Everything You Need To Know About Setting Up a Business Website
A business website is a must-have step for any new or established business that wants to get noticed, build a pipeline of clients and generate revenue. I created this guide to spell out the what, why, and how of setting up a website. Not just any old website, but a site that reaches your ideal customers, generate sales and builds your brand.
Clarifying Your Goals and Target Audience
Before you create a website, regardless if you DIY it or hire a web designer, you need to know who you are ‘talking’ to. Who is your target audience and ideal client, customer or website visitor.
One of the questions I ask clients in the first Launch In A Day one day website pre-work exercise is what they want their website visitor to do on their website. In other words, what business goals are you trying to achieve with your new site.
Having a good grasp of these critical aspects of your website will determine your website features, content as well drive the overall information and visual design of the site.
Choosing the right domain name
One of the first decisions you need to make when setting up a business website is selecting the right domain name. It’s easy to overthink this, try not to.
A good rule of thumb is to choose a domain name that’s easy to remember, clear, and relevant to your business.
There are religious debates about whether a .com is the best and how much your domain impacts your SEO, but most of the time, if you follow the guidelines above you should be fine.
Almost as important as choosing the right domain name is to purchase your domain from a provider that is not obscure. I get into reasons why in my post 10 Smart Questions to Ask Your Web Designer Before You Work Together.
The reason? In a nutshell: it will make connecting your domain to your website much easier.
Choosing the right website platform
By ‘website platform’ I mean a web creation tool (sometimes referred to as ‘web builders’ or a ‘cms’) and hosting service.
Some platforms, like WordPress are self-hosted. This means you have to select a hosting provider and maintain your site against things like hacking, viruses etc.
Often your web designer will maintain your site for a monthly maintenance fee. This type of service can range from 25€ - 150€ a month.
Alternatively, you can use a ‘hosted platform’. Examples of popular hosted website platforms are Wix, Webflow, Shopify and Squarespace.
There are pros and cons to using a hosted vs. a self-hosted solution. If your fairly technical or at least comfortable with technical things a self-hosted solution might be for you.
Obviously, I’m a big fan of using a hosted website platform like Squarespace.
Why do I recommend Squarespace? It is extremely easy for non-web designers to manage and use.
You don’t have to worry about maintenance, security issues and plug-in updates. If there is an issue you can get in touch with Squarespace support which is very good. You don’t have to have someone like me on retainer to call every time you want to do even the simplest thing on your site.
In this blog post I’ve written in detail about why I’m a Squarespace website designer.
Understanding your website requirements and features
This relates back to the first point - understanding your website objectives, which you can read more about here.
If one of your objectives is to get more readers on your mailing list, you’ll need to have a newsletter opt-in form. If you have an opt-in newsletter form, you’ll need some kind of automated nurture sequence. If you need an automated nurture sequence, you’ll need an email marketing platform.
As much as possible, you’ll need to think through what website features you’ll need before you start your website design project.
You’ll also need to think through what you need to prepare to enable those features. For example, many clients tell me they want a blog. When I press and ask them if they have content ready, or themes they want to write about, it becomes clear they haven’t really thought about it.
And that’s fine! It may just be that adding a blog is part of your ‘website project version 2.0’ instead of version 1.0.
MORE POSTS ABOUT WEBSITE DESIGN:
Creating Engaging Content for Your Website
Content is king when it comes to web design, as this will be ultimately what attracts your visitors and encourages engagement. In addition to having an easy-to-navigate page structure, the content itself should be engaging and relevant to your audience. Include high quality images that are related to your business, videos that demonstrate how the product or service works, or written content about what sets you apart from your competitors. Consider incorporating multimedia tools, such as animation or interactive elements, to elevate the user experience even further.
Optimizing for Search Engine Visibility and Performance
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important piece of any website, as it allows your business to rank higher in search results and attract more organic web traffic. SEO best practices include utilizing keywords and phrases throughout the content pages, designing titles, meta descriptions, and URLs that are engaging and relevant to people searching for products or services related to yours. Internal links within the website should also be uniform and have descriptive anchor texts. Finally, make sure the website is fully responsive so it remains optimized for any device.