How to make a business website, with expert insight

Having a good website is essential nowadays. Depending on the type of business you operate, you’ll need to decide on a couple of things first before creating a website.

When it comes to building your website, there are two methods we’d recommend: using a website builder or a content management system (CMS). The former is a dream for tech beginners, whilst the latter requires a little coding knowledge.

They’re both excellent options, but their setups are slightly different. Using our many years of website-building experience, we’ll take you through the key steps of each, providing some helpful hints and tips along the way.

1. Pick a business website template

Ready-made website templates contain everything you need to get started, like built-in professional features. That said, every template is designed for a specific purpose or topic—from fashion and the culinary arts to health and wellness.

As you set out to choose a template for your small business website, do a thorough search of the different categories that best match your business goals and persona. You should consider the look and feel of what you want your website to express. We also encourage you to peruse these business websites for inspiration ahead of creating your own.

Whether you’ve decided to start a business as a designer, winemaker or yoga instructor, these business website templates are fully customizable to fit your needs—as well as those of your potential customers. Keep in mind that a professional template is the foundation from which you can begin to create a strong and competitive online presence. It not only facilitates the process of building a small business website, but will also strengthen your image.

2. Choose a domain name

Your domain name is one of the most important features of your website. It’s the URL you’ll share with your current and potential clients and promote on social media. Therefore, you want it to be descriptive and easy to remember and type in. Try to keep it short, and steer clear of abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers, if possible, to avoid customer confusion. 

You also need to decide your top-level domain, or TLD. This is the suffix at the end of your domain name, such as .com, .net or .biz. However, nontraditional TLD names have grown in recent years. These TLDs can be based on location, such as .nyc, or type of business, like .marketing, .agency or .law. While these can be descriptive, .com is still the main go-to. Read our article on choosing a nontraditional TLD for more information. 

Once you’ve selected your domain name, you’ll need to confirm its availability and purchase it through a domain registrar. These are some popular domain registrars:

• Domain.com
• GoDaddy
• Squarespace
• Wix

As you select your new domain name, check copyrights to make sure you’re not infringing on anyone else’s protected name. If your preferred URL is already taken, you can call the company using it and ask to buy it from them or use a domain buying service from a company like GoDaddy, which will reach out to the owners of your desired domain name. This service costs around $70 per domain. It’s important that when coming up with a domain name, you’ll consider one that can really help you make a great first impression. Here are some of the best practices for picking the perfect name:

• Make it easy to pronounce and spell so that your domain name can be shareable and understandable when said aloud, as well as in writing.
• Keep it brief to help people remember your domain name, making it user-friendly. Bear in mind that typing a lengthy name into the address bar is more susceptible to typos than one that’s short.
• Be unique to stand out against the crowd. Additionally, it’s always a good idea to keep your domain name in line with your brand, paving the way for a cohesive online presence. Your domain name can be either aligned to your business name, or something similar to it.
• Avoid numbers and hyphens in your domain name as they are often too confusing (is it 5 or five?) or difficult to remember. Hyphens, in particular, are easy to misplace when typing.

3. Choose a web host

Every website needs a host – a server where all its data is stored for the public to access at all times. Hosting your own website is probably too large an expense for your small business, so you’ll need to select an external host.

Depending on your budget, you can choose from two different routes. A shared web host, the less-expensive option, means you’ll share a server with other sites. Dedicated hosting costs significantly more, but it means that you get your own private server and won’t have to compete with other sites that could drag down your speed. Some web builder platforms, such as Squarespace and Wix, include web hosting in their monthly packages.

These are some options for web hosting services:

• A2 Hosting: A2 Hosting offers both shared and dedicated hosting options. New customers can acquire a Lite hosting plan, which is sufficient for some small businesses, for as little as $3.91 per month for the first year.
• DreamHost: DreamHost offers three hosting plans tailored for managed WordPress websites: DreamPress, DreamPress Plus and DreamPress Pro. Costs generally start at $16.95 per month.
• 1&1 Ionos: This web hosting company is known for its cloud hosting and offers other cloud-based options such as servers and site backup. Plans and capabilities vary, but plans typically begin at $15 per month.

If you’re looking for free website hosting options, it’s important to remember that hosting a website is by no means free for the hosting company. Therefore, they may employ other methods, such as placing banner ads on your website, to compensate for the free hosting. As your business grows, you may find that you need to upgrade to a different web host, or even work with multiple providers to handle your website traffic and operations.

