Easy Guide to Building a Website

2 | Easy Guide to Building a Website

Easy Guide to Buildinga WebsiteIf you’re a freelancer or a small business owner, you need to have a website. In today’s increasingly social-focused internet landscape, some might say that a Facebook page and a Twitter feed are enough of an online presence to find you clients and customers. A website often offers benefits and perks that social networks can’t match.

For a small business owner or entrepreneur who doesn’t have a website, the thought of putting one together can be daunting, especially if it’s meant to give a first impression for potential clients that find you online. But really, putting together a website doesn’t have to be a big hassle, especially in 2015 when there are so many reliable and customizable platforms and services. This eBook will offer up an easy guide to building website, from settling on a domain name, to populating your site with informative content.

3 | Easy Guide to Building a Website

Get Your Domain NameYour first step in building your website is one you can most likely do on your own: registering your domain name. Ideally, your domain name should be pretty close to the name of your actual business. So if you’re called Sarah Jane’s Bakery, SarahJanesBakery.com would be your preferred URL.

However, domain names aren’t always available. It could be that a Sarah Jane’s Bakery across the country already has the address, or it could have been picked up ages ago by someone who isn’t using it. Whatever the case, you’ll need to have a plan B in case your name is taken.

4 | Easy Guide to Building a Website

Get Your Domain Name

The good thing about having to come up with an alternate name is that it forces you to get creative. An alternative to Sarah Jane’s Bakery might be SarahJanes-Bakery.com, VisitSarahJanesBakery.com, or you can add your town (e.g., SarahJanesBakeryMinneapolis.com).

Also, remember that .com isn’t the only suffix at your disposal. You can also use .org, .net, .us, or any other suffix, except for .gov (that’s obviously only for government officials).

After that, register your domain name with a registrar. Some web hosting services will let you register for a domain name through them, but some people prefer to do this as a separate transaction to ensure there’s no confusion that they are the primary owner of the domain name.

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Decide on a Placeto Host Your Site

Building the framework for your website requires you to think about the purpose of your site. Do you want to make it a place where people can buy things from you? Will it be used to show off creative, visual work? Or do you need it to be little more than an outpost with basic information about your business? Once you have a clear picture of your site’s purpose, you can settle on a place to host your site.

Many people go with companies like GoDaddy.com, Amazon, or HostMonster.com for hosting their website. These companies generally charge you a relatively low fee to use their services (generally between $5.00 and $20.00 a year) and offer some level of customer service to help those who aren’t familiar with the process. The company

6 | Easy Guide to Building a Website

Decide on a Place to Host Your Site

you end up choosing will depend largely on your needs, so be sure to do lots of online research, and maybe even ask a few friends or colleagues which ones they prefer.

Another option is going with a platform like Squarespace, or even Tumblr, which are essentially content management systems combined with hosting services. Squarespace has been getting lots of love for its stellar customer service, and even has an ecommerce plug in, so if you’re looking for a plug-and-play option that comes with lots of support, this may be worth looking into. If you’re looking for a unique way to share visual work, you may want to consider using Tumblr. Tumblr’s social network makes it easily discoverable, and there are a wide range of templates you can use that make it a good platform for showing off creative work like videos and graphic design samples.

All of these platforms and services - including Tumblr and Squarespace - allow you to use your custom domain name.

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Time to DesignOnce you’ve built the foundation for your website, the next step is making it appealing to your current and prospective customers. That means you need to think about everything from the colors and images you’ll be using on your site, to the navigation and page layouts.

First things first: if you don’t have a logo for your business, now is the time to make one. Even if you’re freelancer who is doing work on the side, a logo can help you stand out and connect you with customers. If you don’t know where to start, you can hire a

professional who can help you design a website that will get you noticed.Next, you need to come up with an overall design vision for your website. Whether you’re using a professional designer, or designing your website on the own, make sure you have a healthy brainstorming period where you can narrow your focus on what you want your website to look like. Ideally, your website should be a destination that will last for a while. You want to make sure the design is something you love and think will be useful for at least the next couple of years.

8 | Easy Guide to Building a Website

Time to Design

Do research and look for websites that resonate with you. Maybe they offer a browsing experience that feels unique and helpful. Or perhaps their ecommerce offering is one that you’d like to lend your online marketplace. Even a website’s simplicity and straightforwardness can help generate ideas.

Be sure to find fonts and typefaces that you love and are also easy to read. The last thing you want is a website that uses a boring, standard font like Times New Roman or something similar. You also want to avoid anything that is too narrow, light, or ornate, in case it makes it difficult for people to read it.

Be smart about how you choose and lay out your information. For instance, when someone first comes to your page, they should immediately be greeted with your logo and maybe even colors that make them think of your brand. The overall experience of your site should also match your brand. For instance, if you’re creating a website for a bedand breakfast, you may want it to have more of a homey vibe. But if yourun a sleek, minimalist nail salon, the design and experience shouldconvey this feeling.

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Make Sure Everything is Working

Once your website is built and filled with content, it’s time to start testing. Testing is an important part of the website building process because it forces you to see things through your customers’ eyes.

One basic testing task you can take on is seeing how your website looks on different browsers. That means you should visit your site on Safari, Chrome, Windows, and other browsers to see if there are any visual errors or inconsistencies. And of course, don’t forget to see how everything looks when viewing on a tablet or mobile phone since a big chunk of your business may be coming from these sources.

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Make Sure Everything is Working

You’ll also want to work with someone - or a group of people - to make sure every component of your site is working as well. If you have an ecommerce section, you’ll want to make sure that orders are going through correctly and that money is being moved correctly. If you have a contact field, make sure there are no bugs that make it a bad experience for the sender or the receiver. And of course, make sure to hire a copy editor who can go over your written content and search for typos or other errors that detract from your site.

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Let People KnowYou’ve Launched

You’ll also want to submit your website to search engines like Google and Bing. If you’re getting links from other outside website, you may not need to do this step, as the search engines will most likely automatically register your website for you. But if you’re not getting links yet, this is a good step to take.

You might also think about a paid media campaign to get the word out about your site.

Google and Facebook both have ad programs that are affordable and easy to execute.

You may also want to reach out to digital influencers who can spread the word about your site. See if they’ll share a link to your site with their readers, or link to you in their own content. This will help you in terms of search results, and also connect you with those influencers’ audiences.

Once you’ve built and launched your website, it’s time to let people know that you’re up and active. If you already have social networks established for your brand or business, you should push out news of your new website, and also add the address to your basic profile information.

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Test and ChangeWebsites go through changes all the time. As you’re launching your site, feel free to make any edits or changes whenever you see something that’s not working. For instance, if your ecommerce experience is clunky, work on making it better. If the colors of your site make the text hard to read, start looking for a new color. Like a newly purchases home that’s in need of some fixing up, your work on your personal website is never done. Sources: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2424725,00.asphttp://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/startwebsite.shtmlhttp://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/steps-perfect-website-layout-812625

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