Your consulting business will benefit from having a website. Here we will look at how and why to make it happen.
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How I made my own consulting business website
Maybe this heading could actually be “How I walked barefoot through the snow to school every day.” My getting to a website was a long process. It doesn’t have to be for you.
Many years ago, I tried various blogging platforms. When their built in functions could not provide the features I wanted, I began to learn to use HTML and added them into my posts.
As I made the transition to consulting, I was still working in my very busy day job, but I decided to do my own website. Using my desktop, I wrote the code to produce a simple website.
Writing my own code was a challenge. So I bought Microsoft Expression Web, a website authoring program. Then it was much easier to produce the website. When the software, didn’t have a feature I wanted, I would write my own HTML again.
I found a GoDaddy reseller to host the site, and bought domains. I then used the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program to upload the website.
When you have a website, it is best to have a content management system (CMS), so you can make changes with ease. My homemade website didn’t have a CMS. Every time I changed anything, I would FTP it up to the host. It was was time consuming.
Then I made a separate website for another component of my consulting business using WordPress. What a difference it was using WordPress! Content management was simple and way less time consuming. Plugins also were very helpful.
Finally, I hired someone to design a new WordPress website for the main component of my consulting business.
You have many options for setting up your own website
The number of web hosting services is growing and more and more of them offer the ability to build your own website without a knowledge of programming.
More recently, I experimented with Wix and I was able to build attractive, functional websites. You can do it yourself or you can use their artificial intelligence to produce a website for you. They also have good support and tools to promote your business. It seemed then, though, that Wix did not allow you to readily transfer your websites. While Wix has many outstanding features that was a deal breaker for me.
Recently, I decided to move from my original hosting provider as they were making changes and increasing their prices and at the time it was very difficult to get support. Ironically, after the move, their previously excellent support returned.
So, I moved my other sites from my original hosting provider and I rebuilt the Wix site from scratch here on Bluehost. This also involved moving domains.
Why I chose Bluehost for my website hosting
After exhaustively researching the best hosting service for my needs, I moved all of my paid websites to Bluehost.
At the outset, I want to be clear that I am a Bluehost Affiliate and earn from qualified purchases.
I became an affiliate because of the excellent experience I have had with Bluehost. Another reason is the hope that it may help to pay some of the costs of running this website, which I am building to assist people who a make the transition to or who are building a consulting business.
Many websites are dedicated to detailed comparisons of hosting services. Here I am just giving my personal experience. In the end, you should do your research and find the hosting service that works best for you.
Bluehost consistently ranks as a top service for WordPress websites.
WordPress itself is widely ranked as the most commonly used CMS.
WordPress migration service
Bluehost has free and a paid migration service. I used the paid service to move my WordPress websites from another host. The migration service was good and they communicated well at each step. It all happened seamlessly.
Extensive WordPress support
Bluehost has a paid service called Blue Sky to help with WordPress problems.
Shared web hosting for multiple sites
I opted for Bluehost’s shared web hosting because I have multiple websites. This option allows me share space on the Bluehost servers and to have an experiment with an unlimited number of sites. I have not noticed any problems with the speed of loading the sites, because of sharing space.
Some of the multiple websites will be deleted, but it has given me the chance to try building a website using Bluehost Website Builder and also to build WordPress sites from scratch myself. If a site develops extensive traffic, I could move to a dedicated server.
The shared hosting has several options in increasing order of cost: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro.
The Basic plan is for 1 website. The other plans all allow for unlimited websites. I chose the least expensive for unlimited websites, the Plus plan.
Bluehost has a 30 day free trial of their hosting services. It is time limited. You can get long term free hosting elsewhere. If you just want to blog, you could use Google’s Blogger or other free blogging sites. You could, for example, also start a blogging site on Wix for free with a Wix domain and ads. If you want your own domain name, you will generally have to pay wherever you locate your blog or website.
Excellent support
While researching which web hosting service to use, several reviews mentioned that Bluehost support had been a problem in the past, but it had been fixed. Now reviews were saying that support was excellent.
To test for myself, I called Bluehost support, before I was a customer, to ask questions about migrating my websites. I also had questions about migrating domains. In one minute, I was connected with an agent, who answered all my questions. I was very impressed with the ease of connecting to support and the quality of their answers. Right away, I signed on to Bluehost and initiated the process.
After moving to Bluehost, I found that support was consistently excellent, whether it was using their standard searchable information, online chat, or by phone. The wait for phone support was mostly very short and in the worst case still reasonable. The quality of the support remained excellent as they helped with problems as I established my websites, migrated and bought domains, and linked my websites to migrated domains and a to new domain that I purchased from Bluehost.
Why do you need a website?
Credibility
A website provides additional credibility to your consulting business. When I purchased my business phone account, the phone company wanted the documentation to prove that I had a registered business. To my surprise, they also wanted to see my website.
More importantly, you will have more credibility with your clients. A website is one way that clients can evaluate the legitimacy of your business.
A place to provide information about your business
Use your website as a showcase for prospective and existing clients to learn more about your consulting business. Highlight the services and products that you provide. You may also provide ways on your site for clients to make appointments, and give information about how you charge for your services.
Branding
Why you? How do you stand out from other consulting businesses? Do you offer unique expertise or services?
News and announcements
You can keep your clients informed and let them know about any changes in your business that might affect them.
Promote your business
You can use your website to promote your consulting business through digital marketing.
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