Many IT graduates believe that the business card site – this is the easiest type of site in terms of creation. But this statement is only partly true.
Firstly, despite the small number of pages, these web-resources should have an original design, most accurately correspond to the subject of your activity and encourage people to contact you as a specialist in a particular field. And students in this case simply do not have enough life experience.
Secondly, in order to design and content most of the original expectations, the creation of business cards need to devote a lot of time. It will take a lot of time to communicate with subject matter specialists, who are tasked with the production, or to independently develop in the designer.
What is a business card website?
It is a web-resource consisting of a small number of pages (usually one), where the key information about the company (legal person) or a private expert (individual) is located. Site-card necessarily contains data for communication with the designated company or a specialist, optionally – information about the cost and list of services, a general list of products/goods categories, price list/list, other important information for cooperation.
Depending on the objectives and vision of the owner, online business card may or may not have interactive functionality. By interactive features include, at a minimum, the ability to provide feedback (a special form that allows you to generate and send requests through the site).
The choice of platform will depend on this. The fact that many large domain name registrars offer as an additional service the possibility to place static HTML-pages (so-called “stubs”). They are designed to place temporary information (e.g., that the site is being developed). But with the right approach, you can put your static business card here. It only needs to be cobbled together in HTML (for professionals for this purpose, even an ordinary notepad can do).
Placing such “stubs” is completely free or requires very little investment (especially if you compare it with the cost of a full-fledged hosting for dynamic sites based on CMS-systems).
But if the HTML-code alone is not enough, and the service provider forbids placing their JS-scripts (with their help you can add, for example, the online chat function), or you need to support some specific interactive functions, their implementation can help:
- Full-fledged hosting services, working with databases and web-programming languages (e.g., PHP);
- Special services (online designers, more about them below).
How to create a business card website?
Business card site development can be entrusted to professional agencies or freelancers, you can buy a ready-made template on specialized sites, and you can make your own business card with the help of special designers.
The first option will be the highest quality, but very expensive. Not every professional can afford such expenses.
A ready-made HTML template will cost about 20-60 dollars, but it will require editing (at least to update all the inscriptions and specify the actual contact information). So, you need a knowledge of HTML or an additional budget for a specialist. Plus – paying for hosting. Ready-made template will speed up the process of creating the site and make it a little cheaper.
Special services allow you to choose ready-made templates (often free options are available, although there may be paid lots) or build your own pages without knowledge of HTML. Hosting is organized by the platform, and interactive features are always available. It turns out that online designers include everything you need, allow you to save on the services of specialized specialists, but require periodic payment (according to the subscription model).
The best services for creating online business card website
As seen above, the most acceptable by functionality and cost option for creating online business card sites – is the use of online designers. This functionality is offered by many services. The choice of the platform will depend on the following factors: the ability to expand over time, the editor’s convenience, ensuring integration with popular services, reliability and availability, the availability of ready-made templates, the cost of subscriptions, etc.
There are 3 top platforms:
1. uKit – the most functional and popular platform for creating small-page sites for small and microbusinesses, ideal for private professionals, craftsmen and freelancers. uKit knows how to quickly transfer content and create sites based on existing social media pages.
2. WordPress – a universal tool for any purpose. On this boxed CMS can be realized as an interactive landing pages, and serious online stores. “Out-of-the-box” functionality will not be enough for non-typical tasks, but everything can be fixed by installing the appropriate plugins.
3. Wix – a large-scale platform capable of quickly building sites of any complexity and functionality. It has a very convenient online editor, all pages are automatically adapted for mobile devices, etc. If you do not have your own ideas, trust the process of website creation to artificial intelligence (Wix ADI).
Structure of a business card website
There are no standard requirements for filling a business card site. But, as in the case of the physical business card, it must necessarily be specified:
- Name of the company / agency or name of the specialist (if it is a private person).
- Field of activity (so that the visitor can quickly identify what you can help him).
- Contact information (phone numbers, e-mail addresses, links to accounts in social networks, etc.).
Optional placement of additional blocks or even separate pages:
- Full details for making payments or entering into formal contracts.
- Links or images of available certificates confirming qualification / experience, certain achievements in their field.
- Examples of goods from the range (a simple catalog, without the possibility of direct payment).
- Current price list (there can be a link to the documents stored in the cloud, you do not need to upload the file to the site every time).
- Examples of work, portfolio. Materials can be located in a separate section, on separate pages or all on one page.
- Feedback form (to request services).
- Other interactive methods of communication (online chat, button to order a callback, etc.).
Conclusions
If you are a student, you can make a business card site by yourself. To do this you need to tighten your knowledge in HTML, or simply use online designers. They will take care of almost all the technical issues: from binding domains to balancing the load on the hosting. Pages will be easy to assemble in the online editor, if necessary, you can connect interactive features (online chat, feedback form, call order button, etc.).
If you have no idea about the design – you can trust the artificial intelligence, goodness, services such as Wix provide appropriate capabilities.
To make a business card site work effectively, you need to pay a lot of attention to its content, you cannot be limited to only the contact information. You need examples of work, price lists, reviews, etc. At some point, a one- or two-page site can easily grow into a more serious project, so choose platforms that provide sufficient scalability.