In today’s digitally connected world, providing a good service is not enough; you also need to market it. Regardless of the type of business you are in, a strong online presence can help increase your brand’s visibility.
A robust online presence can lead to a larger audience, engage current customers, and facilitate easier sales. It all starts with building a website that showcases your company’s offerings and unique messages.
Building a website may seem challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Nafithy features hundreds of skilled freelance professionals with extensive experience in web development who can partner with you to build a strong website for your business project. If you decide to build a website yourself, there are many available tools to simplify the process.
Define the Big Picture Behind Your Website Before diving into building a website, you need to do some homework. Start by planning what you want your website to achieve. What is your goal? Do you want to attract more readers to your blog? Do you want visitors to make a purchase? Once users reach your site, what do you want them to do?
Asking these fundamental questions will help you determine the purpose of your website. From here, you’ll also need to consider the function, design, and content of your website.
- Function
- Decide the main purpose behind your website. Whether it’s offering a service, encouraging user interaction through a contact form, selling products online, or educating readers.
- Design
- Have a vision for how you want your website to look. Consider creating a grid-like layout with easily replicable templates to showcase new work if you’re looking to create discussions.
- Content
- Determine the type of content your website needs. Create a sitemap for the pages you plan to build. Organize your information in Google Sheets or Excel.
- Choose and Purchase the Ideal Domain Name for Your Project Once you have your domain name, it’s time to select a hosting provider for your website. Choosing a hosting provider is crucial when starting to build a website for your business, especially if you plan to conduct most of your business through your website. Websites need storage space for files, images, and content. Where is it stored? Web hosting provides a physical location for your website’s content on the internet.
For this reason, it’s essential to find a hosting provider that offers enough bandwidth for the site traffic you expect to receive. If you’re starting small, look for a plan with upgradable options that you can choose as needed when building a website for your business.
Security is also a concern when choosing a web host. If you want to maintain your site’s security and handle minimal updates yourself when building a website for your business, choose a hosting service that performs routine web maintenance and provides security features like an SSL certificate to ensure user protection when accessing your company’s website.
Research web hosting service providers when building a website for your business, as your website’s needs may be unique. When choosing a hosting provider, consider the amount of storage space you need, guaranteed uptime, and your budget.
Despite the presence of many web hosting companies, here are some well-known hosting providers:
- HostGator: Easy and moderately priced bandwidth with unlimited options and their own website building tools.
- Bluehost: Fast and reliable hosting solutions with additional advanced security options.
- GoDaddy: Offers a variety of hosting solutions for only $1.
- Hostinger: Fast and scalable hosting options starting at less than $2 per month.
- DreamHost: Cost-effective and customizable hosting solutions.
2. Choose the Right Website Builder for Your Needs
Now, you’re ready to select a website builder. There are user-friendly platforms for building your business website, so consider your function and web design concepts when choosing the core system.
Here are some features to consider:
- Customization Options: If you plan to frequently change your design, look for a website builder that is easy to modify and customize. Finding one with many templates can help reshape your site’s appearance without extensive modifications.
- Features: Ensure the chosen platform offers user-friendly blog galleries or elements for displaying your work if creating a blog or portfolio. For adding videos, select a website builder that facilitates easy integration of video code. If selling products, choose a platform that makes online sales simple, such as WooCommerce or Shopify.
- Ease of Use: Regardless of your experience with web platforms, find a user-friendly website builder for easy updating. Many builders offer free trials, allowing you to explore and start building a new website for your business.
- SEO Practices: Building a website is only half the battle; attracting traffic is crucial. Look for a platform that makes it easy to incorporate search engine optimization tools, from meta descriptions and titles to keywords and tags.
- Price: Fortunately, most website platforms are similarly priced or offer free trial options. Keep the monthly or annual cost in mind when choosing the core system for building your business website online.
