Without a web presence, it is no longer feasible to run a business, even brick-and-mortar. Just a simple, well-designed website can give an edge in the domain, and if one has products to sell, a website can open up new markets and expand the business quickly.
Website designing software has evolved to be easy for anyone to use. One does not need to understand coding to develop an attractive and functional site. One need to follow some basic rules and tips to deliver a professional look, make it easy to find, and show the company in the best light no matter what program to use.
Here is our step-by-step guide to making a successful business website.
Define the primary purpose of the website.
A business website generally acts as a space to provide general information about the company or a direct platform for e-commerce. Whether creating a simple website that tells a little about the company or a more complex e-commerce site, the essential thing is to say what the company does – on the homepage in plain terms. Are you searching for the right website design service for business? Please fill out the below questionnaire to have our vendor partners contact you.
Decide domain name.
A domain name is one of the essential features of a website. The URL will be shared with current & potential clients & promoted on social media. Therefore, keep it descriptive and easy to remember and type in. Try to keep it short & clear of abbreviations, acronyms, & numbers, if possible, to avoid customer confusion. Once a domain name is selected, confirm its availability and purchase it through a domain registrar. Some popular domain registrars: Domain.com, Wix, GoDaddy, Squarespace, hostinger.
Review copyrights to avoid overstepping on anyone else's protected name. If the desired URL is taken, one can call the company using it and ask to purchase it from them or use a domain buying service from a company like GoDaddy, which will contact the owners of the desired domain name.
Tip: Domain name is how users will find the website, so choose one related to business or services.
Choose & Get a Web Hosting
Each Website requires a host. A server where all its data is stowed for the public to access. Hosting a website is probably too significant an expenditure for small businesses, so one will need to select an external host.
Depending on the budget, one can choose from two different ways. A shared web host, the less-expensive alternative, means the website will share a server with other sites. Dedicated hosting costs considerably more, but it means that the website will get a private server and will not have to compete with other sites that could drag down speed. Some web builder platforms, for example, Squarespace and Wix, incorporate web hosting in their monthly packages.
If you are looking for free website hosting options, it is vital to remember that hosting a website is by no means free for the hosting company. Therefore, they may utilize other methods, such as placing banner ads on the website, to compensate for the free hosting. As the business grows, one may need to upgrade to a different web host or work with multiple providers to handle website traffic and operations. We advised keeping a close eye on site performance, and the experience customers have using your website to determine hosting needs.
Build pages.
A good website is more than a fixed homepage. You will want to design multiple pages earmarked to different aspects of business, such as a described catalog of products or services or a blog section for company updates. As for the overall website, make sure each page backs the site's primary goal, has a precise meaning, and includes a call to action (e.g., "learn more," "sign up," "contact us," or "buy this").
As customers' direct link to, a contact page is one of the crucial sections of a website, so include as many details as possible (your business's phone number, email address, & physical location, if you have one). It is also good to include information about the founding team or staff on an "about" page so customers can put real names & faces to your brand. If the company does not have a logo, employ a graphic designer to use it on the website, business cards, & social media profiles. This will help clients identify the brand quickly and easily on the web.
Automate speed improvements. Set up as many automated speed improvements as you can. Avoid stock photos. Tacky stock photography is the quickest way to turn a great site into a mediocre one. If you are looking for images on your page, it is best to use a picture of the actual team or office.
Phil added that high-quality images of the products increase sales, so invest in good photos of the products or services you sell.
Tip: Build informative and engaging web pages that offer a positive user experience. Strategically place CTAs to urge users to engage in specific behaviors.
Set up a payment system (if applicable).
While this step will not apply to all business websites, companies that want to deliver the choice for customers to pay online will need to incorporate electronic payment systems with their websites. The most comfortable way is through e-commerce software or small business credit card processing solutions.
Many web hosts offer an in-house shopping cart or integration with e-commerce programs. Do some analysis to make sure you get a solution that's easy to work with & flexible enough to meet needs now and in the future.
Test and publish the website.
Before declaring that the website is live, confirm it works on major browsers, like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, & Chrome. Click through each page & attribute on every browser to confirm images show up, correct links, & smooth format. This will take some time, but effort now will save future complaints from visitors who cannot access certain features.
Also, make sure that the website demonstrates correctly on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. This action should not be overlooked, as Google and other search engines have relocated to mobile-first indexing, when it refers to search engine rankings.
Another crucial feature to include from the very beginning is an analytics program. Setting this up before website is live lets iron out any issues and correspond to a proper setup. Once the website is live, one can observe page performance and determine why a page is successful or unsuccessful based on analytics.
"You can examine at which of your marketing campaigns are showing the most conversions & review any metrics such as city, browser., to shed some light on how your audience is interacting with your site. If one implements analytics after the site goes live, one will miss out on valuable data and have no way of catching which elements of your site are successful or unsuccessful right from the beginning.
Promote the website on social media.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Pinterest are the most helpful way to boost audience reach & alert customers to what is going on with the company. Post it on social media platforms whenever you update the website, but counterbalance that with genuine, nonpromotional engagement.
Also include links to social media on the website. The most familiar sections to do this are the footer /the ancillary bar (the additional menu in the top right that often has contact links).
Invest in search engine optimization (SEO).
Submitting a website to major search engines will help direct potential leads to page & deploy a strong SEO strategy across the website. Defining title tags, meta descriptions, & Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) relevant to your company & aspects of your industry can boost rankings in search engines for the products or services you are trying to market.
Constructing relevant keywords into content from the very first phases of the website, & having a strong focus on SEO from website takeoff, will enable to generate traffic early on," he said.
Choose the appropriate keywords. Select key words relevant to the business that probable clients are searching online.
>Publish new content.
Regularly publishing on a blog, adding to the website, & updating content signal to search engines that site is appropriate for the chosen keywords. Choose topics relevant to business and exciting for industry to position brand and business as thought leaders in the space.
>Place internal and external links.
Internal links are the links on website pages that lead to other pages on site, while external links are links to other prevalent, high-authority websites. Place these links strategically throughout the website. Make sure that the links make intent, fit the context & provide significance to the reader; otherwise, linking may count against the company.
>Optimize images.
Compress images not to slow down the site's loading time. Take the same strategy with video, making sure that clips load quickly & do not slow down how the site moves overall. Images' metadata, such as tags & captions, is also an opportunity to work in keywords & tell search engines what the images are about.
>Maximize site speed. Pages should load as fast as possible; within a few seconds is ideal. One can use free site speed checkers such as Google's PageSpeed Insights to see if the site is performing optimally.
Maintain Website.
Staying relevant is necessary, so update the website continually with blog posts on current industry affairs, new products, offers, & company news to keep visitors coming back.
Also, check at least monthly to ensure software & all add-ons are up to date. If the software is not up to date, it is at risk of being hacked, even if the website host's security is vital.
Starting a website for the business is a low-cost investment that can help establish credibility & reach a broader customer base than ever through traditional marketing techniques. If one keeps the website revamped with fresh, current content & is quick to address technical issues, one will never have to worry about "not existing" to your current and future clients.
