When it comes to starting a business, there are many schools of thought about whether an online presence should involve a website.
As a website designer, I have my biases, but I’ve also worked with a variety of clients that fall into the category of not really needing a website – these businesses do fine with a social media profile or a 3rd-party ecommerce platform (eg. Etsy or Shopify).
Naturally, it all depends on the purpose of your business and your marketing model.
But this isn’t about the pros and cons of creating and maintaining a website. It’s more about prioritizing your options for procuring a website if you’re working with a bootstrapped business plan. If that’s you, the Business Development Bank of Canada may be a viable option. And the requirements vary depending on whether you’re looking for seed funding or small business loans. In either case, a website is one of the things that your business loan covers.
I’ve built websites long enough to know that the cost of having a website can be a barrier for many SMEs and start-ups (so they don’t get built, or they get built badly). I also know that many web design agencies take advantage of businesses when it comes to pricing (eg. 2017 $3M Vancouver website). Sure, there are varying degrees of planning, development, integrations, and time commitments, etc., but I’ve always worked on the premise that, just because someone doesn’t know how to do something doesn’t mean they need to pay in excess for someone else to do it.
As long as your business is viable and you find a web designer who is committed to your success, working with a provincial funding source like BDC will pay for itself.
