Having an online presence is crucial for any modern business so that potential customers are able to find you online. However, many small businesses are missing out on the opportunities that being online bring.
So if you’re yet launch your business online, or are thinking of starting a new business and want to make the best of your website, here are a few handy tips and tricks from Li-at Karpel Gurwicz of Wix, to help you do it successfully:
1. Define your goals
Before you get ahead yourself, stop and define the goals of your website as well as the general message you want to convey to your audience. The layout and style of your website will completely depend on this.
2. Choose the right domain
Choosing a domain is one of the critical aspects to determine your site’s visibility on the web. Your domain name depends on your business, and you’ll want to choose a domain that is close to matching your business name or what you do.
Try to keep it short and memorable whilst avoiding abbreviations, acronyms and numbers; this will make it easy for potential customers to find your website and remember the name of your company.
3. Create a detailed site map
Your site map helps you organize the content that needs to be on your site, as well as help you eliminate unnecessary pages.
Having a detailed site map will ensure that you don’t have duplicate pages or content on your site.
4. Designing your website
When it comes to designing and building a business website, you have three options:
- You can do it by yourself from scratch,
- You can use a DIY website builder, or
- You can hire someone else to do it for you.
Building a website from scratch
If you have great technical skills, you could build your business website yourself.
You’ll need to have a good knowledge of computer code such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and Perl. You’ll also need a good eye for design, so your website looks good.
Using a DIY Website builder
The second option is to use a DIY website builder tool. Although this may seem quite challenging, website building platforms such as Wix offer a variety of ready-made layouts and templates that you can then customize.
You also have the option to use the latest Artificial Intelligence tool in the market to help you build a unique and personalized website for free in a few minutes; all you need is to enter a few details about you and your new business.
Depending on your industry or field, your site could offer a number of features that would make it more appealing to your target market.
For example, if you are a store you might want to consider using the available tools to support stores, but if you are setting up your B&B or restaurant you might consider including tools that let you take bookings online.
Hiring a web designer or developer to build a website
The third option is to find a web designer to create your website. Outsourcing the task to a web designer will cost you more money but it will save you time.
If you do decide to hire a web designer, it’s a good idea to read ByteStart’s guide on
5. Test your new website out
Before you start promoting your new website, make sure that you and your inner circle test it out to catch any bugs or details that you might have missed initially.
Ensure that your website shows the way you want it to on all common browsers such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox – you want your site to have a consistent appearance.
You also need to check that your website is mobile-friendly and loads properly on various mobile devices as many people browse the net while they’re on-the-go. And make sure that you aren’t making any of these 7 Common Website Mistakes.
6. SEO
Once you have your website up, the process doesn’t stop there. Promotion of your website and getting it to pop up on the search engine results is equally important in order to increase your traffic.
Find the right keywords for your business; experts always use a keyword tool like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Explorer or SEMRush.
Optimizing your website’s SEO can also help you attract more visitors to your site and consequently more customers. You can find more help on this in;
- When to get SEO for your website, and when not to
- 5 questions you should ask an SEO agency before you hire them
- Onsite & Offsite SEO: How to optimise your output
7. Maintain your website
As your website is a permanent platform that represents your company, maintenance is extremely important. Get on board with an analytics software, even something as basic as Google Analytics, and monitor your website to see how it’s performing with the public.
If there’s more than one of you, designate roles to your team and create a plan so that everyone is aware of who’s posting new content, monitoring site analytics and comments.
With all the tools available out there, managing and growing your business online doesn’t have to create a hole in your pocket or take out much of your time.
Just follow these simple rules and you will be able to get your business website ready to go in a short period of time.
More on creating a winning website
You can find lots more tips on creating a successful business website in these other ByteStart guides;
- Making your website work for you – 6 steps for better returns from your online efforts
- Turn your ecommerce website into a deadly selling tool with these 5 steps
- Taking your business online – A Digital marketing guide for small business owners
- Turn your website browsers into buyers with personalised product recommendations
- A Practical guide to Content Marketing for small business owners and start-ups
More help on starting a new business
ByteStart is packed with help and tips on all aspects of starting your own small business. Check out some of our most popular guides;
Starting Up
- 5 things you must do when you go self employed
- 10 advantages running your business as a limited company has over being a sole trader
- How to choose the best online accounting software for your new business
- How to set up a limited company
- Which types of insurance must your business have?
Funding your business
- How to maximise your chances of securing a small business loan
- A Guide to ‘Alternative Finance’ – the new funding options for startups and small businesses
- Finding finance for your new business – funding advice for start-ups
- How peer-to-peer lending offers businesses a new funding option
- What to do when the bank says “NO”!
Promoting your business
- How to attract customers from heaven – not clients from hell!
- 7 Brilliant branding tips for start-ups
- How to create business cards that make a big impression
- 21 killer ideas to get free publicity for your small business
- 10 Top tips for small businesses starting out with social media
Image: DepositPhotos.com
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