If you’ve thought of starting any type of service based business – online or offline, you need a website.
It’s not often that I tell people they absolutely NEED something but in this case, I couldn’t be more sure.
If you have a freelance business, potential clients aren’t going to give you a second look unless you have a place to point them back to. You need to look legit.
A website is a very important piece of a business or personal brand. And luckily getting one set up is pretty darn easy.
How to Get Started
The first step to starting a blog or website is signing up through a host.
A host is simply the company that keeps your website online.
Today we’ll be using Bluehost for that.
You can go through this link to get a discount. You’ll get a free domain and one of the following prices, depending on which plan you choose:
- 36 month plan $2.95 per month
- 24 month plan $3.95 per month
- 12 month plan $4.95 per month
Also, just so you know, there is a 30 day money back guarantee if for some reason you aren’t satisfied.
You can watch me setup WordPress through Bluehost in the video below or skip down to the text instructions if you’d like.
Please note that in the last part of this video I’m in a temporary WordPress site. Simply log back into Bluehost and you’ll see your site name, then click “Log in to WordPress” to get into your actual WordPress site. (Pic below.)
If you’re having trouble logging in you can watch this video to see how to do it:
Don’t Want to Watch the Video?
No problem. No tech skills required. Just follow these steps:
- Go through this link for a discount.
- Click “Basic” Option
- Choose your Free Domain Name
- Fill Out Account Information and Pay
- WordPress Will Automatically Start Installing
- Wait a Few Minutes, Log In To Your Bluehost Account and You Can Log In to Your New Site From There. (If you have trouble logging in just watch the second video above.)
WordPress Basics
If you’re brand new to WordPress I’ve created a video covering all of the basic things you’re going to need to know.
What to Put on Your Website
If you’re starting a website as a freelancer who offers some sort of service here’s what I recommend you put on your website.
Information about you and how you can help your target client. You can keep this fairly brief and tie something about yourself with how you can help your potential clients. Also, it’s a good idea to include a photo of yourself.
Contact information. Keep this to just your email address.
The services you offer. Create a list of the services you offer. I, personally, would not post your rates. It’s possible that when starting out you’ll slowly inch your rates up and even have different clients paying different amounts.
(For instance in the past I’ve charged less to clients that I wanted to work with but I know didn’t have huge budgets versus companies that I knew could pay much more.)
Links back to your work and testimonials from past clients. Once you start to compile samples of your work or testimonials from past clients you definitely want to display/link back to those.
(If you’re starting a blog you can read here about ways to earn money through a blog.)
Have questions? Email me at [email protected]