You have a great idea. A game-changing product. A must-try service. That’s amazing, you’re in business! But as soon as you start telling people about it, one of the first questions you’ll most likely be asked is “What’s your website?”
A website is a must for any business because it's where people go to learn more about what you do and how you or your products can help them. And while you probably knew having a website would be important, knowing you need one and building one are two different things. That’s why we want to share some helpful tips to keep you on the right path to creating a great website—and having an easier time getting found on the internet.
Step 1: Pick your website platform
The very first step to take when you are researching how to build a website is to decide which website platform you are going to use. Why? Because this decision impacts some of the future ones you have to make. And, even if you are thinking about hiring a website designer to take care of most of the project for you, you should find a designer who works on the platform you want to build your website on—not the other way around. Here are a few website platforms small business owners like yourself look at:
Squarespace - It’s easy to set up, you can make updates yourself, and it has all the built in features you could need—and the result looks great and is easy to edit yourself
Showit - This is a newer platform. After a slight learning curve, it’s pretty easy to create a beautifully designed website
Wordpress - A powerful platform, but also complicated. Unless you need something super custom and have lots of time to learn and try different things, we’d stick with one of the easier platforms
Shopify - A great platform for eCommerce businesses, this is easier to use but is definitely build for having a robust online shop (with a lot SKUs and inventory)
The bottom line? Pick the platform you feel comfortable making regular updates to and has the power to grow as you do.
Step 2: Buy a domain
Even though you don’t need a domain to start building a website, it’s smart to purchase yours as soon as possible because they can be hard to get—especially if your business name is more common than not. When you are researching domains, be sure to do a Google search for them in addition to your search on the registration site. This will help you see what might be similar and already out there (which you want to avoid).
Pro-tip: Many of the website platforms allow you to purchase a domain directly through them. However, Godaddy.com allows you to easily purchase additional domains under your account at a very affordable price.
Step 3: Do Your SEO keyword research
You’re building a website to help you get found by potential customers on the internet which is why you MUST do your SEO keyword research before writing any copy. Your SEO keywords need to be incorporated into your website copy (in addition to some other places), so it’s helpful to have them figured out before you start writing.
You can use tools like Ubersuggest, Answer the Public, and Google Trends to start your search (they are free if you are just doing a few searches a day). You’ll want to find the keywords and phrases with the highest monthly search volume that are related to what you do and where you doit. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer in San Diego, some of your main keywords might be:
Wedding photographer in San Diego
San Diego wedding photographer
How to hire a wedding photographer in San Diego
Open a word document or an excel sheet and start your list—which can grow as you start to do more research! Ultimately, you should find 1-3 unique keywords to use for each of the pages of your website.
Pro-tip: There are probably lots of more niche or long-tail SEO keywords related to your business. Save those for your blog! You want the main keywords for your website to be focused on what you do, where you do it, and your customer's main problem.
Step 4: Write your website copy
There is a nuance to writing website copy that does require experience and an understanding of buyer psychology, storytelling, and sales copy. You could hire an experienced freelance copywriter, or if you want to give it a shot, do it yourself! Either way, here are some helpful tips:
Start by defining your brand voice because these guidelines will make sure your website sounds how you want it to
Create an outline for your copy that corresponds to the different pages (and sections on each page) of your website. This will help you organize your story, directions, and sales points
Make sure you are writing for your reader! You do this by centering them as the subject and not writing about yourself too much (the exception being your “About Us” page)
Write about the problems your potential customers likely experience and how your business can solve those problems
Don’t forget to use a clear call-to-action (CTAs) to keep the customer focused.
Step 5: Build your website or customize a website template
This part can take a lot of time and often days of refining until it’s just how you want it—time to flex your creative muscles! A freelance web designer is a smart option for designing your website or customizing a template, but you can do it yourself on fairly straightforward platforms like Squarespace or Showit. Here are a few things you should keep in mind:
Create an outline of the pages and sub-pages you’ll need to build. This will help you stay organized—we promise
Design your website around your copy and not the other way around
Decide what images you want to use. If you don’t have professional images you can purchase stock imagery on iStock by GettyImages, Shutterstock or Sourced Co. (for all the wedding business out there). You can store all your images for your website in your brand assets in Enji if that helps you organize and send them to anyone helping you with this project
Test everything! Click on every link, every menu item, every button, and test every form. And do it twice through
Make sure your design looks as good on a mobile device as it does on a laptop or desktop
Ask a few friends to proofread and test it for you as well
Step 6: Optimize it for SEO
This is the process of making your website gets found by people searching for things on the internet. When potential customers search the keywords you’ve defined and added to your website copy, they'll have a better chance of discovering your website! This important final step is critical and worthy of its own help page. Make sure you’ve got this step locked down—here is an article that walks you how to do it!