How to create a great website
If you own a business, then you should definitely have a website. Not just because it will help you sell more products, but also because it will allow you to communicate directly with your customers. A website allows you to share news about your company, special offers, promotions, and even provide customer service. Your website is a reflection of your brand, so it needs to be professional and consistent across all platforms.
There are many ways to build websites. Some people prefer to hire a professional designer to create a beautiful site for them. Others like to get started right away and build their own site. There are lots of different tools available to help you build a basic site. If you are not familiar with HTML or CSS, there are many great tutorials out there to teach you how to build a site.
If you want to start building your own website, then this guide will walk you through all the different steps you need to take. You’ll learn about the different parts of a website like a frontend, backend, and database. Then we’ll go over what each of those components does, and how they interact with each other.
Things To Do Before Starting Your Website
Before starting your website, there are three things you should consider doing:
1) Research what others are doing. There are many websites out there that offer free information about web design. You can also ask friends and family if they have any suggestions. If you’re not sure where to start, search Google for “free resources” and see what comes up.
2) Find a theme. A theme is like a template for your site. Some themes come with pre-made pages and other features. Others may require you to create everything yourself. Either way, choose something you think looks nice and will help you get started quickly.
Choose a goal for your website
A website isn’t just a collection of pages. A website is a tool designed to accomplish a specific goal. Your website doesn’t need to be perfect or even functional at first. You’re not trying to create a masterpiece here. You’re trying to get something done. So ask yourself: “Will this help me accomplish my goal?” If the answer is yes, then keep going. If the answer is no, then stop. Choose a goal.
Create a plan
You should create a rough outline of what your site will look like before starting. You can use tools like Miro or Mindmapping software to help visualize your ideas.
Once you have a plan and goal in place, it’s now time to decide how you’re going to build this website. We talk about the 2 most common options available, a website builder or using WordPress.
Using A Website Builder To Build Your Website
We’ve been using WordPress since 2009, and we still love it. But we also like to try out different platforms when I need something quick and easy. For example, we recently built a website for a graphic designer using Wix.com.
What is a website builder?
A website builder is an application that allows you to create your own website. You can choose from thousands of pre-made designs or start from scratch. Some website builders also offer free themes to get you started. Most website builders allow you to upload photo galleries, videos, and other media directly to your site. You can add social sharing buttons, contact forms, and even shopping carts. Many website builders come with built-in analytics software that tracks traffic and conversions.
Choose the Right Website Builder For You
Website builders allow you to create your own website quickly and easily. You can choose from hundreds of templates and add your own text and pictures. Many website builders also offer drag & drop features, allowing you to move around pages and sections of your site. Some website builders even let you add video and audio files. But there’s something else about website builders that sets them apart from other website creation tools. Website builders are free, meaning that you don’t need any special technical skills or knowledge to get started.
Website builders are software programs that work on your browser and allow you to create websites quickly and easily. These programs usually come with pre-designed templates that you can customize. Most templates are free, however, you will have to pay for some with premium features and functionality. Website builders also offer drag-and-drop features that make creating a website easy. You can even add shopping carts and other eCommerce functions to your website. Website builders are great if you need to start selling online, but you don’t have any experience with web development.
Choosing the right website builder is an important decision. There are many options available out there, each catering to different types of users. Some are focused on ease of use while others focus on customization. Each type of user will need to choose the best option for them.
What’s the best website builder?
Wix or Editor X (wix premium version) is our favorite website builder because it allows you to create beautiful websites at an affordable price. We think Webflow is also great because it offers many features and tools to help you get your online store running fast.
Sign Up For a Plan That Suits Your Needs and Budget
You’ll likely pay anywhere from $10 to $100 per month depending on your site size and features. You should also consider if you need any extras like custom domain names, SSL certificates, premium themes, etc.
Free websites are great, but there are also drawbacks to them. For starters, they’re not very customizable. You may need to pay extra for custom features like social media integration, mobile responsiveness, and other advanced features. If you’re looking to create an online store, free sites won’t give you access to any payment options. And if you want to host your site yourself, you’ll need to shell out even more money to get hosting services.
Which plan you choose depends on what you need. Do you just want a simple website to showcase your art? Or do you want to create a site that gets lots of traffic and has multiple staff members? If you’re looking for something simple, then the Basic plan might be right for you. But if you want something more robust, then the Premium plans might be a better choice.
If you’re selling multiple items, then using a dedicated online store builder like Shopify will help you get the best results. You’ll also benefit from all the other features included in the platform, like product management, inventory tracking, customer service, and marketing tools.
