The world, as it seems, is moving at a breakneck pace. With significant technological advances taking place, the way people approach businesses has changed drastically. A decade ago, nobody would have given importance to running a business online. Now, for your small business to be successful, having an online presence is supremely important.

Last year, with the outbreak of COVID-19, we realized how necessary it is to build a website since everything has become virtual. We saw how we started purchasing items like groceries and medicines online too.

Building a website for your business is easy. You can even do it by yourself or hire a website developer or freelancer to do it for you. If you’re a small business, your website won’t need much maintenance. Therefore, hiring a freelance web developer or building a website yourself is the best way to go.

So, are you ready to kickstart your online business? Here are ten steps on how to build a website for your business.

10 Steps To Build A Website In 2021

1. Get A Unique Domain Name

A domain name is an identity given to your business website. If your business’s name is ‘Clothes Hunt,’ you can choose an exact match domain name with a new domain extension – www.clotheshunt.icu. A unique domain name like .icu can help improve your website’s credibility, making your business look authentic and professional.

If you choose a domain name that is more suited to your business, it will help build trust among your target audience.

While choosing a domain name, keep in mind to make it concise and easy to remember. You can explore various domain extensions and pick the one that is best suited to build a website for your business.

2. Communicate About Your Business

Start by clearly defining the purpose of your website. This way, you will easily communicate your ideas to your audience and not confuse them.

Your website has an important role to play in your brand’s overall identity. When people land on your page, they should know about the services or products you have to offer.

Include details about your business in the ‘About’ section, describe the services you offer, add images that define your business, and match it with your overall brand image.

Another great way to engage with your audience is to mention your social media handles. This way, your visitors be able to learn and read more about your business.

3. Use A Professional Email Address

To make your business seem more authentic, you should use a professional email id and mention it on your website’s ‘Contact Us’ section.

Using paul@clotheshunt.icu will sound more professional than paul.clotheshunt@gmail.com. Having a personalized email id helps in establishing your business as a professional entity in the market.

Getting a professional email id is a piece of cake. Once you get your website name with .icu, you can use G-suite from Google to set-up your professional email id.

4. Get Creative With Your Website Design

Now is the time when you let your creative juices flowing. If you plan to design your small business website yourself, you can search for inspirations and templates online to better understand how you want your website to look. You can also hire a web developer to build a website for you.

While picking a template for your website, keep in mind that your website content matches your brand identity. Does your content require a single page or multiple pages? Customize your website based on the nature of your business, add colors to set the tone.

Your business website needs to be unique and should speak about the brand. Play around it and choose what fits your requirements the best.

5. Make Your Website SEO Friendly

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a practice that helps your website rank higher on search engine result pages. This way, your website gets more exposure and visibility in front of prospective clients who will later use your services or buy your products.

There are a few SEO tips that can help you improve the ranking of your website. First, make sure to choose and register an SEO friendly domain name. Second, be smart with your keywords, and third, create and publish quality content regularly on your website’s blog.

6. Pick The Right eCommerce Builder

If your business website’s purpose is to sell products, it is advisable to build your online store with the right eCommerce builder.

A dynamic eCommerce platform will help your business website become a full-grown online store. You can showcase your products, display reviews, track your orders, and do a lot more with an eCommerce Platform.

Here are some examples of well-known eCommerce builders

• Shopify: Shopify is an eCommerce platform that allows you to build a full-fledged website and manage inventories, products, payments, shipments, discount codes, and more.
• PrestaShop: An open-source eCommerce solution that allows you to build your online store. PrestaShop is used by 300,000 businesses currently.
• WooCommerce: It helps you to convert your WordPress website into an online store.

7. Publish High-Quality Content

Once you start to build a website, it’s time to bring all your written and visual content in place. It’s better to prepare all your website content beforehand. This way, you’ll have an idea of what goes on your business website. Prepare your tagline, brand or product descriptions, and your CTA.

Although you can always change your website’s content, it is also crucial to update your website content frequently. This way, your audience will always be up to date with what you have on offer for them and it will increase your website’s engagement.

8. Create SEO-Friendly Content

As mentioned above, a great way to improve your website’s engagement is to produce meaningful and SEO friendly content regularly. Using relevant keywords on your website can help it rank on search engine platforms.

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to check for relevant keywords and topic ideas that will help up your SEO game. You can also use AnswerThePublic to search for trending questions related to a particular topic. Addressing these questions is a great way to drive traffic to your website.

Publishing quality content on your website can include posting videos, infographics, photos, customer testimonials, etc. You can also invite industry experts and get guests to write blog posts for your audience to engage with your website. The idea here is to publish good quality content.

9. Make Use Of Social Media Platforms

Social Media is the most effective and cost-friendly way to share information across the World Wide Web. Take advantage of Social Media Marketing by encouraging your audience to share your content over social networking sites. To do this, you can add your brand’s social media handles to your website.

When you build a website, be sure to include your social media handles in a way that they are easily visible to your visitors. To do so, you can add your social media handles on the menu section, the footer, or the anchor of your business website.

To make your brand known to your audience, engage with them through various social media platforms.

10. Use Website Analytics

To keep track of your website traffic, install Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools. You can also ensure all parameters of your business website are working correctly by using website analytic tools.

Installing website analytics will also help you keep track of the following information regarding your business website.

• Monitoring daily, monthly, and annual visitors on your website.
• The number of views on each website page
• Percentage of people who left your website abruptly.
• Broken Links on your website
• Keywords that attracted visitors to your website
• Information to optimize your website’s SEO and easily plan your next steps.

Conclusion

It may seem like a difficult task to build a website, but it really isn’t. Following the ten-step guide mentioned above, you can easily set your goals, create a plan of action, and build a website for your business.

Make sure to choose the correct domain name that suits the personality of your brand. Explore brand-name options on the .icu domain extension and get started with your online business.

Author: Rifat Shibli

Rifat Shibli is a freelance writer in the tech and new domains industry. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.