If you want to set up a website for a small business but have no idea where to start, you’ve come to the right place.

Building a website without experience can seem daunting at first. Luckily, today there are many products that allow anyone to build a site from scratch, including those without any coding or design experience whatsoever.

A good website builder comes with easy, visual design and drag-and-drop elements. It’s simple and not clunkily loaded with tons of features you likely don’t need right now. It should nudge you along in the process, rather than leaving you to figure it out on your own.

Below we review the best web builders you can use to create your small business website today.

Wix

Pros: Wix is a visually appealing builder that’s great for beginners. Just drag and drop elements where you want them to create your website in no time. You can choose from 500+ templates, making it simple for those who don’t know how to design or code. All their templates are mobile-optimized as well.

Cons: As simple as Wix is to use, you’ll be limited in terms of function and customization. Once your website is live, you won’t be able to change the theme/template. So if you want to change it, you’ll have to take it offline. Storage space is also limited, with the highest plan giving you 50GB. Just be aware you won’t be able to be as flexible with the website as you want.

Pricing: Wix offers two types of plans: Website or Business & eCommerce. The cheapest plan is at $13/month with a free domain and 2GB bandwidth. All other plans come with unlimited bandwidth. There’s also an Enterprise plan that offers complete support including onboarding, maintenance, and security.

Best for: People who want a quick, easy and hassle-free setup with no intention to tweak a lot of elements.

Squarespace

Pros: Favored by artists, photographers, and others in the field of visual media, Squarespace is a stylish website builder with 100+ pre-made, mobile-ready templates that are some of the best-designed on the web. It’s an intuitive tool anyone can use to create a website in no time. Setting up a store is easy and all plans come with an SEO tool.

Cons: Although Squarespace’s templates definitely come with plenty of flair, if you don’t like their general aesthetic, there’s not much you’ll be able to do about it. The layouts also take a longer time to load than other services and aren’t good for scaling with more complex website features. As for their eCommerce feature, there are better, more affordable options like Shopify.

Pricing: Squarespace offers four tiers on its pricing plan, starting at $12 a month. If you’d like to use the eCommerce feature, you’ll need to have at least the Business plan for $18 a month.

Best for: Businesses that rely on visuals to draw clients and customers like photographers, artists, filmmakers, restaurateurs, designers, and smaller eCommerce operations.

Weebly

Pros: Recently purchased by eCommerce company Square, Weebly is another intuitive builder with drag-and-drop features. They have 40+ mobile-friendly templates to start with. Unlike Wix or Squarespace, it’s easier to scale with Weebly. It’s a more flexible builder that allows you to input code to make the changes you need.

Cons: While Weebly offers a visual builder, there’s still a limited structure, unlike Wix where you can really move around elements freely. If you have an international business, it’s important to consider that Weebly blocks traffic from countries like China and Russia by default.

Pricing: Weebly has a simple pricing plan divided into two groups: websites and online stores. The free plan will show the Weebly branding on the website. Removing it and connecting with a custom domain will cost $5 a month. The online store plan starts at $12 a month and includes the shopping cart and 3rd party payments.

Best for: Those who want an easy website builder with more flexibility to add and change code.

WordPress

Pros: WordPress is the most popular free web builders out there. It’s said to power one-third of all websites on the internet. Many businesses, particularly publishers with a large volume of content, use WordPress as their primary content management software (CMS). If SEO is a major factor for you, WordPress is probably the best option for you as you can install countless plug-ins to optimize your content for Google. In terms of flexibility and freedom, WordPress is the best as you can input any code or design you want.

Cons: The free plan is easy enough to use but quite limited for most businesses. Its website builder is nowhere near as intuitive or visually pleasing as some of the other options. Most templates will need to be purchased separately unless you have a premium plan.

Pricing: There are five different plans, ranging from free to eCommerce. The premium tiers start at $8 a month. Most businesses will need at least a premium plan to run a functional website.

Best for: Bloggers and publishers or other businesses centered around content marketing.

Shopify

Pros: Shopify is the best option for eCommerce businesses. It’s not just a website builder but a powerful eCommerce tool equipped with marketing and sales analytics features. It also allows you to sell across multiple channels like Amazon, eBay and Instagram. If you run an eCommerce business, it’s probably the easiest way to set up your entire operation in no time.

Cons: Though Shopify is great for eCommerce companies, as a website builder, it’s not the most flexible or easy to use. When you start, you can choose a theme for your storefront. But if you change your mind, it won’t be a one-click change as the remaining content won’t be reformatted automatically.

