When it comes to launching your own business, it’s safe to say that most of the time, you’re going to need a website for it. Whether you’re using the website as the business, selling online, or doing something entirely offline, a website can be either essential or really, really handy. But when you’re new to creating your own website, you may find that you don’t really know where to start. You may know what kind of website you want, and you may want it to be incredible, but what does it take to make that happen? Maybe you’re looking at some websites that you personally love to use, and you know that you want yours to look a little similar? But when it comes to it, you have no idea where to start or what you need to create something like that. So, you need to break it down.
And don’t worry about feeling too overwhelmed. Because, you’re going to start off slowly. When you think about it, just like anything else, you will find that if you start to build up from the bottom, you will get there. You will find that a website is like everything – you have to deconstruct it, and then you’ll find all of the different elements that will make it work. So you can do exactly this to make sure that you get the website of your dreams. And here are ten different ways to bring it all together.
1. Get Your Hosting
So first of all, you’re going to want to make sure that you opt for a self-hosted website. It can be so tempting to just go for a free website, or one that’s really not going to cost you a lot of money. And that’s only natural. But, it will limit you. Even if you don’t want to go with an ecommerce site to begin with – or ever – you can only ever do so much with a free website. But when you get a hosted site, you’re free to do whatever you wish with it.
2. Choose A Personal Domain
Alongside that, you really do also want to make sure that you have a personalized domain name too. This is super important. Again, you really don’t want to go with a free option – it just doesn’t look professional. So, make sure that you get a domain name alongside with your hosting. And it doesn’t have to be about your business, it can be a domain name that’s more catchy if the one that you want is not available either.
https://unsplash.com/photos/DtDlVpy-vvQ
3. Figure Out Your Theme
So next, you’re then going to want to work out what you want your site to look like. Again, we’re going to break it down – starting with the overall theme. Here, you can take any research that you’ve done in other sites that you like and then use a visual sitemap generator to come up with what you want. It’s important to know what kind of homepage you want, or what pages you need, so then bring it all to life.
4. Select Brand Colors
Now, you’re also going to want to make sure that you pick out some colors for your brand. When you’re really looking to bring your site alive, and to make it more professional, you’re going to want to work with a set color palette that allows you to keep things consistent, and on-brand.
5. Consider The Content
But it’s not always about the look of your site. It can also be really about the actual substance of your site too. So, you need to really make sure that you’re thinking about the content that you have on your site, and how it adds value. If you really want your website to be incredible, the kind of content that you’re producing should be engaging, informative or entertaining or education, and on brand as much as possible.
6. Build Your Pages
Then you’ll want to pull your pages together. Ideally, you’ve always worked out what you want when considering your theme and generating your sitemap. But if not, make sure that you do have these must-have pages in place.
https://unsplash.com/photos/JVSgcV8_vb4
7. Connect Social Profiles
Now, you’re also going to want to make sure that you have your social profiles connected to the website too. It’s so important that you can connect with your customers or audience in more places than just your website if you want to keep that conversation going.
8. Add In Extras
From here, you might also want to think about what more value you can bring. Here, you can take a look at the sites that you really love, and see what they do well. Maybe you want an email newsletter opt-in popup that can gain you subscribers, or maybe you want a live chat option to help others people when they land on your site? Just think about what additional features will be relevant to your business and your audience.
9. Shake Up Your Content
Thinking back to your content, you will also want to make sure that you’re really shaking things up when it does come to your content. And it’s not just about having it there and adding value. Instead, you might want to shake up the kind of content that you’re using, such as by adding video or galleries or even audio of some kind. This can help you to make sure that your website is a winner.
10. Use Your Data
And finally, you’re then going to want to make sure that you’re plugging in some kind of analytics software. This can sound a little crazy, but you will really want to know what’s working on your site. You’ll want to know what pages are popular, what products are getting a lot of interest (but perhaps not sales), and where your readers are clicking off to – or even how they get to you. When you have this information, it will help you to optimize things going forward so that you can consistently improve your website over time.
No comments yet.