If you’re not sure what you want to do, then don’t just start doing something! You’ll hit roadblocks along the way. Feel free to reach out to us here and we will be happy to get a free consultation scheduled.
Option Use WordPress
How to create a website with WordPress: Decide if WordPress will be the best solution for your needs. If you already own a domain name, buy the right hosting plan. Choose a theme for the design of your website. Install WordPress with one click. Customize your content and pages using the wizard that most themes will give you.
Decide if WordPress is Right For You
WordPress is an easy-to-use CMS platform that allows users to create websites, eCommerce stores, and blogs. It’s a free, open-source platform that runs on your own server. It’s not just for bloggers anymore! You can use it to publish news articles, sell products, host online courses, and even run a small business. There are thousands of themes available for download, and if you need help getting started, there are tons of tutorials and resources out there. Once you’ve got your site up and running, you’ll probably want to keep it updated regularly. That means keeping track of builder plugins, other plugins, updating your theme, adding new pages, and fixing any bugs.
WordPress isn’t just a CMS. It’s also a web publishing platform. That means it gives you the tools to publish your own content online. You can choose what kind of content you want to share – text, images, audio, video, etc. And you can add links to other websites, integrate with other 3rd party services, and social media accounts, and even embed code or libraries. There are many different ways to customize your site. If you’re comfortable using HTML and CSS, you can edit the theme files directly. But if you prefer something easier to manage, there are plenty of third-party themes available.
For a beginner, we suggest using either the Avada theme or BeTheme
If you’re more of an advanced user and like the freedom that website builders offer, you can use either Elementor or Divi to build your site.
Buy the Right Hosting Plan We Recommend Siteground or 10Web
Web hosting is a service that allows you to store your website files online. You can host your own website or pay someone else to host your website for you. Web hosting is usually provided by companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace etc. These companies provide servers that hold all the files for websites. When you create a website, you upload those files to the server. A web hosting company will then give each website its own space on the server and usually offer different types of hosting.
Before you start building your WordPress site, you need somewhere to put it. That means signing up for a web host. Web hosts come in all shapes and sizes, and the offer a wide range options out there. Some are geared towards bloggers while others cater to businesses. If you’re looking to create a blog, then you’ll probably want to choose something simple and affordable. But if you’re running a store, you might want to go for something a bit more robust. Below are 2 that we recommend.
Should You Use a Website Builder or WordPress?
Website builders are easy to use, don’t require any coding knowledge, come with loads of templates, and are free to download and install. Website builders are great if you just want to create a basic site quickly and easily. But they aren’t suitable for creating complex websites because they lack flexibility. If you want to create something customized, then you should consider using a CMS like WordPress. A CMS lets you manage all aspects of your website, including its customization options, appearance, content, and complex functionalities. You can also add plugins to extend the features of your website.
At the end of the day, the question of which option to take to build your website will come down to personal preference and skill level. If you are just getting started with web design then we recommend going with Wix because it is an All-in-one website builder and easier to get started with and there are plenty of tutorials out there to help you along the way. However, if you already have experience with other CMSs like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla then you may prefer them.
Key Steps To Building A Great Website
A great website is an essential tool for any small business owner. Whether you run a hardware store, sell photography services, or have another kind of small business, a well-designed website will help you connect with potential customers. In our experience, a poorly designed website is often the reason why a small business fails. That’s why we decided to write this guide to help other small business owners avoid making costly mistakes when creating their first website.
If you’re looking to build a new website or make your current website more effective, here are ten key steps to get started and help your small business website compete successfully in the online marketplace.
Get a good domain name
You want your domain to be simple to recall and spell. Slang, made-up words, and obscure phrases should all be avoided. Also avoid employing numbers or symbols that aren’t commonly used in English.
Make it as short and straightforward as possible. The shorter it is, the more likely you are to remember it. Make sure your domain name begins with .com as the first choice, else other options may also be available; there’s no rule about what to pick.
Domain names should be simple to recall and say.Numbers and hyphens should be avoided. They’re difficult to remember and less elegant than word-only domain names. When spoken aloud, they may also be misunderstood. Domain names should also have enough space for future growth. Amazon.com began by selling books online before expanding into almost everything you could imagine.
Make certain that the name you choose is distinctive. Check to see whether anyone else has already registered a domain name with your chosen name. If someone else has, you’ll need to change it before registering it. Also, be sure that your name does not infringe on any trademarks. Look on public registries to see whether there are any registered trademarks.
Check to see whether you can get a good domain name for a reasonable price. Determine if you can buy your desired website address at a fair price since most excellent domains are already owned and must be purchased from the current owner. Choose a name that is catchy yet has meaning so that people will understand what your company does. Yahoo and Google have attractive.