Understanding the basics of website builders is a good start, but how do you choose one when starting to build your business website online? Define your goals. For example, if you’re a designer showcasing projects, a customizable website builder might be the best choice. On the other hand, if you’re running an e-commerce project, look for a site with good e-commerce and one-click shopping options.
Overview of Popular Website Builders:
- Squarespace: While not as intuitive as other website builders, Squarespace offers numerous add-ons, templates, and tools suitable for building your business website online. It’s particularly good for e-commerce and small businesses with low transaction rates.
- Weebly: For those wanting an easy-to-use website editor, Weebly might be the optimal choice when starting to build your business website online. However, customization options may be limited compared to other platforms.
- WordPress: Referring to WordPress.com, which is easier to use than WordPress.org (open source), which may take time to learn. WordPress is best for bloggers and writers, with a limited website editor but easy enough to start using when building your business website online.
- Shopify: This easy-to-use website builder is best for e-commerce stores. The platform is designed with product descriptions and sales in mind, streamlining the setup of your Shopify website to ensure no essential e-commerce steps are overlooked.
3. Choose the Right Look for Your Website
It’s time to consider the theme of your website. This process may seem daunting as many web platforms offer numerous options for building your business website online.
Here are some key components to consider when choosing the appearance:
- Form and Feel: This is the most important aspect to consider. Find a theme that aligns with your website design vision. However, don’t just fall in love with the design; also research. You’ll also need to check theme details to ensure that major areas are easily updatable so you can customize them when building your business website online.
- Theme Popularity: You may decide you want a theme not used by any other sites. However, if you need web development help, you’ll need to find themes commonly used by developers. A skilled web developer can easily modify the appearance of your site, making any theme look like it’s uniquely yours. Keep in mind that you’ll have more options when choosing freelancers if you choose a more popular or widely-used theme when building your business website online.
- Responsive Design: Nowadays, finding a responsive template isn’t optional. Since many people regularly view websites from mobile devices, it’s essential to find a website builder theme that isn’t just responsive but allows you to edit your settings to customize how pages appear best on certain devices and screen sizes when building your business website online.
- Components and Add-Ons: Some add-ons work better with specific themes. If you already know the add-ons or plugins or applications you want to use, make sure they’re compatible with the chosen theme when building your business website online.
While the DIY approach to building websites may work for some, not everyone has the time, technical eye, or necessary expertise to accomplish it. Engaging a freelance professional can help create a professional website that meets your website needs. For example, a freelance web designer can highlight your ideas while providing a unique perspective on your website needs, ease of use, font type, and size, website load speed, etc.
There’s much to be said about getting the professional-looking website of your dreams. With Nafathli, you can find experienced web designers offering hourly rates within your budget.
Planning and Producing Website Content
Remember the site map you started creating in the first step? You’re ready to use it now. You’ll need to outline each page your site will have and determine the content that will go on your homepage, the pages listed in the navigation menu, and those accessible only through links and buttons across your website.
Once you have the final list of pages, it’s time to define how each page should look and the content you’ll need when building a website for your online business. If you already have some designs or content you can use, that’s great! If you need more, consider working with freelance designers and content writers to bring each web page to life.
Create a content plan (such as proposing some blog ideas to get started) and collaborate with independent designers and writers on platforms like Upwork to execute each web page fully.
Keep in mind to incorporate keywords into your website content. When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), keywords can be single words or longer phrases. In both cases, keywords signal search engines (like Google) about your page’s topic. Using targeted keywords can increase organic search traffic to your website, boost brand awareness, and convert potential customers when starting to build a website for your online business.
Add Features to the Website
You’re ready to add additional features to enhance the user experience on your website. Here are some options to consider when starting to build a website for your online business:
- Appointment Scheduling
- Do you want users to schedule appointments? Integrating scheduling apps like Calendly or Square Appointments is your next step. Find the app you want to use and make sure to add it to the right pages when starting to build a website for your online business.
