When I first started my creative business, the thought of creating a website was A LOT. Can you relate? And although it’s always a work in progress, I am happy to say that it is done. And I can’t tell you how relieving it is to cross it off the list! But it wasn’t an easy feat. So to help other creative business owners as they take the same journey, I wanted to provide a few website tips for creatives.
With these tips, you’ll be able to knock out the task of getting your website up and running, and spend your time doing more important things – like creating!
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If you’re a creative like me, you’re busy! Between all the orders you have to fill, getting supplies, and trying to take care of a family, a website is definitely NOT something you want to spend a lot of time thinking about and getting off the ground. Amiright? That’s why I am here to impart a few website tips for creatives.
A quick warning: This blog isn’t like the other “How to Start a Blog” blogs you’ve seen on Pinterest. These are website tips for creatives, for entrepreneurs who already have customers and don’t have time for shenanigans like playing around on their website for hours trying to figure out what the hell soliloquy is. Nope! Ain’t nobody got time for that! You have skills in other areas, not website creation! So let’s get this done and get back to our zone of genius, shall we?
Website Tips For Creatives #1: Choose the RIGHT website type for you
Okay, here’s what I know. I started out with a drag and drop website (you know the ones!), and while it looked pretty, it was NOT functional. Nor could it scale to allow me to be the beast of an entrepreneur that I am growing into 😉
If you are serious about your business and you think know it is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, you need to do it right from the start. That means having all the capabilities you need as a newbie, so that when Hoda and Savannah interview you on The Today Show, you are ready.
Plan for success
That brings me to my first of my website tips for creatives. To me, being ready means building your website on WordPress, not any of those other drag and drop sites! This is important because: 1.) It allows you to implement plugins that help you customize the site specifically for whatever it is that you sell or do. And as a creative, I’m sure you’re going to have a different spin on a lot of things. 2.) You have complete control to make affiliate income. And believe me. Once you start raking in that Pinterest traffic, you will thank me. 3.) Just do it, okay? I have heard some horror stories from people with those drag and drop sites once someone starts getting quite a bit of traffic to their site. Avoid the headache.
Since it seems as though this can be the most confusing part, I’m including a how-to below on getting started with Bluehost, an amazing hosting company that I LOVE! Not only because it’s a one stop shop for domains, hosting, and more, but because they have excellent customer service. I have called more than I can count on one hand, and I always get a representative quickly who speaks English and is helpful. Imagine that! And here’s the great news. I’ve partnered with Bluehost to get you a discount on their hosting! When you use this link, you’ll pay just $3.95 a month, rather than $7.99. That is a steal.
Website Tips for Creatives: Setting up your Bluehost Hosting Account in 5 Steps
Bluehost setup step 1: Hit the Home Page and select, Get Started Now.
Bluehost Setup Step 2: Choose Your Hosting Package:
From there you are taken to the plans. I personally would go with the cheapest one until you feel more comfortable. Plus, if you’re a small business, you aren’t swimming in money at this point right?
Bluehost setup step 3: Choose Your Domain
Unless you’ve already bought a domain name, type your business name into the box on the left and click next. Some people like to use their name insted of their business. I will leave that up to you. Make sure to check the spelling (not my strong suit!) of the name you type. That would be a total #fail if you spent money on a misspelled domain!
Bluehost Setup Step 4: Fill Out Your Info
Bluehost Setup Step 5: Select A Password
Voila. You officially have a hosting account and a domain! This completes your Bluehost setup.
Website Tips For Creatives #2: Pick A Beautiful Theme From A Reliable Source
Let me guess? As a creative, you want your website to look awesome! I know this because as a creative, we want all things pretty! Amiright? so my next website tip for creatives helps you do just that. And it’s called a “theme”.
Searching for themes on WordPress through Bluehost is a rabbit hole. There are ton of free and paid themes. But here’s the thing, they aren’t going to look like the ones from websites you love!
So my next tip is to budget for a theme – approximately, $65.00 – from
Restored 316. I absolutely love Restored 316 because they have beautiful themes, but more importantly, great customer service (is this a running theme?!). No pun intended.
If you ever have a problem with your theme, you can contact them and they return your inquiry in about 24 hours. Again, unheard of these days! I love all their themes, but of course I recommend my theme! And if you are totally stumped you can take this quiz to see what is the best theme is for you and your business!
After you purchase your theme, you will receive an email with the theme contents. Set that aside for now, and that brings me to the final step in an entrepreneurs journey to creating a website.
Website Tips For Creatives #3: Hire a web designer to finish the job
Listen, I stressed the F out about this. I was about to take a course on taking my business to the next level, and I wanted to have my website all set up before the course started so I could start implementing! But, after Googling and Instagraming, I wasn’t successful in finding anyone in a reasonable budget. Plus, people felt untrustworthy, and they didn’t seem to understand my needs.
But as God usually works in my life, there was a plan. The course opened up endless resources to other female entrepreneurs who do all kinds of things! And that included website design!
You can get the job done for about $800.00 – $1000.00. And it will be beautiful and complete, all while you make the products that are bringing in the dough! Am I speaking your language? If so, I’d love to refer you to my list of women who are super helpful in getting the job done, so please just contact me. (I don’t want to inundate anyone, so you see why I say to contact me.) Please don’t be scared! I will give you all the deets and would love to chat with a fellow creative any day!
To sum up…
I hope these website tips for creatives are helpful to those of you looking to move off of Etsy, or just need to get started with a website for your small business. I know you may have low funds when you’re just starting out. But your time is probably more valuable when you’re running a small business. And $1200.00 is a small investment when you are destined for quantum success. Amiright? So I say, do the absolute bare minimum, and then get back to what you do best! Are you with me?
Let’s Connect!
Lastly, thank you so much for taking the time to read about these website tips for creatives! I hope this gives you some ideas about how to easily create a website for your business! Tell me below what you thought! I love to help you celebrate life through party decorations and beyond. Above all, I’d love to connect with you. Reach out to me on Instagram and let’s chat, or continue celebrating your life with The Celebration Effect.
xoxo
Lindsay (LA)
