When it comes to building a website, ideally we always want to get all our ducks in a row. That means having a general idea of how you want it to look plus all the necessary tools and materials prepared and ready to go. Some of my clients have all of this ready for when we get started and that’s fine. I’m happy to collaborate with copywriters and graphic designers. In fact, I love seeing how these other professionals at what they do influence the web design process.

But what about clients that are at the start of their business who worry about not having everything ready but are keen to launch their websites? This is where I normally advise them that it isn't completely necessary to have absolutely everything before I start working on their site.

Don't get me wrong, I think graphic designers and copywriters are worth their weight in GOLD! It's just that many entrepreneurs have an idea of what they imagine their websites to look like at the very start of their business and within 12 months, I can guarantee they usually will feel differently about it and will want to take it in a different direction.

Websites are built to evolve with you

One thing to remember about websites is that they aren't set in stone and your Squarespace website will be able to adapt along with you as your business evolves. Whether it's a tweak to your colour palette, fonts, or layout, these can all be changed in the blink of an eye without needing a developer. But if you've spent hundreds on a logo and a colour palette aimed at the corporate world only to find out that it's really Etsy businesses you want to work with, that's not always quite so agile.

So what's a budding entrepreneur to do? Well, here are my 4 top tips if you are on a budget but need to get your business out there ASAP:

Use your name as your logo

If you’ve chosen the right font, your site title can be your logo and look pretty slick. Try and include some examples of this...(The Kooples springs to mind).

Pinterest is your friend

Pinterest is one of my favourite places to find inspiration for anything from website layouts to font combinations and colour palettes. Think about how you want your customers to feel for your colour palettes then search, e.g. calm and cool colour palettes (PRO TIP: you’ll get more options if you use the American spelling of colour, ie. cool and calm color palettes).

For the fonts, I’d highly recommend searching for Font Combinations on Squarespace and Canva. I’ve also written a blog about that here but there are loads on Pinterest for you to draw inspiration from as well.

Think inspiration, not imitation

Sometimes it’s hard when you see a site that you've fallen in love with and then aren't able to think of anything else. Here’s how I would advise getting around this. Try and split out exactly what it is that you like then try and look at a variety of sites. So it may be the use of colour on one site, how the images are displayed on another, a clever use of copy, or the way they introduce their services. Build up a combination of ‘loves’ (again Pinterest is a great virtual moodboard for this)

Get clear on your target audience

Ok, you might think this should be the first point but I know that no one likes thinking about their target audience. Hopefully, though you can see that if you spend some time thinking about this audience before attempting points 1,2,3 you are going to be much more likely to get a good understanding of what you need. So make this point 4 your start point...make sense??

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are

Graphic designers and copywriters are a godsend when it comes to building a business, so if you can work with them then you should absolutely do so. Teamwork makes the dream work! However, if you are on a budget in the early stages of your business, then these tips can be a really good way of getting set up not only quickly, but also on a tiny budget which will allow you to leave your money in your business so you can focus on selling and eventually reinvesting in the 2.0 version of your site, including full branding and killer copy!

Did you start your website with everything prepared or did you add everything as you went? I'd love to hear all about your website’s journey!