Written by Mara Brak
The Problem
Picture this: A Grove City College student has an idea that will shake up the industry, but their idea does not exist anywhere on the internet except for social media. They want to make a website for their product, but they have no experience in coding or designing websites. Tools like WordPress, Webflow, and Squarespace are too complicated and will take too much time to create a comprehensive website.
Sound familiar?
The Easiest Solution
Max Mirho, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and owner of Make With Max, was the most recent speaker at a VentureU business seminar series on various no-code tools that all students can use to prototype their business ideas. The mission of Make with Max is to help people build their tech business ideas, but without the stress of not knowing how to code. He highlighted three different no-code tools, but for our purposes, we’re focusing on the most applicable and intuitive software to create website prototypes for business ideas quickly.
The problem is fixable in under one hour. Just use Carrd! (No, this is not an ad. It’s just an honest review.)
Carrd is a simple, no-code website builder, allowing a user to create a one-page website for free. This particular software is easy to learn, even for the user with no prior website builder experience.
Some of the best ideas never come to fruition because the founder is too intimidated by software that makes creating a website harder than it needs to be. Without having a website to test the product or idea and get feedback, the user is essentially setting the stage for failure. If you never conduct user testing in the real world and get feedback, the idea will most likely never gain enough traction due to lack of awareness and refinement.
The Process
Once you sign up, the dashboard presents you with an array of templates that you can choose from. The user can also choose to create a one-page website from scratch by selecting the blank page option.
If the user selects a template, there’s an option to see a demo, which functions as a preview of what the template will look like on desktop and on mobile. The template options include profile, landing, form, portfolio, and sectioned pages.
The UI of the builder is very intuitive, with the dashboard clearly laid out. Adding sections or text is as easy as dragging and dropping them onto the page.
An added benefit to being able to create multiple websites with one account is the flexibility of trial and error it provides.
If a student like yourself is worried about the feasibility of your idea, software like Carrd allows you to test the idea and gauge how your target audience will react to it without wasting money on a traditional and more expensive website builder.
The Price
If you’ve outgrown the free plan, there are three options to upgrade to: the Pro Lite ($9/year), the Pro Standard ($19/year), or Pro Plus ($49/year). More websites, customization, and data become available to the user with the higher tiered and priced plans.
Carrd offers a free trial for any of the pro plans for one week, allowing users to test the features before committing.
For the purposes of a business prototype, the free plan is perfect for getting the idea out there. Users have the ability to refine and upgrade plans later.
Try It This Week
If you have an idea that you have been developing in your free time, this is your sign to finally create the prototype and get feedback from users.
- Create a free Carrd account in less than a minute to get started.
- Create a one-page site using Carrd, either from scratch or using a customizable template. It’s entirely up to you and how comfortable you are with Carrd.
- With the product outlined on your site, send it to 15 people and get their feedback for your review.
Final Advice
Just get started. Worry about making it perfect later.
Curious about other no-code tools? Request the full video recording of Max Mirho’s VentureU session from E+I staff to learn about no-code tools.
If you are interested in learning about more no-code tools, reach out to E+I Interim Executive Director, Robb Myer, for more information and class recommendations.