4. Optimize for SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing websites to ensure they rank well on search engines through organic searches. Improving your site’s ranking within relevant search results will allow you to reach a larger audience, thus increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your small business website. 

SEO is the practice of refining your content so that it is more likely to rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs). Though there is a lot to learn about how to get your business found on Google, you can begin by implementing some of these essential SEO strategies to your site:

• Find relevant keywords. You’ll need to do keyword research in order to better understand what your potential customers are searching for—the exact phrases or words they are using to find specific products, services and solutions. Implementing these keywords naturally on your website, from the page heading and content to the image alt text, will help improve your rank in relevant search results.
• Speed up your website. Loading speed is a ranking factor, meaning it has a direct impact on your site’s position on search engine results. Your web pages should fully load or display in both desktop and mobile browsers in a matter of seconds. Some ways to improve your website speed optimization include correcting image sizes, for example using JPEG files over PNG, and avoiding overloading your web pages with too much content.
• Add a meta description, the short summary of your website that appears below your URL in search results or social shares. Having a strong meta description copy that’s optimized using keywords can enhance the click-through rate of your website, boosting your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

5. Focus on the user experience

The effectiveness of your business website design will influence your customers’ perception of you and your brand. Moreover, creating a good user experience is also critical to making your visitors satisfied with your business and can positively affect your website’s traffic, conversion and bounce rates. In this case, you’ll want to pay attention to the following:

• Navigation menu. Website navigation can make or break a user’s experience. In order to provide optimal website navigation and ensure satisfaction among visitors, you’ll need to choose the right navigation menu for your audience and site. For example, there’s the classic menu that’s placed at the top of every web page (the site’s header). Or the hamburger menu, a widely recognizable yet simple three line icon, that’s more commonly used on mobile websites.
• Calls-to-action. A CTA button is an interactive element with the goal to get people to take a certain action, such as “Contact,” “Buy,” “Subscribe” or “Submit.” An effective CTA depends on the color, size, shape and even placement on your site, all of which can help entice a user to click and move towards the next stage of making a purchase or filling a contact form.
• Social media links. The section of your site where you display social media icons or links has an effect on user experience. Knowing how you want users to interact with links to your Twitter, Facebook or Instagram accounts is important to understanding where to present them. You can add these icons in your copy for the purpose of sharing content, place them prominently in headers and footers as reminders to visitors, or integrate live social media feeds. Additionally, you can implement a social bar to your site, linking visitors directly to any of your social channels.
• Make it mobile-friendly. Did you know that mobile devices account for approximately half of web traffic worldwide? You’ll definitely want to take into consideration how the mobile version of your site is viewed, since billions of people use theirs daily to do just about everything, from shopping to booking appointments and taking courses.  

6. Build relevant pages

The next step is to figure out the pages that your website needs. It’s essential to have a clear plan of action and clarity on what you hope to achieve with your business. So how can you identify the pages you’ll always need? Every business is unique and has a different story to tell. The pages your business will require may also be different from your competitors. 

Having a multipage website is an absolute must for any business online. It allows you to cover a broad range of content, products or services and nearly every nut and bolt of your venture. The following are some essential types of pages to consider when you make a business website.

• Homepage. Often compared to being the storefront of your business, an attractive homepage will hook your potential customers. With this in mind, it needs to be inviting and easy to navigate. You can ensure this by using eye-catching images or videos, as well as readable fonts. You should also place strategic calls-to-action to guide visitors to take further steps on your site.
• About Us. Prospective clients want to know who you are and what distinguishes you from competitors. Having an “About Us” page is the most effective way to communicate these vital pieces of information, as well as aspects of your business’s story, goals, values and mission statement. If you have a particularly small business, you can also consider adding a professional bio to this page.
• Contact Us. A contact page is the best way for potential customers to get in touch with you. This page should include all your contact information, such as location, business phone number, social media links, business email address and a short form. This investment agency’s page includes all relevant contact information and an easy to fill short form to streamline the connection process.
• Online store. With online sales on the rise, it has become essential for many businesses to adapt to an ecommerce model. Setting up an online store comes with several benefits, as it can help you manage and scale your small business with the help of advanced web tools. These include everything from managing order fulfillment and creating a customized checkout experience for customers to accepting secure online payment. Once you’ve launched an ecommerce site, you’ll be able to streamline all your operations from a single and potent dashboard on desktop and mobile.
• Bookings page. If you’re a service provider, you know that extending convenience and efficiency to potential clients is a crucial part of your business. Adding an online scheduling software to your site will allow you to accept bookings and payments seamlessly. Having an all-in-one booking solution lets you manage your calendars for clients and staff, offer membership plans, subscriptions and open trial sessions. It also allows you to host sessions via Zoom, enabling you to reach larger audiences and build your clientele.
• Blog Posts. Writing regular blogs on your website helps you rise in the search engine rankings, create your niche in the marketplace, generate your own set of followers, and increase website traffic. It’s also important that your blogs add value to your readers, help them perform specific activities, and solve particular problems. There are many other pages you’ll need, along with specific links that will interconnect the pages. This varies from business to business. Thus, conduct thorough market research to understand the pages that are essential for your business. You can also evaluate your competitors’ websites to identify important web pages.