A fantastic website address should be simple to remember and spell. If you’re not sure what to call your site, consider using your business name followed by.com. Consider the following scenario: “My Company Name” is your company name, so the domain name could be “mycompanyname.com”.
Subscribe to good hosting
A website hosting provider is a firm that offers technology and services for viewing websites online. A website owner connects his/her domain name to a website hosting provider so that when visitors access the website address, they are directed to the website he or she maintains on the server.
Always start with a free trial before committing to any service. There are several different sorts of web hosting alternatives accessible, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. Some hosts give you limitless bandwidth, while others impose restrictions on your bandwidth consumption. Some allow you to host numerous domains, while others restrict you to only one domain. All providers offer 24/7 support.
Shared hosting implies that you are dependent on other people’s internet connections, which might impede the performance of your site. It’s conceivable that your website will be hacked if one of those sites is stolen. Always pick a web host that offers dedicated servers to guarantee the greatest degree of protection and performance. Dedicated servers provide you with a private environment.
Shared hosting accounts are the most inexpensive. Shared hosting plans are less secure than dedicated servers since they utilize the same hardware for many websites. Depending on the service provider, shared hosting packages start at $10 and go up to $50 per month. A shared hosting plan does not guarantee you the best possible user experience for your website because it does not allocate dedicated resources.
A virtual private server (VPS) is a computer instance that runs in its own virtual environment, independent of other instances running on the same physical host. Each instance can now operate independently while yet sharing resources like memory and disk space since each is housed in its own virtual world. VPSs may provide comparable functionality at a lower cost than dedicated servers.
Make certain you pick a web hosting company that offers phone and chat assistance. If you need immediate help with your website, a virtual private server (VPS) rather than a shared hosting account might be the better option. A VPS gives you complete control over your own server, including root access. You can install any program you choose, configure it however you want, and optimize it to your specific needs. But VPSs also come with additional responsibilities, so they might not be the best option if you are a beginner.
You’ll need to examine whether the server has any security measures in place. You should be able to log in using SFTP. Furthermore, all of your website’s data should be backed up on a regular basis to protect against loss.
Get your business a logo
It is very important to let people know about your company right away. You need to establish trust and credibility before they even get to see any other information. Your website should be a representation of your brand and services. If you don’t have a logo yet, create one! A great place to start is with free logos online like 99designs.com or reach out to us and we will help get you started.
Get the best content management system
A Content Management System (CMS) is an online tool that allows users to easily publish and edit web pages. There are many different types of CMSs available, each with its own features and benefits. Some of the most popular CMSs include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, and Magento. Each CMS comes with different features, including drag-and-drop functionality based page builders, SEO tools like Yoast SEO, social media integration, and mobile apps.
Get the best eCommerce platform
WooCommerce is a popular e-commerce platform. It may turn your WordPress site into an online store. It’s simple to set up and use. As a rule, it is best to go with a premium theme from a trusted developer because it will provide better security and support. If you are not technical savvy, you may need someone to help you set it all up and get started. WooCommerce also offers great scalability and flexibility.
Shopify is a cloud-based eCommerce website builder software that lets you to sell anything online. It’s not a plugin like WooCommerce, but a separate eCommerce platform. Shopify is easy to set up, use, and manage your online store. You can start selling products in minutes with it.
With Shopify, you may set up a store quickly thanks to an easy-to-use design. You also get access to all features, including product management, inventory management, shipping, payments, and more. Shopify also offers live chat and email support to help you with any questions you may have.
Shopify Plus: Shopify plus is Shopify, but it has a greater degree of customization and support. However, all of this comes at a higher price with less flexibility and customization than WooCommerce.
If you need a website for your small business, you may consider using Squarespace. If you already have a website and just need a place to sell products, then this might be right for you. You will get a free domain name, SSL security, SEO optimization, abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, real-time carrier tracking, and more. But, it does not offer as many features as other platforms. Like Shopify, it is not as user-friendly as WordPress or Woocommerce.
Wix also offers an online store that allows you to create a beautiful storefront at affordable prices. It also offers a free trial period, so you can try it out before purchasing. If you’re looking for something more professional, then you should consider upgrading to a paid plan. There are many different plans available, including the starter plan, which includes 10 pages, 30 products, and 100MB of storage space. The next level is the pro plan, which includes unlimited pages, unlimited products, and 1GB of storage space. Finally, there is the enterprise plan, which includes everything from the starter plan plus additional features like custom domains, multiple payment gateways, and more. All plans come with 24/7 customer service via chat, phone, or email.
