Your business website is the cornerstone of your online presence—a virtual storefront that represents your brand, showcases your products or services, and serves as the hub of your digital marketing efforts.
In this lesson you're going to learn about building a good business website - the components, the steps, and some best practices.
What Is a Website?
A website is your online storefront or office. It's a collection of web pages that are accessible through the internet, where people can learn about your business, products, or services. Think of it as a digital space where you can showcase what you offer and connect with potential customers.
Why Your Business Needs a Website
In today's digital age, a professional and user-friendly website is no longer optional—it's essential for success. Here's why your business needs a website:
24/7 Accessibility: Your website is accessible to potential customers around the clock, allowing them to learn about your business, browse your offerings, and make purchases or inquiries at their convenience.
Credibility and Trust: A well-designed website enhances your brand's credibility and professionalism, instilling trust in potential customers and encouraging them to engage with your business.
Visibility and Reach: Having a website improves your visibility in search engine results, making it easier for potential customers to discover your business and connect with you online.
Marketing Hub: Your website serves as a central hub for all your digital marketing efforts, including content marketing, email marketing, social media promotion, and search engine optimization (SEO), providing a cohesive and consistent brand experience for your audience.
Data and Insights: By tracking user behavior and engagement on your website, you can gain valuable insights into your audience's preferences, behavior, and journey through the sales funnel, allowing you to optimize your marketing strategies and drive conversions.
The Key Components of a Website
There are 3 main necessary components of any website you see online...
- 1A Domain Name - This is the address of your website on the internet, for example - yourbusinessname.com. It helps people find your site easily. Choose something memorable and relevant to your business.
- 2Web Hosting - A service that stores your website’s files and makes them available on the internet. Just like renting space for a physical store, you need to rent server space from a web hosting provider so that your website can be accessed online.
- 3Website Building Platform - A tool or software that helps you design, create and manage your website. These tools simplify the process of building a website, offering templates and drag-and-drop features to make it easy for non-techies to not have to learn how to code.
Steps to Building Out Your Business Website
Now let's getting things going with actually building out your website. Here's a quick simplified overview of the steps involved in building your business website.
Steps to building your business website
Step 1.
Choose and Register Your Domain Name
- Think of a name that reflects your business. It can simply be the name of your business. So, if your business is Solid Architects, your domain name can be solidarchitects.com.
- Go over to a domain name registrar such as Namecheap.com and search for the availability of your domain.
- Purchase the domain it's available.
Step 2.
Select a Web Hosting Provider
- Go to a web hosting service provider. I recommend SiteGround.com. * I highly advise that you DO NOT sign up with HostGator or Bluehost or similar web hosting companies. They're cheap and popular, but if something does go wrong with your website, it's a real pain to get things resolved... this is from personal experience, and I've heard similar stories from many other people.
- Choose a plan that fits your needs. SiteGround's StartUp Plan is good for people with one website that are starting now
- Link your domain name with your web hosting. This requires that you go into your domain registrar's account and point your domain name to your webhosting.
If you've chosen to use Namecheap and SiteGround, these tutorials will guide you on how to do that:
Step 3.
Choose how you want to build your website
At this stage, you have to decide whether you want to build the website yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
Not everyone will feel they want to take on the building themselves. It might depend on how comfortable you are with technical tasks and also the complexity of the site you've planned. For most people, the decision comes down to money, time, or both.
If you decide that you want to build your website for yourself, then continue to follow the steps below.
If you choose to hire someone then you'll need to discuss all these things with them - the goal/objective of your website, your unique selling proposition, the layout of your website, the content, and optimizing and launching it.
Step 4.
Pick a Website Building Platform
Decide on which platform you want to use to build your website. You have several options here. Popular ones that are user-friendly and flexible include Wix, WordPress, Weebly, Webflow and Squarespace.
I recommend WordPress (WordPress.org). It has several advantages over other platforms, including:
- Free to install and use
- Used by over 40% of the internet
- Suitable for websites of all sizes and types
- Ability to fully customize your website using (free or paid) themes and plugins
- Access to an enormous library of plugins (60,000+!)
- Regular software updates
- Easy to find a reliable host for your website
- Supports full eCommerce features
- Perfect for digital product, blogs, membership sites, services and more
SIDENOTE:
Website building platforms can be categorized into 2 main options - "fully-hosted" or "self-hosted".
Platforms like Squarespace and Wix are examples of fully-hosted platforms. They let you quickly create a website within their hosted ecosystems. You'll need to simply sign up for an account, choose a pre-designed template, and get started.
Self-hosted platforms are basically free "open" software that you install on your domain and use to build your website. Examples include Drupal, WordPress.org and Joomla.
But fully-hosted platforms have 3 major disadvantages:
- You'll be limited in what you can add and do with your website and business. Most hosted website builders don’t offer room for scale, which will become a problem in the long term as your small business grows. It's similar to renting a building or a space in a mall to run your business - you have to adhere to the landlord's rules.
