THESE ARE THE CHEAPEST AND MOST RELIABLE PROVIDERS WE HAVE FOUND
Starting a business means you have at least 4 STEPS you must do.
STEP 1: FORM A LEGAL BUSINESS ENTITY (State Fees ONLY)
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The type of entity you form is outside the scope of this page, but the vast majority of new businesses will be formed as an LLC (Limited Liability Company).
In short, an LLC provides you protection in the case of lawsuit. The amount of protection varies depending on the state.
There are several ways to form an LLC that range from very expensive (it can can cost over $1,000 to have a lawyer form your LLC) to moderately expensive (using services like LegalZoom can cost several hundred dollars and literally take weeks to complete).
And then there are dozens to hundreds of smaller businesses that will charge you less than LegalZoom to do what you could do on your own.
You see, all these businesses really do is file a form on your behalf, charge you the state fees (which cannot be avoided), and then tack on a service fee. In essence this is the core of what lawyers and LegalZoom do for you, but for a much higher price.
So if you don’t want to fill out the forms and submit them to the state, on your own, then you are left finding an affordable service provider to do this for you.
After having formed several LLCs myself, I came across a provider that literally does this for you for FREE!
And not only that, but I have yet to have an LLC formation process take more than a couple business days (compare that to LegalZoom’s timeline).
Why is my provider doing this for free (state fees still need to be paid)?
Simply put, because there are other offers you could choose to take, but are in no way obligated. I was able to get to the free order form by simply selecting the free options and clicking next!!!
Oh and they are supported by Daymon John (from ABC’s Shark Tank)!
So who is this amazing provider?
Check them out if you:
- Want to someone else to do the paperwork
- Want to have your business formed QUICKLY
- Want to only spend the bare minimum (state registration fees) to form your business
STEP 2: REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS DOMAIN NAME
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Trick question! See Web Host below (Step 3), they include a free domain name with their hosting package! NOTE: They look like they may be ending their free domain name promotion soon, so by the time you read this it may no longer be available 😟
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So you formed your business with the state and are now a legally recognized business that can get down to making money! But how are your customers and clients going to go to find you?
In the digital world, in which we live, nearly every business needs to have an online presence. Sure you could get away with a Facebook page, or an Instagram account. But the reality of the situation is that the majority of customers and clients are likely to find you by searching the web.
This means you will need a website. But before you even get to having a website, you will need a domain name. In other words, a web address you type into a browser, or that can be linked to from other places (like Google’s search result pages).
Where do you get a domain name? Most will tell you to use big names like Godaddy or NameCheap.
But during my online endeavors I have come across a neat little trick that will help the vast majority of you.
Since most people only need a single domain name, they can utilize bundled incentives with some web hosting providers (places that store your website) to get a FREE domain name when they sign up to use them as their host.
If you really need more than one domain name, then feel free to check out Godaddy or Namecheap, but if you only need one domain name, then skip this step and get it during the next step (Step 3).
STEP 3: PURCHASE WEB HOSTING
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If you have spent anytime searching for a good web host then you have almost assuredly seen certain names pop up regularly.
Let me guess, you saw several websites and YouTube videos claiming that HostGator and BlueHost are the best possible host for your money? Well I’m going to let you in on a little secret…
Those hosts have some of the highest paying commissions for referrals. Meaning nearly all those articles and videos out there are making money off of you signing up with those hosts. Not only that, they have some of the best paying commissions for referrals.
Once upon a time I even referred my mother to HostGator. No lie.
And recently when I was on the hunt for a new web host I actually signed up with BlueHost. It’s safe to say that I do not use either of them now.
After a very brutally bad experience with BlueHost, I did a lot of research and decided on going with who I use now.
I was astounded to find that not only did they have a lower price than the more heavily advertised providers, but they had comparable (often better) hardware for hosting sites, and later found that my websites load EXTREMELY fast compared to other hosts (for shame BlueHost).
Exactly how well priced are they?
Here’s a screenshot of BlueHost’s pricing:
Now check out my host’s pricing:
For less than BlueHost’s smallest package, my host gives more storage, more bandwidth, and even a FREE DOMAIN!!!
So what host is this that I chose (and am even hosting this website on)?
Just to be completely transparent…
Yes that is a link that will give me a commission…
But I fully endorse this host and am actually using it even today. They have proven to be very reliable, fast, and insanely affordable.
Save your money and check them out.
STEP 4: HAVE YOUR WEBSITE DESIGNED/BUILT
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This is the one part of starting a business where everyone gets squeamish.
Web designers are known to charge very LARGE amounts of money to build your website.
Nearly every web designer out there refuses to list a price on their site, forcing you to get on a sales call where they will waste your time and ultimately bid $1,000 or more!!!
This is a typical sales tactic so they can try and get as much money from you as possible.
Because of these brutal costs, most businesses opt to build their own website for free using WordPress and Elementor.
But are they ever in for a shock!!!
Why isn’t building your own site a great idea?
The time commitment and frustration.
Most business owners do not have the technical knowledge and experience to build their own site, so they turn to YouTube and website tutorials.
Decent YouTube tutorials are in the range of 2 hours or more.
Read that again.
2 hours or more….
And that’s from a seasoned and experienced designer to walk through their process!
Those tutorials are not counting all the pausing you have to do to try and map their actions to your efforts on your own site.
Nor does it include getting graphical work created.
And that still doesn’t even touch on building the design the way YOU want it, a process that takes many additional hours of Googling alongside trial and error.
The idea of building a WordPress site in only a couple hours on your own, almost always falls flat in the face of reality. If you want to build your own website, then expect it to realistically take you days. Not hours.
And that’s why many web designers charge so much money. They are saving you the time and headache.
Now I have a lot of websites. And building them myself is often not very cost effective. Rather than spend 10-20 hours building a site, I wanted an option that would beat out the high priced designers.
And I found one.
While the web designers above want to charge you a shocking amount, the web designer I utilize will build sites for as little as $197!
And in only a couple days!!!!!
I stand by this designer as they have built more than one site for me, and will easily get my business in the future.
Check them out below:
And there you have it!
Once you have completed these 4 steps, you will have your business created with the state, and have a website for cheaper than typical!
Best of luck and I wish you great success in your endeavors!