Create an interesting memorable and engaging website user experience
Small businesses need to think about their online presence and what kind of impression they leave when someone visits their site. A well-designed website should not only be aesthetically pleasing but also easy to navigate (simple navigation menus) and load quickly. Search engines like Google will penalize your rankings if your website takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Research the competitors to see how they have redesigned their sites. Implement similar components that will work well for your small business website and make sure they are consistent with your brand. Find out what your target audience wants from your site and make sure it is easy for them to get it. Make sure you stay consistently on-brand throughout your redesign.
Design a website that is easy to navigate. Make sure you provide clear instructions about what each page does. Include links to important pages like About Us, Contact Us, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, etc. Add a Sitemap to help search engine crawlers find your site. Provide contact information for customer service, including phone numbers and mailing addresses.
Optimize for search engines
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a set of practices that you apply to your website in order to ensure that search engines crawl and rank your website appropriately. Once your website is crawled, it competes with other sites that have similar content. If your website is well designed and contains relevant information, it will appear higher in search results.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a combination of techniques designed to increase the number of visitors to your website. SEO involves optimizing your website to ensure that search engines like Google will rank you highly when users type keywords into search boxes. There are many different factors that go into ranking well on search engines. These include page load times, topic clusters, links to your website, and other signals that indicate relevance. SEO is not just about making sure that your website loads fast. It also involves ensuring that your website is optimized to appear relevant to potential customers.
A lot of people think that Google loves them. But if you’re not using all the latest methods, you may just be missing out on tons of free traffic. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ongoing process that will help your website rank higher on Google and other search engines. If you’re not doing enough SEO, you could be losing potential customers.
Create content
It is very important to have a strategy when publishing content on your website. You need to think about what kind of content works best and how often you should post it. There are many different types of content that you can use to increase traffic to your site. Some examples include infographics, videos, images, podcasts, webinars, and even guest blogs. Each type of content has its own benefits and drawbacks, so you need to choose the right ones for your audience. Make sure that you are posting at least two types of content every week.
A great way to add value to your website is to ask for testimonials from clients. These will give you an opportunity to show off your skills and help your visitors feel like they’re getting something out of visiting your website. You should also publish these testimonials on your website. This will increase the number of time users spend on your website, giving you more opportunities to convert them into paying customers.
Your brand voice should be consistent throughout all channels. If you’re using social media, make sure your posts are written at a conversational level.
Install Google analytics
Google Analytics is an essential tool for any website owner. You can see what keywords are bringing people to your site, and how many visits each page receives. You can also see if there are any issues with the server. If you’re using WordPress, you can even see how many posts were published today. You can also get a detailed report about your visitors’ activity on your site.
This is an important metric because it tells you what kind of traffic you’re getting. If you have a high bounce rate, then you’re probably not attracting enough interest to your website. You may need to change your design or offer something unique to keep people interested.
Average time spends on site by visitors. Errors found during crawling. Links are broken on your site. Keywords that lead users to your site. A number of backlinks point to your site. Time spent downloading web pages. Other information that can enhance your SEO.
Set up a maintenance plan
A website should not be created and left unattended. You will need to maintain your site if you want it to rank well in search engines and stay updated with bugs and fixes. There are several ways to make sure your site stays healthy. First, check your webmaster tools data monthly and have any errors sent to you in real-time via an alert system. Second, keep your passwords secure. Third, make sure you have backups of your files. Fourth, update your plugins regularly. Finally, make sure you have a security plugin installed.
Use traffic analytics to learn more about your visitors so you can better cater to them. Use performance analytics to optimize and fix warning and error messages. Make sure all software on your site is always up to date, and run regular security checks to ensure your site isn’t infected with malware or hacked.
Split testing is an important tool for any marketer. You should test multiple variations of your site and determine what works best. If you’re selling a product, you may need to try out different images and copywriting. Split testing will allow you to see which variation performs better.
Use Google Analytics to track user behavior on your website. You’ll get insights into how visitors interact with your site, allowing you to make improvements to your marketing efforts. Use social networks like Facebook and Twitter to connect with your audience. Make sure you’re using the right keywords when posting links to your blog posts. And always keep an eye on your competitors’ websites. Learn what works and what doesn’t for them. That will help you figure out what you should be doing differently.
Backups should be done daily or at least once a week depending on the site usuage.
So there you have it, creating a great small business website isn’t as easy as you might think. However, following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll have a great chance of succeeding.
We are a team of experts at developing websites using WordPress, offer services like graphic design, Content optimization, PPC and social media marketing. We started working on websites since 2009 and our goal is to help small businesses through the best online strategies. Check out our other articles here and reach out to us if you need any assistance.