Small Business Guide ( Website Strategy)

 A Small Business Guide to Creating a Business Website

A website is essential for your small business. Here's how to make one.

• A small business website is essential for informing your audience, explaining your value proposition, increasing brand recognition, and driving sales.
• To create a business website, you must first select a domain name and secure web hosting. Then, optimize your website to increase traffic and search engine rankings.
• Maintain an up-to-date website that is mobile-friendly. In order to improve your search engine rankings, make sure your site's speed is adequate.
• This article is for small business owners who want to build a website or improve an existing one.

It is no longer possible to run a business, even a physical one, without a web presence. Consumers use the internet for everything from product research to finding a store's location and operating hours. Even a simple, well-designed website can give you an advantage in your field, and if you have products to sell, your website can open up new markets and easily expand your business.

Website design software has evolved to be simple to use for anyone. You don't need to know how to code to create an appealing and functional website. Whatever programme you use, you only need to follow a few simple rules and tips to give your website a professional appearance, make it easy to find, and present your company in the best light.

Here's our step-by-step guide to building a profitable business website.

1. Identify the primary goal of your website.

A business website is typically used to provide general information about your company or as a direct platform for e-commerce. Whether you create a simple website that tells a little about your company or a more complex e-commerce site, the most important thing you must do is state what your company does - in plain terms - on the homepage. Customers should not have to dig around to find out if your company can meet their needs, warned Erin Pheil of website design firm Followbright.

"Consider your specific user experience and the journey the user will take as they navigate your site," said Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of website design and digital marketing firm Blue Fountain Media. "Whatever the fundamental goal or focus of your website is, users should be able to achieve it easily, and the goal itself should be reinforced as users navigate throughout your site."

If you do not intend to accept payments (such as Apple Pay) through your website, you will have less work to do when setting it up. If you are a retailer or service provider and want to offer customers the option to pay online, you will need to use an external payment service, which we will discuss later in this article.

2. Choose a domain name.

One of the most important aspects of your website is its domain name. It's the URL you'll share with current and prospective clients, as well as promote on social media. As a result, it should be descriptive and simple to remember and type in. To avoid customer confusion, try to keep it short and avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers.

You must also choose your top-level domain, or TLD. This is the ending of your domain name, such as.com,.net, or.biz. Nontraditional TLD names, on the other hand, have grown in popularity in recent years. These TLDs can be based on location, such as.nyc, or business type, such as.marketing,.agency, or.law. While these can be useful,.com is still the most common. For more information, see our article on selecting a nontraditional TLD.

Once you've decided on a domain name, you must check its availability and purchase it from a domain registrar. Here are some well-known domain registrars:

• Domain.com
• Wix
• GoDaddy
• Squarespace

Check copyrights as you choose your new domain name to ensure you are not infringing on anyone else's protected name. If your desired URL is already in use, you can contact the company that is using it and ask to purchase it from them, or you can use a domain buying service from a company like GoDaddy, which will contact the owners of your desired domain name. This service is approximately $70 per domain.

3. Select a web host.

Every website requires a host, which is a server where all of its data is stored for public access at all times. Because hosting your own website is likely too expensive for your small business, you'll need to choose an external host.

You have two options depending on your financial situation. The less expensive option, shared web hosting, entails sharing a server with other websites. Dedicated hosting is significantly more expensive, but it provides you with your own private server and eliminates the need to compete with other sites that could slow down your speed. Web hosting is included in some web builder platforms' monthly packages, such as Squarespace and Wix.

Here are some web hosting service options:

• 1&1 Ionos: This web hosting company is well-known for its cloud hosting services, but it also provides other cloud-based services such as servers and site backup. Plans and capabilities vary, but pricing starts at $15 per month.
• A2 Hosting provides both shared and dedicated hosting services. For the first year, new customers can get a Lite hosting plan, which is adequate for some small businesses, for as little as $3.91 per month.
• DreamHost: DreamHost offers three managed WordPress hosting plans: DreamPress, DreamPress Plus, and DreamPress Pro. The average monthly cost is $16.95.

If you're looking for free website hosting, keep in mind that hosting a website is far from free for the hosting company. As a result, they may use other methods to compensate for the free hosting, such as placing banner ads on your website.

Consider how well a host can answer questions about its server locations and reliability when selecting a host, according to Jim Cowie, former chief scientist at cloud-based internet performance company Dyn.

"It's a good idea to ask, 'Can you show me how close you are to the major markets where my customers will be?'" Cowie stated. "Any good hosting provider should have the tools to show you... performance measurements."

As your company grows, you may discover that you need to switch to a different web host or even work with multiple providers to handle your website traffic and operations. Cowie advised keeping a close eye on your site's performance and your customers' experiences with your website in order to determine your hosting requirements.

4. Create your pages.

A good website is more than just a single page. You should create several pages dedicated to various aspects of your business, such as a detailed catalogue of your products or services or a blog section for company updates. In terms of your overall website, ensure that each page supports the primary goal of the site, has a clear purpose, and includes a call to action (for example, "learn more," "sign up," "contact us," or "buy this").

A contact page is one of the most important sections of a website because it is your customers' direct link to you, so include as much information as possible (your business's phone number, email address, and physical location, if you have one). An "about" page should also include information about the founding team or staff so that customers can put real names and faces to your brand.

If your company does not already have a logo, hire a graphic designer to create one for you to use on your website, business cards, and social media profiles. This will assist your clients in quickly and easily identifying your company on the web.