7. Fill your site with rich content

Having quality, fresh content on your small business website not only encourages visitors to return to you, but also signals to search engines that your site includes up-to-date information. As you start thinking about incorporating or writing website content that drives traffic and engages your target market, consider these forms of content on your website:

• Blog Many businesses create a blog to provide insights into their field of expertise and share content with their clients. Blog posts are written in the form of articles—dedicated to specific subject matter—and often serve as a platform for active online discussions. You’ll want to prioritize and choose blog post topics that resonate with your audience, are relevant to your business and can positively impact your position as an established voice in your industry. The main reason why more businesses are blogging nowadays is so that they can effectively keep their clients up-to-date and create compelling content that draws in a larger audience. The latter is also an important marketing tactic. For example, if you make and sell wine, a blog post about “How to Store Wine at Home” captures new audiences who will gain value from it, and get to know your brand in the process.
• Testimonials. They are formal statements that comment on how good someone or something is. Testimonials usually come from customers, peers or anyone who has benefited from your offerings or work you did for them. Incorporating testimonials to your website helps boost your business’s credibility and build trust among clients. This is crucial, since they will be able to assess from others’ experiences how your product or service resolves problems or meets their needs. With different types of testimonials out there, customer quotes are the most used form of any kind and the easiest to obtain. You can contact a customer directly and ask for theirs. Testimonials can also be placed in just about any section of your website, from the home page, product or service page to creating its own page.

8. Implement a strong CRM

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, it helps you to improve customer interaction, build long-term rapport and capture more leads along the way. Once connected to your small business website, a CRM provides you with marketing and sales force automation, as well as customer contact and project management.

There are lots of CRM apps that can be easily integrated with your small business website. The platform includes a wide range of advanced features, such as forms to collect key contact details—emails, leads and testimonials—and live chat.

9. Include a privacy policy

Some countries around the world, including Canada and Australia, require businesses to disclose information to visitors about how personal data is collected from them, handled and then processed. In turn, users have become more protective of their privacy and concerned about how companies use their data.

As a result, it’s crucial that you write a privacy policy for your website explaining how and why you are gathering information about visitors. This will also allow you to establish trust with your users by being transparent and upfront. You can create a privacy policy by adapting any of the included samples and then add it on your site’s footer. You can also install a permission banner for cookies.

10. Promote your site

Promote your website on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest is the best way to increase your audience reach and alert customers to what’s going on with your company. Whenever you update your website, post about it on your social media outlets, but balance that with genuine, non promotional engagement.

Also include links to your social media on your website. The most common places to do this are the footer or the ancillary bar (the extra menu in the top right that often holds login or contact links).

You can also use email marketing strategy to promote your site. Email marketing is a targeted form of communication that is a must for generating conversions and developing relationships with customers. Additional benefits include building engagement with your brand, driving traffic to your site and promoting your business. A robust email marketing service allows you to create and send all types of email campaigns and customize them for your target audience.

11. Track web performance

In order to understand your site’s performance, it’s always a good idea to turn to web analytics tools and dive deeper into your strengths and weaknesses. Analytics provides in-depth insight into your site’s traffic trends and visitor behavior. The latter includes information such as where they are coming from, how they got to your site and which pages they stay on for longer periods of time. Once you have a better understanding of your visitors for the first time or returning you can make data-driven decisions on what your site needs to improve overall performance.

Conclusion

With the rising number of consumers turning to the internet, you need a strong online presence more than ever to run a profitable and successful business. Without it, you may fall behind the competition.

If you want your business to be relevant you need your online marketing strategy to keep up with changes in social media, video marketing, content creation, and SEO.