Pricing: Their pricing is straightforward, with only three tiers starting at $29 a month.

Best for: eCommerce businesses.

GoDaddy

Pros: Without question, GoDaddy’s primary service is domain registration and web hosting. But it also has a decent website builder which is great if you purchase your domain through the site and don’t want to bother looking for a separate website builder. Because the builder is attached to the domain service, you can simply choose a template and use your domain to go live today. They guide you through the setup in a very straightforward manner.

Cons: Somewhat predictably, their website builder is not the best on the web. While it’s simple, there aren’t too many options. It’s suitable for beginners in that it’s easy to use but if you’re a visual person who wants the freedom to drag-and-drop elements, this is not the right builder for you.

Pricing: There are four plans for GoDaddy’s website builder. They’re relatively cheap and all come with a one-month free trial.

Best for: People who’re already using or planning to use other GoDaddy services.

Below is an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here. 

Superpower #4: Momentum

Hopefully you’re starting to see how critical energy is, and how you can use it to your advantage. Anyone who has watched a sports event where a team comes back from behind and then dominates knows exactly what I mean by momentum; you can feel it in the air. It’s one of the best sensations in business and life, and I highly recommend you use it to fuel your startup. Momentum supercharges energy. 

So, how do we build momentum? As you are probably starting to realize, all these superpowers work together in many ways. As we’ll see later, having a great Vision and learning to Execute will create momentum, which is infectious, your team will naturally be motivated by your momentum, just like the sports team example above.

The reason why I separated it out as a superpower is that I just want to make sure you recognize the power of momentum and use it to your advantage. You’ll feel it typically as a gut feeling and possibly a rush of energy that may last hours or weeks. Use it! Sometimes, I’ll only hit a good surge of momentum once a week or even once every few weeks, but one thing I never do is waste it. I know when I’m in the zone and use that momentum to get a massive amount of things done, push big projects forward, get things done around the house, or even knock off a bucket list item. (You can use momentum for fun!) 

One final tip I have concerning momentum is to try to preserve a little so you can reignite it the next day. I’m somewhat infamous to those who know me for being able to work 18 hours in a row on a project or idea. While that allowed me to get great things done when I was younger, there was always an inevitable crash afterward. The older, wiser me knows that I should cut out after the momentum begins to fall off a bit and simply reignite it the next day, letting my brain work on it and continue being excited while I sleep. 

Energy Best Practices

Having plenty of Energy is usually a matter of doing some very basic things but I realize a lot of this goes out the window while doing a startup. Here are some best practices:

• Good sleep. Prioritize sleep above all as your main source of energy and renewal. Sleep at least 7 hours (and more if necessary) and make sure you practice proper sleep hygiene (minimize blue light at night, cool room, no noises, etc.). There are many good sleep apps, trackers and even special beds and “light blockers” available to optimize sleep. 
• Clean diet. Most startups are run on a consistent supply of donuts, pizza and other junk and while this is fine occasionally, you’ll want to keep your diet as clean as possible to maintain an ideal weight and to provide plenty of energy. Consider intermittent fasting which is getting very popular among high-performing people as a source of energy and clarity.
• Exercise. We all know we should do it so make exercise a priority. Even jogging around the block or bodyweight exercises at the office are helpful and a big key is finding an exercise routine you like doing. Realize that exercising actually gives you more energy, improves sleep and optimizes mood. 
• Purge negative energy. Negative people, thoughts (negative self-talk) and media should be removed from your life as much as possible. You want to remove anything that drains your energy including abusing alcohol or drugs.
• Emotional self control. Work on becoming thick-skinned and “highly undisturbable”. I recommend a few books in the Chapter Resources. 
• Sunlight. More data is coming in every day about how important sunlight and your vitamin D levels are for overall health and energy. Get plenty of sunlight, have your vitamin D levels checked regularly and supplement or use a light therapy device to resolve any issues. 
• Supplement.  Get a regular panel of blood work for the various markers of health and supplement accordingly. Apparently, vitamin D, magnesium, iodine, omega-3 and other nutrients are at historically low levels across the western population and can usually be resolved with simple supplementation. I list some tests in the Chapter Resources. 
• Meditation or relaxation. As mentioned, a huge percentage of highly successful people have a regular meditation or relaxation routine. There are many books, apps and websites that make this ridiculously easy to learn and I list some in the Chapter Resources as well. 
• Sense of humor. As discussed, it’s all a game and you can’t take any of it with you. Maintain a sense of humor, even in the face of bad situations and you’ll tend to get through things just fine. Laughter is a powerful cure to many problems. 

