The internet is home to a digital population that amounts to over 4 billion people. That means that good business websites have the opportunity to engage with billions of potential customers.
If that prospect sounds good to you and you don’t have a website yet (or don’t have a very good website) it’s time to start investing in one.
Building a business website may seem like a challenge to those that aren’t particularly tech-savvy. Fortunately, website building has never been easier given the number of tools (many of which are free) that are available to you online.
Below, our team takes you through the basic step-by-step process that’s required to build a website that will “wow” the online community and will help you to enjoy more sales!
1. Pick a Domain Name
Before people build business websites, they need to know what their website’s web address is going to be. This may be a simple process for some and an extraordinarily painful process for others.
When picking a domain name, you’re going to want to keep things short (below 8 characters preferably) and make sure that your web address is easy to spell.
Furthermore, you’ll want to get a “.com” domain since people are already programmed to type that extension in at the end of web addresses.
There are plenty of places you can register for your domain name. We recommend NameCheap for fair pricing and high quality of service.
2. Decide on a Platform
With your domain name in place, it’s time to decide how you’re going to build your business website.
Business websites are typically built on “platforms” that make the web building process simple. This comes in contrast to a decade or so ago when websites were being built by hand leveraging coding languages.
The vast majority of businesses build their websites on the WordPress platform which is free and relatively simple to use. You might also consider drag and drop platforms like Squarespace or Wix.
3. Pick a Web Host
Many people who are building their first website don’t understand the concept of web hosts. Web hosts are basically an entity that houses your website online.
When people type in your domain name, that domain takes them to your web host who then connects visitors to your website.
There are many web hosts out there and not all of them are created equal. A bad web host can make your website slow and can hurt your Google rankings.
Research web hosts carefully and always try and sign-up with one that offers a money back guarantee.
(Note that website builders like Wix and Squarespace require you to host sites you build on their platforms with them).
4. Outline What You Want to Include on Your Website
Building without a blueprint is a sure fire way to waste time. Before you start building your site, pull out a piece of paper and quickly sketch out how you want it to look.
If you’re not sure what you’re going for quite yet, study your competitor’s sites and see what they’re doing for inspiration.
5. Always Keep Goals in Mind While Building
It can get easy to lose sight of why you’re building a website, while you’re building a website. That’s bad news because business websites that don’t build with goals in mind underperform substantially.
What do you want from the visitors on your website? To contact you? To buy a product?
Figure out what your goals are and what your customer’s goals are likely to be and design your website to make achieving those goals as simple as possible.
6. Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity
Website building platforms like WordPress have a lot of bells and whistles you can enjoy. When you see them all, you might be tempted to incorporate everything into your site.
Don’t.
Remember, you have a goal with your website. By filling it with clutter, you make it that much harder for customers to take the actions you’d like them to take.
7. Include Strong Branding Elements
Given that most people are using the same website builders (generally WordPress) and are leveraging very similar templates, websites have started to look very similar online.
To make sure you stand out, keep your branding strong while building.
Include your logo at the top of your page. Adjust your theme’s accent colors to match your branding’s color palette. Change your site’s default fonts.
Anything you can do to give your business website a little bit of a unique flair can go a long way in making it pop.
8. Consider Getting an Assist
If you’re still overwhelmed by the website building process and are wasting a ton of time working your way through these steps, you have options.
There are a ton of professional development firms out there and freelancers that can offer advice, help you through snags, and can even design your site for you.
Don’t get overwhelmed and know that any questions or help you may need is always just an internet search away.
We’re serious! Check it out!
Wrapping Up How to Create Successful Small Business Websites
The steps above are steps that thousands of business owners before you have taken to create successful small business websites.
We hope that our article has given you the map you need to get your company online so you can start maximizing your success in 2019 and for years to come!
If you’re looking to learn more about everything from social media to website building and beyond, look no further than our killer content at SM SEO!