If you have a small business and looking to get more customers, you will need to build your business website. Your website will help you to promote your business online and connect with your customers. Building your own website can seem challenging, but it can be rewarding. In this article, we share some tips on how to build your first business website.
1. Pick Your Website Address Wisely
Once you decide you need to build your business website, the first step is to pick your website address i.e. your domain name. A good website address should be a part of website features list. So, ensure the domain name you pick is easy to remember and includes the keywords you want to rank for in search engines. Doing so will make it easy for people to find your business online and grow your traffic.
2. Choose the Right Hosting Provider
When it comes to hosting small business website, you need to choose a hosting provider that is reliable and has a good reputation. Also, ensure that the company offers good customer service to help you with any questions or problems that arise. The best way to find out which web hosting company is right for you is by reading reviews and learning about each company’s pros and cons.
3. Pick a Good Website Builder
After selecting your website address and the right hosting provider, the next step is to choose the website builder. If you are on a budget, you can go with WordPress’s free website builder. However, while a WordPress website is free to start, you may expect to pay for some additional features. If you are looking for other professional website builders, you may consider Squarespace. They offer beautiful templates that are easy to use.
Wix is another popular website builder that offers a wide range of templates and features. In addition, they offer a free trial to try out the platform before committing to a paid plan. Other good website builders include:
- GoDaddy: This popular website builder is perfect for startups.
- Weebly: Weebly lets you build a professional website.
- SITE123: This website builder is great for small businesses that want site speed reliability without all the bells and whistles.
- Duda: This mobile-friendly website builder is best for pure, polished web design and customization.
4. Get an SSL Certificate
If you want to accept payments from customers online, it is essential that your website has an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a security protocol used by websites to secure the connection between visitors’ web browsers and their servers. It encrypts data so hackers can’t access it without having an encryption key.
SSL certificates are important for small businesses because they help protect customer data and increase customer trust. If your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, then you are at risk of losing customers who might not want to take their chances with a website that doesn’t have one. Also, you need to know that Google can penalize sites that don’t have SSL certificates by lowering their search engine rankings.
5. Check Out Similar Business Websites for Inspiration
If you are not sure what you want your website to look like, you can start by looking at similar business websites for inspiration. This can help you get an idea of the types of features you might want to include on your site. The easier way to find similar websites is to search online. While it is okay to look at other websites, you should aim to create a website that is unique and reflects your brand. It is also a good idea to check out the websites of local small businesses in your area so you can see what they’re doing and get some inspiration for what might work best for you, too.
6. Have a Contact Page
New customers and long-term shoppers alike need a way to get in touch with you through your business website. So, it is important to include a “Contact Us” page or something similar on your website. Your contact page should consist of information like your business address, phone number, email address and a form that allows customers to get in touch with you. Another option is to have a live chat feature that let you have a more personal and meaningful conversation with your online visitors.
7. Implement Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the ranking of your website on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. A good SEO can help your website appear higher on search results when potential clients look for the products and services you offer.
Some of the best ways to improve your website’s SEO and site performance include:
- Creating high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience and adding keywords and phrases throughout your website
- Including on-page optimization and optimizing your images for online searches
- Using social media to share your content and increase your website’s exposure
- Creating a blog and including keywords in the titles and posts
- Building backlinks to your website from other high-quality websites
- Adding keywords to your website’s title tag, meta description and header tags.
8. Invest in SEO Tools
To improve your website’s SEO, you need access to the right tools. Interestingly, there are many great SEO tools available that can help you with everything from keyword research to backlink analysis.
Some of the most popular SEO tools include:
- Moz Pro
- Google Analytics
- SEMrush
- Ahrefs
- Keyword Finder
- Ubersuggest
- Google Search Console
While all of these tools are great for improving your website’s SEO, no one tool can guarantee success. Therefore, try out a variety of different tools and techniques to get the best results.
9. Optimize Your Website for Mobile
To provide a great experience for your mobile visitors, optimize your website for mobile devices. You can accomplish this by using a responsive design or creating a separate mobile version of your website. Additionally, you can use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check how well your website performs and how user-friendly it is on mobile devices.
10. Integrate With Social Media
Social media integration can help you improve your website’s traffic and engagement. By adding social media buttons to your website, you make it easy for visitors to share your content on their favorite social networks. Additionally, social media integration can help you track how well your content is performing on social media.
You can do the following to add social media integration:
- Add a Facebook Like button to your website and blog posts so that visitors can easily like them on Facebook.
- Install a Twitter Follow button so that visitors can follow you on Twitter without leaving your site. Add a Tweet This button to make it easy for people to share your content with their followers.
- Auto-publish your blog posts to your social media profiles so that your followers can see them as soon as they’re published.
- Create a social stream to display your latest social media updates on your website.
11. Use Professional Photography and Images
If you are selling products or services, ensure you use professional photography and images on your website. These help visitors understand what you offer and can be used to show off your products or services in action. If you don’t have the budget for a professional photographer, there are plenty of options available online. You can purchase stock photos from sites like iStockPhoto, Shutterstock and Dreamstime.
12. Test, Test, and Test!
The best way to make sure that your website is effective is to test it regularly. This lets you learn about what works and you can tweak things as you go. Make sure that you track how well each element performs so that you can make changes as needed. Additionally, use analytics to see how visitors are interacting with your website. This information can help you decide what content to keep, change or remove.
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