I am venturing into the world of website making because well, I am impatient and can't afford to pay $2,000 for one and what I have so far (I think) looks good but some people in the business have told me it's better to just not have a website than to make my own because it won't look as polished and professional. I wouldn't have the money needed to make one for hire until Februray and my little business is really taking off, I'm starting to get some corporate clients, and I just feel like I need more than a Facebook page.

What is everyone's thoughts on this matter? I am using sitey.com, the same website I used to make my personal blog because it's so easy to customize.

I did build my own website using weebly. It may not be as professional as it could be but it serves a purpose.
There are two arguments here.
1. You want to be able to have a presence on the internet so clients can find you,check out your services and contact you. Any website is better than no website in this instance.
2. First impressions count. Some people judge books by their cover and a poorly executed website can turn customers off. that said, not everyone does and some will take the information you supply and act upon it.
websites do take a lot of time to maintain in order to keep them fresh and current.i have fallen foul of this and need to address my tired website that contains old images and work that,  whilst good, has in some cases been surpassed. In other words it perhaps does not reflect me now.
If I were you, I would build it so you can refer people to it.  If you then decide to invest more in it,, this can be done a sand when funds become available. Keep it simple, keep it clear and minimise the number of pages (Home page or About us, services offered, gallery, contact page)
Good luck and don't just take my advice - it may turn out I know nothing)

It really depends on how good you think it'll look.

I built the one for my partner www.jenscreations.co.uk and we seem to get a 50/50 split of work through that (ranked 1st page on google for our keywords) and our Facebook business page. It's in desperate need for an update to include glitter tattoos, baby bumps and obviously, balloons.


I certainly would stay away from the free sites, wix and similar and just buy your own domain and hosting. First buy a domain from a registrar and then get the hosting from a different company. It's easier if you want to change host later. Doing it this way you can use your domain for email too and it looks that bit more professional than hotmail/gmail/etc.

Once you have your URL and hosting, have a look into Wordpress. It's pretty easy to build something passable, and with a bit if learning and time you can improve on it as you go. Tons of themes and support, you just have to put in the legwork.


If there's anything else you need to know, just yell.

I made my website using wordpress. It is at www.cometomyparty.net and I like the way I can regularly update it and maintain control. I have no design or website experience ( my previous career pre partying was a dancer!) but it seems pretty straight forward to use. Google also have close links with wordpress apparently and there are seo plug ins that make it easier to stand out in search engines etc. i would also suggest being registered on Google Maps as that massively helps a web presence in Google Search. The one thing I did pay for ( as well as hosting and domain name purchase) was a wordpress theme. It was around £30 and can be used with multiple sites if necessary and makes a difference when using wordpress as a website rather than a blog.
Saying all that however, if I was starting again from scratch I would be tempted not to bother at all with a website but just have a regularly updated facebook page and presence.  Another party organiser in my area works that way and it does seem a lot simpler to manage as well as her site still appearing high on google due to the frequency it is updated.
Good Luck anyway!!!
Kerry