In today’s world, where almost everything is done via the internet, running a successful business, no matter how big or small, is not possible without a web presence. The truth is that, for many, the web is the first place they visit to find what they are looking for.
Having a business website is especially important now, with the global pandemic still being around, and the governments of most countries advising to social distance and limit contact with others as much as possible. Besides, there are many benefits to it – which is something that we will be focusing on later on.
However, how can you build one? Is it as easy as some people claim it to be? Well, that’s what you’re going to find out in this article – we’ll walk you through every step of building a business website, and explain everything there is to know about development for websites, web hosting, domains, and more.
Business Website – Why Invest In One?
Now, you might be wondering – Why would I even need a website? We understand where this is coming from – especially if you already have a physical office or store. However, the truth is that nowadays, where everything is digitalized, being available only offline might not be enough – you also have to be present online.
Here are some benefits that having a website brings:
- Professionalism – having a website increases credibility among potential customers, and shows that you are ready to do business.
- Becoming an informational resource – a website is a great way of gaining a reputation as an authority in your niche. You can do that by creating a blog section with informative articles. What’s more, having such content on your site can help increase the organic traffic (if it ranks high enough) – whenever someone looks for a solution to a problem related to your niche, they might be directed to your website.
- Owning your name – by buying a domain with your business’s name, you are putting a kind of claim on it. It’s also a quick and easy way of improving your brand’s identity.
These are just a few of the benefits connected with having a business website. There are many more; however, that’s not the point of this article. Let’s now focus on what it’s really about – that is, building a business website.
Step 1: Determine the Purpose of Your Website
Before you start doing anything specific, you need to decide what is the purpose behind your website – do you want to provide your customers with general information about your business? Or maybe you will be using it to sell your products? Whatever the purpose might be, you need to think about it beforehand.
What’s more, no matter the fundamental goal of your website, you need to provide your customers with information about what your business does – preferably in the form of a few simple sentences on the homepage.
Step 2: Decide the Domain Name
The domain name is one of the most important features when it comes to a website. What is it exactly?
The domain name is nothing more than the URL you’ll share with your potential and current customers. Because of this, it should be descriptive, but at the same time easy to remember. You’d probably want to stay away from things such as acronyms, numbers, or abbreviations, as they might confuse the customers – plus, the more complicated the name is, the harder it is to remember.
Another thing that you’ll need to decide upon when creating a website is the top-level domain (TLD). Among the traditional ones you can find, for instance, .com. However, in the last few years, nontraditional TLDs have been gaining popularity – these can be based on location or the type of business the company specializes in.
Once you have made up your mind when it comes to the domain name, you need to check whether it is available, as well as copyrights, to make sure that you won’t be infringing on anyone else’s protected name. Once that is done, you can register a domain name – just remember to choose a reliable registrar.
Step 3: Choose a Host
The next thing you need to decide on is the host. While you can host your own website, if you have a small business, or are just starting out, it might be difficult for you to afford it, which is why you should consider an external host instead.
There are two ways you can go – either get a shared web host and share a server with other websites or opt for dedicated hosting, where you get your own server.
Keep in mind that even if the hosting is free for you, it’s not free for the company that is providing it, which means that they can have other ways to compensate for free hosting – including placing banner ads on your site.
Step 4: Build Individual Pages
A good website has more than just a homepage. To make sure that your site is part of this category, you’d want to create multiple pages – each of them dedicated to a different aspect of your business.
One of the most important sections of a website is a contact page, where the customers can find information on how to get in touch with you. Another good idea is to create an ‘About’ page, on which you will include information about the founders and the team so that the customers can put teal names and faces to your brand.
Step 5: Set Up the Payment System (If Applicable)
This is an optional step – it’s only applicable if you want to allow your clients to pay online, as you will have to integrate an electronic payment system with your site. There are several ways in which you can do it, with the easiest one being e-commerce software. Some web hosts also offer an in-house shopping cart.Â
Before you make any final decision, make sure to do your research so that you can be sure you are choosing the best option – one that is easy enough for you to use and will meet your needs both now and in the future.
Step 6: Test and Publish the Website
Before you announce your website to your customers, you need to make sure that everything works just the way it should on all major browsers, such as Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer. Click through everything you can to ensure that everything is the way it should – it’s better to catch issues now than find out about them later from a customer.
Another thing you need to check is if the website shows up properly on mobile devices. While you might think that it’s not that big of a deal, nothing could be further from the truth – nowadays, Google is less likely to give a higher rank position to a website that does not work properly on mobiles. Mobile-friendliness is crucial for your SEO (search engine optimization).
Last but not least, make sure that you have a good analytics program on hand. Once your website is up, you will be able to see the performance of each page, as well as determine while some of them are successful while others not.
Final Thoughts
In today’s digitalized world, being present online is a must, as the web is often the first place people search for recommendations – it doesn’t matter how big or small your business is. Online presence is a necessity, not really a choice.
As you could see, setting up a business website is not that hard – as long as you know what you are doing. However, the work doesn’t stop when your website goes live – oh no. There are other things you need to take care of – the most important one is to get organic traffic. You should also consider investing in SEO – after all, you want your customers to be able to find you, and it can be quite hard if you’re buried somewhere on the 50th page of Google.
With that being said, we have reached the end of our article – we shared our knowledge with you. Now it’s up to you what you’ll do with it.
