So Your Business Needs a Website …

When deciding whether to invest in a website for your business, there are several key questions to ask, such as how you want the site to look and what features of the site are most important. However, counterintuitive as it may sound, the first question should be “How much do you want to spend?” Because websites range from simple to complex, having an idea of where your needs fall on the cost spectrum will help you to determine where to start, as well as help to buffer some of the “sticker shock” of a custom site.

If you have only a small amount of time and money to put toward a website, then an online web template service such as Yahoo! Small Business or WebSite Tonight may be a better option than a custom website. Custom sites tend to charge a flat fee or an hourly rate for development (compared to a monthly rate for many template sites), but once the site is complete, it is yours to do with as you wish. You also have more creative control over how the site will look and can guarantee that it will not be identical to other sites on the Web. This control and creative license comes at a price, however. A custom site, particularly one that is created by a graphic designer and then handed off to a programmer or web developer to convert to HTML, will be more expensive than a template-based site.

Along with the initial design cost, here are a few additional charges to consider:

* Domain registration. Before you can post a site to the Web, you need to purchase a Web address. This can cost as little as $10 a year or upwards of several hundred if you decide to purchase the address from someone who already owns it.

* Hosting services. For your site to appear on the Web, you must buy a hosting package. A simple Google search will provide you with a variety of options for host providers such as GoDaddy.com. Likewise, if you subscribe to a template service, the hosting fee is often included in the monthly price. When searching for a host provider, it is important to research how much storage you get for the price, the bandwidth (i.e., how much traffic your site can have per month), and how many, if any, e-mail addresses come with the package.

* Shopping cart services. If you want to sell items through your website, you will need a shopping cart. Many template service providers offer this as an option, although it will often cost more a month to add this to your website. It may also cost extra for you to accept credit cards, so you may want to research other options such as PayPal for accepting online payments. Larger sites such as Amazon.com also offer businesses the option to create a store through their website. This can be more affordable and less time-consuming than the maintenance involved in adding one to your website; however, you are once again giving up some creative control for the service.

An experienced Web developer will certainly be able to walk you through each of these steps and answer any questions you might have. However, by going into the conversation prepared and with a basic understanding of the web development process, you will be better able to make a decision about your business needs and might even be able to negotiate a better price for your website.

No Extreme Couponing for Me

I love coupons and getting a good deal. Not to the degree that some avid couponers love them, but I do appreciate their value, and when I am able to score a great deal, I feel on top of the world.

The problem I am running into, though, is that great deals are harder and harder to come by. Whether it is the manufacturers getting smarter to the ways of couponers (for example, specifying sizes on coupons now so they cannot be used on trial or sample products) or simply a sign of the economy, grocery shopping has become more expensive and I am finding that many of the things I use simply no longer come with coupon offers that coincide with sales.

I have also found that I have gotten more paranoid about my spending. Rather than serving as an inspiration (“Look at what I saved on toilet paper … Now I can put some extra money in my son’s college account!”), couponing lately has left me feeling disappointed and discouraged. Gone is the thrill of the deal, only to be replaced by the feeling of failure or self-loathing when I am unable to find what I need at a good price and then see it on sale at another store 2 days after I purchase it. And who really needs that? Isn’t life hard enough without feeling a compulsion to seek out every deal, spending countless hours and gas trying to stop at all the locations on my route just to save a little extra cash?

Further, for all my efforts — the fancy binder that my friends envy, the neat stash of coupons at my disposal — I am actually spending more money than when I was only using the occasional coupon for what I normally purchased. Along with feeling compelled to buy items that I don’t need because they are a good “deal” (see the trend here?), I am spending twice as much money on toner to print the coupons (many of which end up in the trash upon expiration) and twice as much time organizing them, scouring the ads, and trying to come up with 5 different shopping lists based on the best prices. To add insult to injury, many times when I get to the store, they do not have the right size or item in stock to match my coupon. So much for all those hours of thoughtful planning!

I also found that I was becoming a coupon “snob”, only buying items that were on sale and for which I had a coupon. In theory, this sounds like a great, thrifty practice. But, in reality, I was limiting my purchases so much that I never had enough food in the pantry for what I wanted to make or to keep my children and husband content. Then, in a pinch, I would resort to ordering pizza or picking up fast food — or making yet another grocery run to pick up what I needed. So much for all the money I was supposed to be saving!

A couple of months into my unfulfilling attempts to get as much as I could for as little money as possible, I realized I really wasn’t unhappy with my previous coupon usage or even my grocery budget. Rather, I was unhappy with my lack of organization. I never seemed to have the coupon I was looking for when I needed it; in all likelihood, it was sitting at home in a bottomless drawer of coupons, flyers, and advertisements. Turns out, I didn’t have to load up on multiple newspapers or beg my neighbors for their coupon flyers. Nor did I have to go to war with a cashier over a dollar discrepancy to feel okay about my shopping habits. Instead, I simply needed to change my approach.

I believe that whatever you put out there, you get in return. So, if I am being stingy and miserly about everything, how can I expect generosity to present itself? (And even if it did, I wasn’t so sure I would recognize it.) No, I discovered it was far better to be smart about my shopping — to be aware of what I was spending and to make sure it met my current needs — than to allow compulsion to control me. My pantry may not be as full as before, my shelves in the garage only stocked with an extra package or two of toilet paper, but I much prefer the decision to set a reasonable budget and stock up on stuff that I will actually use to having a pantry full of things I don’t need or even want simply because they were cheap.

As my husband is fond of saying, “You can still go broke on sale.” And, for once, I agree with him!

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I hope you will be patient as I add content to my blog. Be sure to check back in coming weeks for general musings about life, finances, child-rearing, relationships, writing, and anything else that comes to mind.

Hope to see you here again soon!