If you want to grow your business, what’s the number one thing you should do?
Start your own website!
If you build a professional website, you can help customers find you online—people who might be searching for your exact services or products. Your new website needs to look professional and well-designed, as this can help build trust, boost organic web traffic, and create a positive first impression.
Ready to get started? If so, keep reading to find the key steps to build your own website–even if you don’t have any experience with web design!
Purchase Your Domain Name and Hosting
If you’re wondering how to build a professional-looking website, your first step is to purchase both your domain name and hosting. The domain name is what someone types in a search bar to find your website—ideally, this should be your business’s name.
However, as the internet grows, many domains are no longer available, so you might need to be flexible. But generally, look for a domain that matches your business name as closely as possible.
Purchase the domain rather than using a free website host. Why? It will look more professional and be easier to remember.
For example, mainstbakery.com is going to look much nicer than mainstbakery.wordpress.com.
Next, purchase your hosting as well. This is essentially where your business will live on the internet.
Both domain names and web hosting shouldn’t be too expensive. You’ll pay to renew your domain name each year, and most web hosting companies charge by the month.
Use a Template or Work With a Web Designer
The next step is to think about whether you’ll build the website yourself or work with a web designer. If you work with a designer, you’re sure to get a custom, elegant website, and you’ll save yourself time—especially if you’re not web-savvy.
However, designers can charge thousands of dollars, so it’s a big investment. If you want to do it yourself, we recommend using WordPress as the best place to build a professional website.
You’ll also want to use a website template as the site’s building blocks. This makes it easy to set up your site, as you don’t need to know any coding or web design skills.
WordPress is known as themes, so do some research online to find one for your business. There are both free and paid themes available, but it’s important to find a fast one and suits your business’s needs.
Once you select a theme, spend some time reading up to learn how it works and what you can do with it.
Build Key Pages
It’s now time to start building your site! You’re sure to have an idea in your mind of how you want it to look, so try to think about how you can bring your vision to life.
One important step is to build the key pages that will help your customers and help Google notice your site. These are the ‘Contact’ and ‘About’ pages.
These are essential since they help customers find you and they let them learn more about your company. You’re not just a faceless person on the internet; you’re a caring, passionate locally-owned business or sole trader, so showcase your personality and experience on your ‘about me page.
Then start thinking about the rest of your site, uploading photos, videos, and blog posts. If your site has an e-commerce component, you’ll need to set this up too.
Optimize for SEO
Another important aspect of website building is to optimize your site for SEO. Search engine optimization is the number one way to get organic traffic, helping customers find your business online.
SEO is a complex beast, so it may take some time to understand, but it’s worth the investment.
One big component of SEO is keywords, so you’ll want to write your blog posts and pages targeting specific keywords that you want to rank for.
For example, a Dallas mechanic might want to rank for ‘best mechanic in Dallas,’ so you’ll want to include these keywords on your site.
Other key factors in SEO include page speed, correctly labeling images, website navigation, and appropriate headers and titles.
Analyze Your Web Traffic and Performance
Once your website is up and running, you need to analyze its performance—Decibel.com can help with this.
There are plenty of amazing analytics tools that let you learn plenty of helpful detail about your site. This includes how much traffic you’re getting, where they’re coming from, how long they spend on a page, and what web searches brought them to you.
You can use this data to learn more about your customer demographics, valuable for marketing and advertising purposes. It also helps you see how customers are finding you.
Build a Professional Website Today
Are you ready to build a professional website that’s sure to draw in new customers? If so, the tips above are sure to help.
Although it can seem overwhelming to build a website, it doesn’t need to be. Website builders are intuitive and simple, walking you through every step of the process.
Get started today, and in a matter of days, your new website will be up and running. Then, start promoting it to all your customers and watch the web traffic start rolling in!
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