If you operate a small business, having a website is essential. While businesses of the past had the option of utilizing a website for their products and services, today’s market demands that companies have a decent site. Otherwise, your business is likely to fall behind.
But just having a website is also not enough. Building a site that will attract customers and create conversions requires that it is appealing, functional, and easy to navigate. If your website is too slow or requires too many steps to make a purchase, you may lose customers forever.
If you’re brand new to setting up a website, below is some guidance that may be useful.
Establish Your Purpose
Establishing and defining the purpose of your website is absolutely crucial for its success. When potential customers land on your page, the purpose of your company and what you’re selling should be abundantly clear. The purpose will, of course, vary across businesses, and it may be that you don’t have much to explain. Just make sure that your purpose is crystal clear so that patrons of your site know what they are there for.
Decide on a Good Host
Hosting is vitally essential for the performance of your website. Popular hosting companies include:
- Bluehost
- HostGator
- GreenGeeks
- InMotion
- SiteGround
Depending on your tech needs and budget, hosting can cost anywhere from $2 to $100+ per month. In terms of the type, you can opt for either shared hosting, which means you’ll share a server with other sites, or dedicated hosting, which means you’ll have your own private server.
The latter is obviously more expensive, but it means you’re not at the mercy of other websites and the potential for slow bandwidth speed. Whichever host you choose, ensure you select one that has everything you need in terms of support, security, and site performance.
Choose a Domain
Your domain name is as valuable as the name of your business. It is the URL that you will be sharing to promote your site, so it needs to be short, descriptive, easy to type, and jargon-free. Included in this is your top-level domain (TLD) and whether you will go for .com, .net, .org, etc. Depending on whether your site is international, you’ll need to do some research on the best TLD for your business. Once you’ve chosen your domain and TLD, you can visit sites like Wix, GoDaddy, or Squarespace to find out whether your name is available or already taken.
Create Engaging, Easy-to-use Pages/Interface
As you’re building your site, you must create pages that are memorable, engaging, and impressionable. The last thing you want is for people to land and leave, all before exploring your services. To do this, you’ll need to create an eye-catching interface with excellent content. As this can be the more challenging aspect of website building, you may want to hire a custom website design company. These experts can make your ideas reality while providing the technical know-how and experience to ensure the site is sleek and efficient.
Setting up a website for a small business is challenging, but not impossible. With the right guidance and support, you can be well on your way to having a well-designed and engaging site that customers will want to return to time and again.
