Search Fund Website Advice
December 27, 2023
by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Lafayette, CA, USA
Hi all - did anyone use Upwork to hire a website designer to build their search fund website economically (<$200)?
Any ideas on pros/cons? For those who did, would love to take recommendations on Upworkers?
Thanks!
from University of Maryland at Baltimore in New York, NY, USA
TLDR: IMO if you're looking for a one-pager you can't beat https://carrd.co.
Longer version:
I actually just did this myself. I initially hired someone on https://www.fiverr.com/ (not Upwork but same gist). I've had decent experience there in the past but this one didn't work out - it was supposed to be 3 day turnaround but after 2 weeks of delays I cancelled the order and figured I'd do it myself. I found a template on https://carrd.co that I liked but I didn't love the color scheme. So I used https://coolors.co to find a color scheme I liked and then updated the colors and content on https://carrd.co. All told took me maybe an hour and &lt;$20 for the year of hosting. The site is good looking, has the content I need, and has a contact form. It's not about to win any awards but it's very much good enough!
Anyway, point is you can def hire someone to do this for you. Upwork is prob as good a place as any to do so. And if you need a larger website with a very unique design then this might be a good option. But there are downsides, too. In my case things took too long but even when everything goes right there's still a lot of back and forth required to get the right design and content. So if you're like me and just need something _now_ and feel that done is better than perfect you might consider doing it yourself. There are plenty of places between carrd.co or squarespace, etc if you decide to DIY.
from University of Nebraska in Denver, CO, USA
I'd also suggest avoiding stock photography. If you look for some search- or venture-capital firms online, you'll see how cheesy and meaningless the photos are.
If you keep your site very simple, I would expect you could figure out Squarespace on your own. The expert might help you keep the writing concise and avoid jargon and eye-rolling pomposity. (Write for your grandparents or a curious 14-year-old) (Google Wiios Laws, too).
Whatever copy you put on your website, run it through Grammarly or ask ChatGPT to correct spelling and grammar. Try to make any sections you may have divided content into have about the same number of words.
https://www.squarespace.com/designer/home?channel=sqsp_circle&subchannel=frontsite_header_nav&utm_medium=sqsp_circle&utm_source=frontsite_header_nav