- Media Add-ons
- Will you host a large number of images or videos on your website? Media add-ons can help you organize and store this content better, improve how it appears on your website, and provide more robust storage options when starting to build a website for your online business.
- E-commerce Integrations
- Do you need to make sales in an online store? If you haven’t chosen an e-commerce platform, consider integrating with a tool that can accept payments on your behalf when starting to build a website for your online business. Keep it simple with PayPal or Venmo integration or create more professional stores using WooCommerce, Shopify, or BigCommerce.
- Account Creation Tools
- If you want users to log in to access specific content or shopping tools, you’ll need to secure an additional component or app that provides protected user accounts when starting to build a website for your online business.
- Security Apps
- Maintaining the security of your information, especially if you store customer data like credit cards and passwords, is crucial when starting to build a website for your online business.
These are just a few additional components and tools to consider when starting to build a website for your online business. Research within your industry to find more tailored tools or consult with a web developer on platforms like Upwork to discover other recommended tools.
Start Measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Measuring website traffic is essential for growing your business and earning money through specialized campaigns or web ads. You can integrate services like Google Ads and Google Analytics.
Tracking metrics using free tools like Google Analytics helps you better understand your audience. By using cookies, Google Analytics can help you understand web traffic when starting to build a website for your online business.
For example, let’s say you promote a sale on your website through social media. Google Analytics can provide details about who visited your site. Are you curious if you have frequent visitors or if you’re attracting new customers? Google Analytics can display data about new and returning visitors.
Google Analytics also provides information about the interactions a site visitor makes during a specific period. Sessions, as Google calls them, begin when a user visits your website and end after 30 minutes of inactivity. Despite sessions ending after 30 minutes, you can adjust your settings to know the extent of inactivity that leads to the session’s end. In addition to sessions, Google Analytics can tell you the average time visitors spend on a specific page. This insight is great for understanding how visitors interact with the content you create.
Google Analytics can also inform you about the types of devices visitors use. This insight highlights the importance of having a mobile-optimized site. It can also inform you if you need to work more seriously on improving mobile devices. For instance, a small e-commerce business owner might notice that their site visitors predominantly use mobile devices. To ensure a smooth shopping experience, they might invest extra time in improving the site content for those devices when starting to build a website for their online business.
There are also various premium features you can pay for to better understand what users are doing when they visit your site. These include Campaign Manager, Display & Video 360, and Search Ads 360. Additionally, Analytics 360 includes customizable conversion path reports and access to advanced data and data-driven models when starting to build a website for your online business.
Testing for Errors and Compatibility Issues
Before launching your website, it’s crucial to test it for any potential errors or compatibility issues. To start, log out of your website (user experiences may differ when logged in) and test all the links on your site. Ensure that all buttons and image links are functioning correctly when starting to build a website for your online business.
You’ll also need to test videos, contact forms, navigation menus, and other applications to make sure they work properly.
Lastly, you’ll need to test compatibility and responsiveness across different devices (phones, tablets, large screens, etc.). You should also view your site in different web browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera) to ensure there are no compatibility issues.
A quality assurance lab can help ensure the full quality assurance of your website, address any errors or compatibility issues when starting to build a website for your online business.
Adaptation and Continuous Evolution to Meet Customer Needs
Once you’ve launched your new website, congratulate yourself! This is a significant achievement that brings you closer to achieving your business goals. As digital media is at our fingertips, it’s essential to keep your website updated and refreshed.
At this stage of the website-building process for your business, it’s time to revisit key metrics. Are there specific keywords bringing in traffic? In this case, writing a blog post with SEO in mind can help continue targeting your audience.
Alternatively, you might have more projects to add to your portfolio. Regularly updating your website will help keep your content fresh and increase organic visits after building a website for your business.
Build your website with the best web developers, designers, and content writers in the Arab world quickly and effectively by hiring them through the best freelancing platform, Nafthly. Allow Nafthly to connect you with top talents across the Arab world to create your website correctly from the first time.
Samson Oconnor