This is the last post in a series of seven inspired by the third episode of the current series of The Apprentice on BBC. These business ideas are aimed at anyone wanting to start a business on a budget of £200 or less.
Having run a web design business that serviced businesses from one man bands through to blue chips I’ve found out the hard way how to turn this business idea into reality. The great thing about setting up a web design business is the very low barriers to entry, you need nothing more than a computer and a web connection (which as you’re reading this site I assume you already have).
You don’t even need your own website, when we asked them few of our customers had ever looked at our site. Not one of them even looked at our portfolio!
So what do you need, well you need some hosting (to demonstrate sites that are in progress), a domain name (probably comes with the hosting) and an idea how to build websites. Much as I hate to admit it you can build a very reasonable website for most small businesses using open source CMS (Content Management Solutions) which are often pre-installed by your hosting provider if not consider using Heart Internet.
Most of the common CMS offerings can produce sites that are search engine friendly so you don’t need to worry about writing clever stuff for the search engines. All you need to do then is learn enough about a couple of CMS offerings to be able to configure them and tweak the design, you should be able to learn that by reading around the web or with a couple of good books (spend your £200 here).
Once you feel competent it’s then simply a case of getting out there and talking to other local businesses. Many still don’t have websites but would love to have one if it’s cheap enough and easy for them to maintain. Your best bet however is to specialise in a particular market, for example websites for driving instructors. Otherwise as the barriers to entry are so low you’ll find you have a lot of competition and will struggle to earn good money.
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
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