This was an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here or see our previous excerpts here. 

Obtaining a business license varies by state and in some areas it varies by city or county. In fact, even the types of business licenses that you’re required to get might vary based on your geographic location. The basic process of obtaining a license can be outlined in a simple three step process: research, submit your application with any required fees, and display your business license. 

Business licenses can cost between $10 and $500 or more, depending on the type of license you need and where your business is located. A simple business registration license is typically a way for states to know who is operating within the state while more serious licenses, like a liquor license, is a way for states to regulate potentially dangerous substances. 

Before you can apply for a business license in most states, you’ll need to legally register your business with the state. This means preparing and filing all of your LLC or corporation documents and making sure the state files the documents. MyCompanyWorks can complete this process for you in just three easy steps. Get started today by filling out a simple online form. 

Obtaining a Business License in 3 Steps

There isn’t a one size fits all process for obtaining a business license. The process will always depend on the type of license you’re applying for and where you live. However, we’ve outlined a basic process that can be followed to first understand what your requirements are and second to complete all needed application materials. For the purposes of this process we’re going to assume that you need a basic local business operations license. 

Step 1: Research Your State, County, & City Requirements

The first step in the process is to research whether you need a business license or not. Most businesses that need to obtain a business license will have physical locations within the city or county. Typically this is defined as an establishment that local citizens can walk into. Some home-based businesses are also typically required to obtain a license. The types of home-based businesses that generally need to get a license include: 

• In-home childcare or preschool
• Any business that has clients or customers physically coming to the home
• Any business that is required to obtain a license by a government entity based on the industry the business exists within

All business owners should consult with both the state government and the local government to determine all business license requirements. The last thing you want is to get your business shut down after you’ve opened your doors because of a failure to obtain the proper licenses. 

For a basic business license, most states will either set the rules or allow the local government to set them. In most situations you won’t have to pay fees and register with both legal entities just to open your doors. However, as more license needs occur you could be working with multiple layers of government or multiple agencies at the state government level. 

For example, a local bar may be required to obtain a normal business license from the city the bar is located in but will also be required to obtain a liquor license directly from the state. This is pretty standard and you should plan for anywhere between a few days and one month to obtain a business license, depending on the type of license you need. Some states may take even longer to process applications for potentially dangerous licenses, like a liquor license. 

Step 2: Complete Application Requirements & Submit All Fees

As soon as you know what the requirements are for your state you need to collect all required information and fill out all application forms. Keep in mind that if your business has multiple physical locations then you may end up having to complete the license paperwork once for each location, especially if they are in different cities or counties. 

Once you’ve completed the paperwork you should have a professional look it over to make sure you’ve done it correctly, or at least someone who can provide a second pair of eyes. If you’ve put the right signatures on the documents and have included all requirements then you should now submit the documentation with any required fees. 

Some states will require you to fill out the paperwork and bring it into a local office while others will let you mail in the paperwork or even fill out all of the documentation online. Regardless of the method each state allows you to submit the paperwork, you’ll likely get your license in the mail within a certain period of time. 

Step 3: Receive Your License & Display it in Your Business

Once the state or local government is satisfied with your paperwork they will process your application and deposit your fee money. The officials will then, finally, print your business license and send it to you. You need to read over any information that is given to you very carefully when you receive your license. 

Many states will require you to properly display your business license for all of your customers to see. There could be very specific rules with how or where you need to display the license. For example, you may have to display it within typical eye-level of your customers and within ten feet of the front door, or right behind your main check-out area. Regardless of the rules, it’s important that you follow them to the letter of the law or your license could quickly be revoked. 

Types of Business Licenses

While most businesses will need a general operating license, there are many different types of business licenses that you might need to successfully operate your endeavor. The types of different licenses you need will depend on what industry your business is in and on what you sell. The types of business licenses you might need include: 

• Local Operating License: This is the type of business license we discuss above, and the most common license businesses apply for.
  
• Building Permits: You may be required to get a permit, or license, for any remodeling work that might be needed within your business’s location.
  
• Zoning Permit: The local government will need to approve your use of the land you’re operating on for the specific type of business you’re operating. For example, if you’re in a retail zone and want to open a manufacturing operation then it may take some convincing of local politicians.
  
• Fire Department Permit: This permit is essentially passing a test by local officials that says your building is structurally sound and you’re given a maximum occupancy that is safe in the event of an emergency.
  
• Health License: These are typically needed by restaurants or food establishments.
  
• Sign Permits: You’ll likely need to get approval of the city for any exterior signs in terms of size and possibly color or other specific decor.
  
