Creating a Simple Website: A Step-by-Step Guide

Google uses more than 200 ranking factors to determine which site to display, and optimizing your site will give you a better chance of ranking well for your industry and location. The tools you use to optimize your site will depend on both the site creator and the host you use. With the right tools and tutorials, businesses can be ready to connect with 4.33 billion Internet users in just one afternoon. As for doing the construction and design of your website, you have a lot of options.

You can hire someone to design and code a website, or you can try your own hand (if you're a novice, The Best Courses for Learning How to Build Websites is a great starting point). You can use an online service to create web pages, or create it offline using a desktop software tool. Or, if you're a programming dynamo, use a plain text editor to create a site from scratch. How you mix and match these decisions depends on your skills, time, budget, and common sense. If you're looking to create a new startup website or make your current site more effective, here are 10 key steps to get started and help your small business website compete effectively in the online marketplace.

1.Choose Your Domain Name

Your domain name, also known as your website address, is usually the entry point to your site.

It's important that you make a good impression for usability purposes, as well as for search engine optimization (SEO).

2.Find a Website Host

A website host (or sometimes referred to as a website hosting provider) is a company that offers the technology and services necessary to make a website look on the Internet. Connect your domain name to your hosting provider so that when users visit your website address, they'll be shown the website you store in your hosting account.

3.Design Your Homepage

It's important for people to know who you are and what you're doing right away so they don't feel confused when they visit your small business website. Make sure that the main banner on the homepage (also known as the “main image”) and the following banners are visual representations of your services, and also that you have introductory text near the top of the page describing who you are and what you do.

4.Choose Your Content Management System

A content management system (CMS) is a software program or application used to create and manage digital content. A good CMS will help you maintain your site and you don't need a lot of technical knowledge to use it.

You should choose a CMS that is designed for your unique needs; different systems are used for different reasons, such as ease of use, extensibility, and budget. It should be noted, however, that WordPress's biggest weakness is security, since it's so popular that hackers attack it the most. Your WordPress site should be maintained and protected regularly so that it doesn't get hacked. In addition, it's difficult to protect all third-party plugins, so keeping your WordPress site secure should be an ongoing commitment through several best practices (checking if your plugins have been updated in the last few months, making sure it's a plugin provided in the official WordPress repository, removing immediately any unused add-ons, etc.).

5.Optimize Your Site for SEO

SEO is an extremely important ongoing process that can make the difference between appearing on the first page of search engine results pages (resulting in large amounts of free traffic to your website) or page 300 (resulting in no traffic).

6.Create Your Blog

Blogs are fantastic, but sometimes you need a simple place to park your personality on the Internet for branding purposes.

7.Use Squarespace or WordPress

Squarespace is the ultimate design platform, allowing you to create truly impressive websites worthy of any web designer, and it offers a 14-day free trial. Create a WordPress account with a strong password and choose from dozens of different design options for your site.

WordPress gives you total freedom in terms of creativity, but requires more technical skills than website builders.

8.Write Content for Your Site

Once you have your host and site builder, it's time to get down to business writing and creating the pages of your site.

9.Use Website Builders

Website builders, such as Wix or Weebly offer an easy way to create professional-looking websites thanks to their elegant templates and intuitive design tools. Both the Premium plan and the Business plan include the ability to create 100 websites, 100 email accounts and other tools to maintain the best performance of your site. Answer a few simple questions and Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) will instantly create a custom website just for you.

10. Promote Your Site

< p >But if you want to create a website that creates an audience and generates money for you the right way, there's a little more to do..

Ruby Jones
Ruby Jones

Devoted internet expert. A 14-year veteran journalist who later became an entrepreneur and designer is now a content specialist and imaginative visual storyteller in New South Wales, Australia.