For businesses to reach out to potential consumers, partners, and investors, they need to increase their online presence.
Business 2 Community points out that 70-80% of consumers conduct online research before purchasing goods and services — highlighting how creating and maintaining a website is a crucial step in keeping up with your competitors.
Fortunately, making your very own website has never been easier. Even without a coding or design background, anyone can make a site following these simple steps:
1. Choose a Platform
Setting up a website on your own leaves you with two main options: a website builder or a content management system (CMS). Wix and Duda are some of the most popular website builders, and these platforms are suited to businesses and bloggers without a technical background. There’s no hosting or coding involved, allowing you to focus on the design and content. However, CMS software like WordPress have more features and is a better option if you want to design something more complex.
2. Pick a Domain Name
Choose a domain name that is unique and has easy recall. The most common extension is .com, but you can pick something more specific like .ml for those based in Malaysia. This step is already included when you sign up with a website builder. But with a CMS, this is a separate step you have to take with a domain name registrar.
3. Choose a Web Hosting Provider
A web hosting plan is a requirement specific to a CMS. A web hosting provider gives you the internet “space” to host your site on their server, so that it can be accessed by anyone. Be sure to look for a provider with a track record for speed, security, and support.
4. Select a Template
Moving on to the design, a website builder like Wix gives you access to hundreds of free templates. You can opt for paid themes to separate yourself from the millions of other businesses on the platform, but the disadvantage is that you can only customize them to an extent. You can also select premium themes on WordPress and modify one to your liking with a bit of coding expertise.
5. Install Plug-Ins
After customizing the appearance of your site, you can start installing plug-ins that come with your chosen CMS. These are extra features that add value to your site. Promotion World’s top picks of WordPress plug-ins include W3 Total Cache for SEO optimization, MonsterInsights for analytics, and Contact Form 7 for building and organizing forms.
6. Create Content
Managing a website requires a bit — or a lot— of content marketing expertise. Whatever type of content you publish needs to be in line with your business and your target market’s interests. Be consistent with your overall tone and message, and be sure to offer something valuable to your audience.
7. Continue Improvements
As with any other aspect of business, owning a website requires constant upkeep, especially given the rapid pace of change in the digital landscape and customer needs. This process can be rather difficult, as any web developer will tell you. But thankfully, programs and apps can help. Updatable explains how changes like fixing a typo or shifting subdomains can now be easily done at the click of a button, saving owners the need to invest in more code. This is true for other tweaks like modifying visuals or optimizing navigation. Remember: Even the simplest modifications can be critical to staying relevant and maintaining your competitive advantage.
At the end of the day, CMS gives you more freedom when it comes to setting up a site, but website builders are more than enough for beginners and small businesses. Regardless of your chosen platform, website creation is no longer for professional web developers, so anybody can go out there and enjoy the benefits of a good business website.
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