Building an Online Presence
I am cheap. Very fitting for someone who owns a thrift store and constantly looking for great deals. This most likely stems from raising my four (now adult) children finding ways to make ends meet. Now the survival mode has turned into sheer excitement saving $35 from one grocery trip to Safeway from all the coupons I clipped.
During the current crisis, I realized how fortunate I am to have maintained an online presence allowing me to continue with my auctions. I have learned that maintaining relationships with customers is the critical component, but providing an online presence was essential during these trying times.
So, the secret to this online presence - guess what? It's cheap and can be fairly easy once you do it a few times. For resellers, dealers, consultants, coaches, and more who just need something simple you may follow these steps ... but WAIT! Always check with your city and (sometimes) state agencies first on any business requirements.
1. Purchase a Domain
Google domains (costs run from $9-$12 per year)
iPage is currently running a promotion of 75% of your first year of hosting with a free domain (2nd year will be renewed at their regular costs)
Budget: $15 per year, or $1.25 per month
2. Purchase G Suite
A Google product which will provide your own professional email and a host of applications that are very useful. Google sheets, docs, drive, and much more! This is useful in keeping all your documents in the cloud where you can always have access.
To everyone who always asks me "how do I do it", this is the secret. G Suite allows everyone who helps post have instant access to all photos and descriptions as we work. The collaboration that we utilize increases the efficiencies allowing us to lead everyone to believe we work night and day...but really, we do work hard but just smarter.
Add to your savings by entering the following promo codes to get 20% off your first year:
G Suite Basic Promo Code: CCKY96CAT6Q9CW3
G Suite Business Plan Promo Code: P6LRLRUCYAU3KND
Budget: $72 - $144 per year, or $6-$12 per month
3. Build a Web Page
Once you complete the process with G Suite, you will have options to build a webpage linking to Web Development programs like Wordpress, Weebly, and Wix. I, personally, like Wix, it's just simple with a variety of drag and drop features for the beginners-novice users.
Monthly plans run anywhere from $10 (connect your domain and have a simple page) - $30 per month (includes online booking, ecommerce, and so much more).
Budget: $120 - $360 per year, or $10-$30 per month
4. Get access to SEO, Marketing Plans, Business Plans, Web Page Designers, Logos, and so much more with Fivver
Fiverr has alot of resources! I started using them when every "gig" I ordered only cost me $5 (hence the name)! Since then they have increased their database of professionals, some are costly and some remain very inexpensive. Recently I hired about 10 logo designers, spent about $200 but carefully selected those designers who were new to Fiverr and provided multiple logos/designs needing ratings. Out of the 10, I was able to find 5 strong ones that nailed my style and I walked away with about 30 logo designs - some I just "liked", one I threw my hands up and took it as a loss, but the majority I used for another project.
If you are after logos, even basic web page building once you do the above steps, and SEO - you can easily budget another $250. Most of the contractors on Fiverr will have a turnaround time of 2-7 days.
Keep in mind, the above is just giving you an online presence - there can be many other hidden costs if you are start selecting other features.
If you do it right building an online presence can cost as little as $100
