How to create a website

It is inevitable that having a website builds your reach to wider scales. For businesses in particular, having an online presence makes a huge difference to the public eye.

Not only does it make your business look more professional, but it also promotes your products and services in a way that gives potential customers easy access.

Even if you don’t sell products or services online, a website is a key way for people to discover your business and an important brand building and promotional tool.

However, creating a website may seem a bit daunting if you don’t have any web design experience. But lucky for you, it’s a simple process when you have the right web builder to help.

If you’re a coding wizard then you can get started building a site from scratch, but if like most of us, your IT skills extend to refreshing your Twitter feed, then the first port of call is going to be a website builder. (We list some of the best later on.)

You can also check out some of thebest website builders.

But before you do this, it’s important to consider what function you want your website to have and how you’re going to achieve your digital objectives. This leads us to step one…

Step 1 – Plan your website

Before diving in and signing up to a website builder it’s important to decide some key points about your site. This will include thinking about your main objectives, which could include:

After considering what you want your website to achieve, there are a few other things to think about:

Step 2 – Choosing a domain name

“What’s in a name?” Queried Shakespeare in 1595, horribly dating his whole oeuvre. Because in the internet age – when it comes to domain names – quite a lot.

Choosing a name for your domain is simpler if you already have an off-line brand, such as a brick-and-mortar store. If you don’t already have a name, choose one that is memorable, distinct, and communicates information about your brand or product.

If you do have a name, one of the most nerve-wracking parts of this process will be finding out whether this domain name is still available.

Here, you can check whether your name has already been nabbed or not. If you’re taken straight to the registration page, congrats it’s available! If not, you may as well disband the business and liquidate all assets now.

Even if your name is available though, the decisions aren’t over, because you still have to wade through an oozing quagmire of suffixes.

What do you settle on – the generic blandness of ‘.com’, the wheeler-dealer undertones of ‘.biz’, or the wide-eyed sincerity of ‘.info’? Top-level domain extensions (gTLDs) mean that you can be increasingly specific with your domain name, for example, ‘.lawyer’ for a law practice or ‘.plumbing’ for a – you guessed it – plumbing practice.

Although it might be tempting to change the domain extension if your company name is available with a different suffix, it could be a dangerous move.

It’s advisable to settle on ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’ (depending on your location), because these are the suffixes people most commonly use to search website names.

On the flip side, consider registering multiple different domains with your business name to maintain ownership of your brand.

Remember, your website will be jostling for attention among over a billion others on ye olde interweb, so choose your domain name wisely.

Here are some more tips for selecting the most searchable and discoverable domain name:

Step 3 – Choose a hosting provider

Once a domain name has been decided, the next thing is to consider where to host the website. Choosing the right hosting provider for you is important because this is where much of the data relating to your business’ website will be stored.

There are plenty of hosting options available to choose from. For instance,Bluehostis a versatile platform and one that delivers decent value. It allows users to register a domain name, host the website and access WordPress web builder too.

Prices start from £2.26 a month, with various other hosting plans available.

It’s worth keeping in mind that many hosting services would like your custom, so do shop around to scope offers, discounts, and special deals.

Step 4 – Ensure it is mobile optimised

Since the iPhone ushered in the smartphone boom, a serious chunk of global web traffic via mobile devices rather than the classic PC or laptop setup.

Web-users today expect a seamless, user-friendly experience whether on PC or mobile, so it’s more than just important to make sure your website is mobile-optimised, it’s crucial.

Many website hosting platforms are capable of automatically creating mobile-optimised websites, but it is also a good idea to double check if this is included to prevent possible lags.

You should also consider adding contact features on your mobile website: these could be a direct link to call or email your customer service, an easy-to-access FAQ page, smartphone-friendly chatbots, and social links. Other widgets are, of course, available, including Google Services such as Maps.

An eye-catching logo will help people recognise your business and differentiate it from competitors. Consider the colours, font and style that will suit your business services and fit in with the look, feel, and user experience of your overall website – more on that later. .

There are various logo design software platforms available to create your own logo in a pinch, such as Tailor Brands. But another option is to hire a designer to put your logo together. This need not break the bank:Fiverr.com,for example, provides a platform of freelancers to choose from, with prices starting from as low as $10 (£7.91).

Step 6 – Choose a website builder

Ok, now you’re ready to pick the host for your website and crack on with getting your business online. You have a choice between a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress and using a DIY website builder.

We have a more in-depth article on the differences between these website buildershere. But to summarise, here are five sites that consistently come top in terms of the price-usability trade-off matrix:

Step 7 – Decide on content for your website

Once you’ve picked the host for your website, it’s time to decide what content you’re going to feature on the site.

For startup owners, this can sometimes be intimidating but don’t worry, the site doesn’t need to have a lot of written content.

In fact, minimal text and clear options for the visitor’s next steps are usually more effective.

As a foundation, it’s best to begin with four or five basic pages which you can expand on if necessary. These are as follows:

Step 8 – Design your website

When it comes to designing your website, it’s a good idea to look at sites offering a similar product to you in order to decide on the look you’re going for. Some things to consider are:

It’s generally advisable to adopt a clear, clean layout and avoid fussiness or overcrowding of content.

When it comes to written content, split up the text by inserting plenty of breaks and pictures. Also, consider using headings to divide the text up and make it easier to digest.

Make sure the colour scheme is aesthetically pleasing and matches or compliments the colour of your logo.

When it comes to font, make sure it’s a size and style that are easy to read. Nothing is more off-putting than small, indecipherable font. If you want visitors to read on, make it easy for them to do so.

For any images featured, make sure they are very high quality. Decide how big you want them to be and the positioning.

If you aren’t able to take your own pictures, use sites like Flickr and Pixabay to find photos licensed under creative commons.

These are available for you to use without risking accusations of copyright infringement.

Security is another important issue to consider.

Remember to clearly link to your social pages on your site, maximising your social reach.

Another increasingly important consideration is whether or not your site is mobile-friendly.

In 2018, 52 percent of all web traffic is generated through mobile, so it’s vital your site appears the same on mobile as it does on desktop.

Step 9 – Drive traffic to your site

So you’ve got your website, you can sit back, relax and watch those eager clicks start pouring in, right? Wrong. As we noted before, there are a billion other sites out there. Of course, there will be far less in your particular niche, but even there you will have to work hard for visibility.

Unless you aim to only be discovered through social channels or other web pages, you’ll have to do everything you can to be discoverable through search.

Welcome to the tortuous world of search engine optimisation (SEO). The holy grail of SEO is achieving a high search ranking when words related to your site are typed into the search engine.

To achieve this, there are several principles it’s important to understand and apply:

For more information about Google’s SEO information, you can access their resourceshere.