• License to Serve Alcohol: You’ll need a license to serve alcohol that will be consumed at your business and a separate license if you’re going to be selling alcohol that isn’t consumed there.
  
• Seller’s License: You may be required to get a specific license, depending on the types of goods that you’re selling to consumers.
  
• Occupational License: If you’re a business professional then you’ll be required to register as one and make sure you’re properly licensed before opening your doors.

In addition to all of the permits and licenses above, you may be required to apply for some business licenses that are regulated by the federal government. If you’re in certain industries then you should make sure there are no federal licenses that you must obtain. These industries include: 

• Aviation
• Mining or drilling
• Public transportation
• Logistics (including maritime)
• Agriculture
• Fish and wildlife
• Nuclear energy
• Broadcasting 
• Firearms or explosives

The key to covering your business properly is to make sure that you’ve exhausted the levels of government to make sure you’re obtaining all the licenses your business needs. You can either hire a professional attorney to help you through the process or you can reach out and communicate with your local government officials to get specific requirements. 

Get Started Today

Before you complete your business license research you should make sure your business paperwork has been completed with the state. This means starting your LLC and filing all appropriate documentation. MyCompanyWorks will complete all of your required documentation and submit it to the state where you business exists for you. You can get the process started today by filling out a quick online form. 

In addition, we offer a Business License Compliance Package that does all of the tedious research for you and gives you all the forms and instructions in one simple online dashboard to complete and submit to the proper authorities.

Corporate bylaws are the legal rules a corporation is operated by after the business if formed. Once the organization has a legal entity that has been filed with its state, the board of directors will typically decide on the bylaws which the company will live by going forward. Some examples of bylaws include listing a registered agent and defining the classes of stock for company ownership. To see what bylaws look like, you can see Microsoft’s at this link.

One of the main reasons LLCs became so popular for small businesses is that bylaws and other corporation complexities are not required. Instead, the business creates an operating agreement at the time the legal entity is formed. Many states don’t even require an operating agreement for an LLC to be formed and start operating. If you’re interested in forming an LLC you can learn more about your state’s requirements by checking out are State Startup Guides.

Why You Need Corporate Bylaws

Bylaws help ensure that your corporation runs smoothly. These rules outline the internal rules of your business, from a legal standpoint. The bylaws outline how decisions are legally made, who gets to vote, and the structure of how it works. If your business is very large, or you plan for it to be, then this will be helpful to make sure there’s organization to the chaos of both making big decisions and having a large ownership structure. 

The bylaws are important for all corporations to have, especially if you end up becoming a publicly traded one. This is because the bylaws outline how the official books are to be kept and what the reporting timeline looks like. Anyone wanting to invest in your business will want strict rules around how they’ll be able to keep up to date with what’s happening inside the organization’s performance. 

The bylaws also outline how the stock of the company is going to be divided up. It’s important for any business that plans to sell stock or take on investment money in the future to have a strategy behind the various classes of stock and how those stocks are transferred between owners. There also needs to be set rules around qualifying stockholders and knowing exactly who has a right to make business decisions and who doesn’t. 

However, the main reason you’ll create bylaws when you’re still a smaller company is because it’s required for all corporations to do so. What many small business owners don’t know is that you can start out as an LLC, which has more relaxed rules, and then as you start to grow you can switch to a corporation later. If you’re unsure of what the success of your business might be then this might be your best bet. 

Note: As of the date of publication, the only states that require your LLC to create an operating agreement are Delaware, New York, Maine, California, and Missouri. 

Example of the Benefits of Bylaws

All states have rules around how businesses are meant to operate and interact. If you’re not required to create bylaws, or an operating agreement for LLCs, you might still want to in order to counteract some rules in your state.

For example, some states might have a default rule that all profits are evenly distributed or that the legal responsibility for a company’s actions is evenly distributed among shareholders. In many cases you can actually get around these rules by having very strict bylaws that says the profits or legal responsibility is broken down much differently than the state’s rule. 

How Corporate Bylaws Work

Bylaws are pretty straightforward, like most legal contracts. The bylaws are not registered with your other incorporation documents that you provide to your state, but they can be equally important to operating your business. While you don’t legally file the bylaws with your state, it doesn’t make them any less enforceable. The bylaws are binding as soon as a majority of the board of directors votes them into action. 

The size of your corporation’s bylaws will heavily depend on the size of your business. You may want more relaxed bylaws early on and then you may want to enact more strict rules right before you take the company public. Things like the number of directors the business has will also have a necessity to change as time goes on and you grow in both revenue and employee count. 

