Building a website is the best way to start up your online marketing campaign. With a well-built and functioning site, you can develop your brand, find new customers, and get more sales. The power of businesses with online stores doubled or even tripled as a result of the pandemic.
But how do you start your online marketing? You need to first build a website, and this article will help you create one for your business.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a website for small businesses as suggested by us at Cybertegic, a trusted digital marketing company in Pasadena.
1 – Know your goals.
Before anything else, ask yourself what your goals for creating a website are. You must have and understand these goals so you can plan out your marketing campaign in the future. Goals also help you build long-term and short-term goals for your business to grow in the future. It also helps in managing your time and resources when building your website.
Remember that it is okay to have more than one goal for your business’ website. For example, your business goals are: (1) to sell physical products, (2) to grow your brand’s online presence, (3) to express your brand identity, and (4) to get more online leads. Remember to keep your goals as detailed as possible as it is easier to plan for them and achieve them in the future.
2 – Choose a website builder.
After you have determined your goal, the next step is to pick a website builder to create a website. Choose a user-friendly website builder to get it up fast, with little coding skills. As a reliable digital marketing agency in Pasadena, we recommend new business owners use easy website builders such as Shopify.
Shopify can provide templates to help you speed up your website creation. It also lets you customize templates and have a drag-and-drop design without the need to hire a web designer or web developer. Plus, Shopify already has mobile-responsive themes and has a complete content management system to help you start your website right away.
3 – Pick a website host.
Every website needs a hosting provider. Choosing web hosting refers to getting a server for your website. Web hosting enables the files on your website, from codes to images and files, to be visible on the internet for your users. Make sure to choose a web hosting provider that offers quick, reliable, and unmetered web hosting.
There are things you need to look for in a web hosting provider, such as the following:
- Unlimited bandwidth – so you can grow your website traffic without paying more.
- Fast servers – so online users can load websites quickly, no matter where they are located.
- Level 1 PCI compliance – allows your online visitors’ data to be safe and secure.
- Hassle-free setup – to help you create your website in minutes and upgrade features automatically.
- Unlimited email forwarding – to help your business look more professional.
- Allows you to choose your own domain – it will enable you to create and register your domain name for your website.
4 – Brainstorm for a domain name.
A domain name acts as your website’s digital address so online users can help find it online. You can customize your domain name to make it easier for your customers to find your business later on. Domain names refer to the URL of websites such as facebook.com, google.com, and twitter.com. The domain becomes your website’s URL address which they can type in your browser’s URL box to go to your business’ website.
When choosing a domain name, consider these things:
- Make it short and memorable.
- Never use hyphens and numbers.
- Secure a top-level domain that ends with .com.
- Include your target keywords if possible.
5 – Pick a layout for your website.
Now that you have your domain name, web hosting, and website builder, the next thing you need to choose is to pick up a layout for your website. Website builders such as Shopify offer themes and templates which you can easily install in your store. You can use these templates to design your primary website. What’s great about these themes is that most of them are already mobile-friendly. This is very important because Google prioritizes crawling and indexing mobile-friendly websites.
When choosing a website layout, look for one that fits your brand’s aesthetics. Choose a theme with built-in features that you want your website to have, such as an auto-fill search bar or product filter. You can also test different themes before choosing one. Just make sure that the one you select is mobile-responsive.
6 – Add relevant web pages.
After everything has been set up, the next thing you need to do is to build relevant pages for your website. When creating an e-commerce website, product pages and category pages are necessary. On the other hand, if you’re building a website for services, you will definitely want to create a page for each service. Building a website is more than just promoting your business. Your website should also encourage online visitors to trust your brand and help them understand your business.
Aside from product pages and category pages, you also need to include standard pages for your website, including the following:
- Home Page
- About Us
- Contact Us
- FAQ
- Privacy Policy
- Shipping Policy
- Return Policy
7 – Add business tools.
Your website can do more than just let online users know about your brand, products, and services. You can build it to actually sell your products by adding the “Buy Now” and “Add to Cart” buttons. There are also plugins and add-ons you can install on your website, depending on your website builder. For example, Shopify has an App Store that offers up to 3,200 add-ons and plugins.
When choosing plugins or apps for your website, select those that will help you get more leads and increase your sales. Even apps let you connect your website store with different marketing channels and online stores such as Google Shopping Ads, Amazon Store, and eBay.
8 – Add your payment method.
Once you are done building your website, creating relevant pages, and adding products to your website. Add a payment method or payment gateway if you want to use it as a channel to sell your products via your website. Most e-commerce website builders let you add a payment gateway for your website. For example, Shopify enables you to enable Shop Pay, GPay, Paypal, and Amazon Pay. It also offers AfterPay, which lets customers pay overtime for the product they bought.
When choosing a payment gateway, know what your customers are using. For example, suppose most of your leads are coming from Google and Amazon. In that case, you will want to add G Pay and Amazon Pay to your website’s payment method.