Justin Zalewski, director of product design at innovation consultancy Studio Science, shared a few basic guidelines for creating efficient, content-rich website pages:

• Make it clear what your business does. Lead with a clear, concise statement that summarises what your company does. Within seconds of landing on your homepage, visitors should be able to understand what you do. A few well-written pages outperform dozens of poorly written ones.
• Strategically place calls to action. CTA buttons perform best when they correspond to the information on the page. A "buy now" button, for example, makes sense on a product page, but a "contact us to learn more" button may be more appropriate on the "about us" page. Similarly, a page listing customer reviews could include a link to the available plans and pricing.
• Improve speed by automating it. Set up as many automated speed boosts as possible. Installing the right plugins for your content management system (CMS) will cache parts of your site so visitors don't have to download anything more than once. Zalewski recommended WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache for WordPress users, which compresses files and allows visitors to browse your site more quickly. If you're not particularly tech savvy, some of the more technical aspects of caching and compressing files may necessitate the assistance of a web development partner.
• Avoid using stock photos. The quickest way to turn a great site into a mediocre one is to use tacky stock photography. If you need photos for your page, it's best to use images of your actual team or office.

Pheil also stated that high-quality product images increase sales, so invest in good photos of the products or services you sell.

5. Establish your payment system (if applicable).

While this step will not apply to all business websites, businesses that want to offer customers the option to pay online must integrate electronic payment systems with their websites. The most convenient method is to use e-commerce software or small business credit card processing solutions.

Many web hosting companies provide an in-house shopping cart or integration with e-commerce software. Conduct some research to ensure that you get a solution that is simple to use and adaptable enough to meet your needs now and in the future.

6. Put your website through its paces and publish it.

Before declaring your site live on the internet, ensure that it works in all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. Check each page and feature in each browser to ensure that images are displayed, links are correct, and the format is smooth. This will take some time, but the time you put in now will save you from receiving future complaints from visitors who are unable to access certain features.

Also, ensure that your website looks good on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. This step should not be overlooked because Google and other search engines have shifted to mobile-first indexing, which prioritises the performance of your website's mobile version in search engine rankings.

An analytics programme is another important feature to include from the start. Setting this up before the website goes live allows you to iron out any issues and coordinate a proper setup, according to Shaoolian. Once the website is live, you can track page performance and use analytics to determine why a particular page is successful or unsuccessful.

"You can look at which of your marketing campaigns are generating the most conversions and examine any metrics such as city, browser, and so on to get a sense of how your audience is interacting with your site," Shaoolian explained. "If you... implement this [after] the site goes live, you'll miss out on valuable data and have no way of knowing which elements of your site are successful or unsuccessful right away."

7. Use social media to promote your website.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are the most effective ways to expand your audience reach and inform customers about what's going on with your company. When you update your website, share it on social media, but balance it with genuine, non-promotional engagement.

Include links to your social media accounts on your website as well. The footer and ancillary bar are the most common places to do this (the extra menu in the top right that often holds login or contact links). In our marketer's guide, you can learn more about social media for business.

8. Make an investment in search engine optimization (SEO).

Submitting your website to major search engines, as well as implementing a strong SEO strategy across your site, will help direct potential leads to your page. According to Shaoolian, defining title tags, meta descriptions, and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) that are relevant to your company and aspects of your industry can improve your search engine rankings for the products or services you're attempting to market.

"Building relevant keywords into your content from the very beginning of your website, and having a strong focus on SEO from the beginning of your website launch, will help you generate traffic early on," he said.

These important on-site SEO tactics can help you improve your ability to move up the ranks as you build your business website. (You can also pursue off-site SEO tactics.)

Select the appropriate keywords. Choose keywords that are relevant to your company and that potential customers are looking for online. Visit our SEO small business tools guide to find a solution that can assist you in identifying, analysing, and tracking these keywords.

Create new content. Regular blog posting, website additions, and content updates all signal to search engines that your site is relevant for the chosen keywords. Choose topics that are both relevant to your business and exciting for your industry in order to establish yourself and your company as thought leaders in the field.

Include both internal and external links. Internal links are links on your website pages that lead to other pages on your site, whereas external links are links to popular, authoritative websites. Place these links throughout your website in strategic locations. Make sure the links make sense, fit the context, and add value to the reader's experience; otherwise, linking may work against you.

Image optimization Compress images so they don't take too long to load on your site. Take the same approach with video, ensuring that any clips load quickly and do not slow down the overall performance of your site. The metadata of images, such as tags and captions, is another opportunity to work in your keywords and tell search engines about the images.

Increase the speed of your website. Pages should load as quickly as possible; ideally, within a few seconds. To determine whether your site is performing optimally, use free site speed checkers such as Google's PageSpeed Insights.

9. Keep your website updated.

To keep visitors coming back to your website, update it frequently with blog posts about current industry events, new products and offers, and company news.

You should also check your software and all add-ons at least once a month to ensure they are up to date. According to Pheil, even if your website host's security is strong, your software is vulnerable to hacking if it is out of date. Delegate the task to a trusted employee or a freelance website manager if you don't have time to do it yourself.

Starting a website for your company is a low-cost investment that can help you establish credibility and reach a larger customer base than traditional marketing techniques could. You'll never have to worry about "not existing" to your current and future clients if you keep your website updated with fresh, current content and respond quickly to technical issues.