Typically whatever the bylaws say is the law for your business. Legal entities typically have the right to operate internally in anyway that the majority of shareholders agree to. This means that while you’re legally bound to your bylaws, you have a lot of flexibility in how you can setup your business to operate the way you need. 

How Corporate Bylaws are Created

The creation of bylaws is simple from a legal standpoint. All you have to do is draft them and get a majority of the board of directors to vote “yes” on enacting the document. There aren’t a lot of rules that restrict you on the actual creation of your bylaws in terms of what can be included in them, but there are many common things that you should include to make the legal operation of your business clear and concise. 

Common Corporate Bylaws

Some of the most common corporate bylaws include:

• Your Business Management Structure: How many Directors will your business have? Who has the legal authority to make binding decisions for the business? Who is ultimately responsible for legal or tax filings and who is the contact person or group for your business?
  
• Your Business’s Registered Agent: If your business is going to receive legal notices or documents in the future then they will be sent to your registered agent. It’s important to keep this part of your bylaws up to date so that you don’t miss an important legal notice. Whomever you have in your official bylaws is the only person or group that has to be contacted for notice to be given to you.
  
• Classes of Stock: How much stock do you have in the business initially, what classes are there, and what are the rights and privileges of those classes? This is extremely important if you’re bringing on outside capital or going public.
  
• Voting Rights: This should be called out specifically so it is clear who has the legal opportunity to weigh in on big business decisions, like taking on outside capital or selling the business.
  
• How the Business Can Be Dissolved: This is important to include so that the only ways to dissolve the business are clear to everyone, regardless of any state statutes.
  
• Corporate Meeting Information: How often do the directors meet and what is the purpose of those meetings? Are these meetings the only time that big decisions can be made and if so, can the board of directors call a special meeting to vote on something important? How do you give notice of meetings to directors? These are all important things to spell out so that there is no internal legal dispute amongst shareholders.
  
• Dividends: If the shareholders have a right to dividends then it should be spelled out in the bylaws on when they might receive one and how it would be dispersed.
  
• Amendments: Any specificity you can provide on how amendments to the bylaws are enacted in the future will be important to make sure it’s clear how things can adapt and change over time. 

This list isn’t all-inclusive for every business. If you need complex bylaws, you should partner with a lawyer that is experienced in setting up businesses and enacting bylaws for many different types of businesses. 

Does My Business Need Corporate Bylaws? 

The real answer to whether or not your business needs bylaws is that it really depends. If you’re starting a corporation then you’ll need to draft a set of bylaws. However, if you’re a smaller business or unsure of what direction you want to take your new business, then you may benefit from starting out as an LLC, which means you won’t need corporate bylaws. We do recommend that you still craft an operating agreement, even if it’s not required in your state, especially if your business has more than one owner. 

Getting Started With Corporate Bylaws

Whether you’re getting started with your corporation and need to enact specific bylaws for your business, or you instead want your legal entity to be an LLC, we can help. My Company Works has completed over 60,000 legal business formations and our packages include an Operating Agreement (for LLCs) and Bylaws (for a corporation).

Below is an excerpt from Part One of our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here.  

“Optimism is a force multiplier.” – Colin Powell

I’m sure there are successful founders who are not optimistic—I’ve just never met one. Seriously though, an optimistic mindset is a huge source of energy, and the good news is that optimism can be learned. (See the Chapter Resources for more information.) Pessimistic and negative people are usually not only low energy themselves, but they tend to drain the energy of everyone around them. Pessimism is the last thing a founder needs in the startup process.

Think about it, have you ever met a pessimistic “Debbie Downer” who was a successful businessperson—or successful anything? I cannot think of one example outside of perhaps a few “artist” types that used negativity in their artwork. Otherwise, every inspirational business book or biography inevitably has an incredibly optimistic person behind it, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Note that I’m not advising you to not be realistic; you can be realistic and optimistic. I’ve joked that optimism is worth twenty extra IQ points because you don’t immediately give up. When you have optimism, you give your brain permission to look at the bright side of things as they happen and see possibilities that a pessimist may have rejected or not even thought about.

That’s exactly how an entrepreneur needs to deal with the inevitable curveballs that will be thrown at them. They need to realistically assess the situation and see if there are any solutions to mitigate the problem, change the situation to their advantage or, at the very least, learn a valuable lesson. An optimistic mindset and many of the other superpowers in this part of the book will help you move away from pessimism and toward solving problems, which is what great founders primarily do.

This was an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here or see our previous excerpts here.