- There are also a lot of advanced features you’ll have to pay high prices for on hosted platforms, and they pale in comparison to the WordPress plugins you can use to achieve the same thing.
- It breaks an important rule of building an online business – don't build your business on someone else’s platform... if you don’t own it, it can be taken away from you without any warning.
An extended example of this is people that build their online business solely on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. These platforms can change the rules on you very quickly (Facebook is notorious for this), and if for any reason they go down, so does your business with all the assets you've built.
You want to own rather than rent.
If you’re looking for user-friendly website-building software that gives you freedom and flexibility to design the website you want, WordPress is the one for you.
Installing and using WordPress on SiteGround web hosting is straightforward. You can follow this tutorial:
https://world.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/create-website/
Step 5.
Pick a Template
Whether you go with WordPress or one of the "fully-hosted" options, your next step is to choose a template for your website.
Choose a template that suits your business style. Most website builders offer a range of templates designed for different industries. Look for a clean, professional design that aligns with your brand.
If you do choose to go with WordPress, then one theme that I suggest looking into is Thrive Themes. It's what I use to build this and my other business websites.
You can read my comprehensive Thrive Themes review here.
If you choose to use Thrive Themes, they have a very good step-by-step tutorial on how to build a business website in a weekend using their tools.
Step 6.
Determine the goal/objective of your website
Your goal is what you want your visitors to do when they visit your site. For example, make a purchase, sign up for a lead magnet, or contact you for more information. You might have several goals for your website because you know that not every visitor will be at the same stage of their purchasing journey.
Step 7.
Define your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Define who will be using your site, how to help them, and how to stand out in the marketplace with your point of difference. Your Unique Value Proposition communicates the unique benefits, values, and solutions that you provide to your ideal customers.
Step 8.
Create the Essential Pages of your website
Now that you've established your website goals, it's time to think about the website structure and create the essential pages, including:
- Home Page: This page will briefly introduce your business and what you offer. Make a strong first impression with a clear headline, engaging visuals, and a call-to-action.
- About Page: Share your story, mission, and values to connect with your audience.
- Services/Products Page: Include details on what you offer with descriptions, images, and pricing.
- Contact Page: Include information on how prospects can contact you - email address, physical address, phone number, and social media links. You can also include a contact form.
Step 9.
Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
Whenever you want to get information about a product or service, the first thing you usually do is go to an online search engine like Google or Bing and type in what you want information on.
The words you type into the search bar are called "keywords". Once the search results are presented, you'll typically click on the pages that seem to best answer your query.
That's what optimizing your website for search engines, or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as it's commonly referred to, is about - getting your website to show up in those search engine result pages (SERPS).
Now SEO is a complex topic, but here are few simple basic things you can do right away:
- Use keywords relevant to your business in the titles of your pages and within your content.
- Add meta descriptions for each page (a brief summary visible in search results).
- Ensure all images have alt text describing them.
Using the WordPress platform makes it easy to do these basic SEO steps. You can more here:
Step 10.
test and Launch Your Website
Before launching your website, you want to test things out, including:
- Check how your website looks on different devices (desktop, tablet, mobile).
- Ensure all links, forms, and features work correctly.
Once everything is set, publish your website.
Website Best Practices
When building your business website, consider both form and function. Start by following these best practices:
- Professional Design: Your website should have a professional and visually appealing design that reflects your brand identity and creates a positive first impression on visitors.
- Functional Usability: In terms of design, simplicity and clarity are key. Avoid cluttered layouts and excessive visual elements that can distract or overwhelm visitors.
- Clear Navigation: Ensure that your website is easy to navigate, with intuitive menus and clear calls-to-action guiding visitors towards their desired destinations.
- Compelling Content: Create high-quality, relevant content that educates, entertains, and inspires your audience, showcasing your expertise and value proposition.
- Mobile Responsiveness: Optimize your website for mobile devices to provide a seamless and user-friendly experience for visitors accessing your site on smartphones and tablets.
- Contact Information: Make it easy for visitors to contact you by including clear contact information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and contact forms, on every page of your website.
- SEO Optimization: Implement SEO best practices to improve your website's visibility in search engine results, including keyword optimization, meta tags, and high-quality backlinks.
- Conversion Optimization: Design your website with conversion optimization in mind, with strategically placed calls-to-action, lead capture forms, and compelling offers to encourage visitor engagement and drive conversions.
Next Steps
If you haven't already, now is the time to get your business online by building a professional website that showcases your brand and offerings to the world. Whether you choose to DIY with website builders like Wix or Squarespace or enlist the help of a professional web designer, investing in your online presence is an investment in the future success of your business.
Next, we're going to set up your mailing list of subscribers... one of your most valuable digital assets.