certain things you need to make sure you include. 

The most important thing to bear in mind is the goal of your website. Are you looking for a job? Or on the hunt for clients for your next freelance project? Either way, focus on your personal website so that it will help you achieve this goal, rather than uploading swathes of information about your cat and your favourite pair of socks. Now, let’s talk about what you should include in your personal website. 

Your elevator pitch

This is paramount! Your elevator pitch should be one of the first things a visitor sees when they reach your website, and should say what you do, and what makes you different. Imagine that someone arrives on your website and only reads your elevator pitch; will they have a good idea of what you do and why you’re better than the competition?

Things you could include in your elevator pitch are your most important career moments, what you’re most proud of, and what you’d say is your “superpower” as a professional. It shouldn’t be any longer than two to three paragraphs – shorter if possible, but make sure it shows a little of your personality – you want to hook them in!

Your bio 

You can put this on an “About Me” page, and is longer and more informative than an elevator pitch. Give details of both your education and your expertise in work; if you have a long work history, it might be a good idea to visualise it in a timeline to make it easier to digest. 

Make sure that you are showing a bit of your personality here as well. The main aim is to highlight your professional achievements but you also want to humanise yourself, making yourself both more likeable and more memorable. Many companies screen potential candidates for company culture fit, and this is a way you can show your personality. 

It’s also a good idea to have a downloadable CV in this section, for recruiters who have stumbled across your page. Normally you’ll optimise a CV for a particular job, but for this general one make sure you include a wide range of your skills and achievements so it could work for multiple different roles. 

Samples of your work

It’s very easy to think you need to upload all the work you’ve ever done here, but in reality nobody is going to look at it. Only add your very best work to this section. You might find it difficult to do this if you aren’t in a visual industry, but if you work in marketing for example, you can outline the best campaigns you’ve created. 

One tip is to make sure you quantify your work. Saying that you’ve managed “multiple successful campaigns” is vague and open to interpretation, so it’s better to be clear and say exactly how many you managed, and what results it had. Why not use a free infographic creator like Canva or Venngage to make this more engaging? 

Blog

Creating and maintaining a professional blog does require a bit of time investment, but it is worth it. It shows that you are committed to your career path, that you’re knowledgeable about the industry and engaged in how it is evolving. You’ll need to update your blog at least a couple of times a month – there’s nothing more off-putting than an outdated blog that obviously hasn’t been added to in a while!

Be aware that this is also an opportunity for you to show off your communication skills and style, so make sure that you proofread your work for errors!

Contact information 

What is the point in having a beautiful personal website showing off all your skills if there is no way to contact you? Make sure your contact information is visible and easy to find, and give multiple ways for people to contact you. It’s also a good idea to link to other professional platforms as well; the more times you are mentioned on the web, the more credible you appear. 

Testimonials

Testimonials from people you’ve worked with are a great way to lend credibility to your online persona. Linkedin is a good way of sourcing these – if you don’t already have some, contact some former colleagues or clients to ask them to do so. Make sure they give details, not just saying that you’re a great person, but what exactly makes you good to work with and why? 

Now you know what are good things to put on your personal website, it’s time to create one! Go Sitebuilder has a simple website builder with professional web design in the form of hundreds of customisable templates. On the go? Our website builder can be used from a laptop, tablet or smartphone, so you can create a professional website from wherever you are. Why not try our free 14-day trial today?