When you sit down and decide that you want to enter into the online business world, one of the first things you will want to do is create a website where people can learn about you and buy your products or services.
A website is a great way to make a small business feel more legitimate and trustworthy and it has been proven that businesses who do have websites are more successful than those who don’t.
You want to make a place which allows new customers to search for you and find out about you as they make a decision to buy a product or not, and here are some of the ways to do it.
1. Make a plan
The ability to plan is a skill which every business owner should have nailed down because running a business involves planning for almost every single thing. When planning for a website you will need to write down what type of website you want, whether it be a simple information site, a blog or an ecommerce site. Think about everything you want to include on the website and how you can make it happen.
2. Sketch it out
Once you have an idea of what exactly you want for your website you need to start thinking about how you envision your website looking to the outside. Spend some time creating a sitemap and draw out what you would like every page of the website to look overall. This will take some time but it is a crucial step and will guide you all the way through the other steps of making your vision come to life.
3. Find a platform
When you have a sketch and a head full of ideas for your website you need to then think about finding the right CMS platform to create your website with. Perhaps the most commonly used platform is WordPress and this can make creating a website much easier for you because it guides you every step of the way and provides you with handy themes. Take your time choosing the right platform for you because once you’ve started it can be a pain to start over again.
4. Choose a colour palette
As a brand looking to stay in the forefront of their customer’s minds, you will have to have some strong branding in place throughout the different areas of your business. When it comes to making a website you need to think about choosing a colour scheme which fits your branding and logo but which will also catch the eye of everyone who visits you. You can create colours palettes online and this will help you to decide which colours work best together.
5. Use your logo
Just as you need to make a mark with the colours you decide to use, you will also want to stamp on your logo in prominent places on the website. You want your logo to become iconic with your brand such as the big M, Coca-Cola and more. To make this happen you need to ensure that your logo is right at the top and forefront of the landing page.
6. Nail the navigation
If you want to make a website which people want to visit and explore you need to use a sitemap builder to create the best possible layout for your pages. Make sure you keep things as simple as you can when it comes to site navigation because if it is too complicated to get through, your audience will give up and go somewhere else instead for it.
7. Add social links
The advantage of having your own website for people to visit is the fact that you can give yourself free advertising in the form of bringing in links to your social media as well as parading your products on the site for everyone to see. Social links can be placed on the header and footer of every page and this will increase the likelihood of people clicking through and following you on all of your social media channels.
8. Create engaging content
Content is and always will be a massive part of marketing and it really is something which you need to bring to the forefront of your mind when creating your website. For writing content, there will be your bio, about me, blog posts and testimonials which can engage people in different ways to draw people into your site from far and wide.
For visual content, you have images which you should take yourself, and video which you can make to either show tutorials, share behind the scenes stuff or simply demonstrate a product. Content is the heart of the website so make sure that you make the most of it.
9. Add stunning images
Stock images can be great. They are quick to download, convenient for all and they are also of course very professional. However, stock images can be bought by anyone in the world and there could be 100 other websites who have exactly the same image on them as you.
If you want to stand out and grab the attention of your audience you need to make your own photographs and display them proudly on your site. Take a photography class or ask a friend to help you out, and make images to captivate anyone.
10. Promote it
The moment that your website finally goes life is a huge moment for the brand and you need to make sure you are prepared to promote it across all of your channels. Think about creating photos on Canva which announce the opening of your website and then share these on your social media as well and with friends and family on your personal social channels.
Generate interest and enthusiasm and you will be much more likely to succeed. You will soon be gaining lots of traffic from people all over the world to your website and making your website known to the whole world.
