How to create a small business website in 4 simple steps
It’s time to stop being intimidated by the thought of creating your business website. Your website can be one of your greatest digital marketing tools, and it isn’t difficult to get the basics right to ensure that you’re making the most of it. You don’t need to be qualified or fluent in coding to have a website that does what it’s supposed to do.
#1 Choose the right content management system
With the help of content management systems (CMS) and wysiwyg editors, anyone can master the basics. Choosing the right CMS is critical and often the first point where small business wonders make mistakes. There are hundreds of small website package builders however there are only two real options for basic sites – Drupal or WordPress. These CMS solutions are ideal for business sites and enable you to update and edit content on-the-go.
#2 Use templates as the foundation
The idea of creating a complete and detailed website at first can be quite an intimidating thought, but you may not necessarily need that to begin with. Beginning with a template is a great starting point, and gives you the chance to use the ready-made template and all its features, personalise it, and add your own content to it. This cuts development time, and is a much easier process than beginning with nothing at all. There are hundreds of Drupal and WordPress templates to choose.
#3 Start with the essential pages
There are 4 pages that are standard on a typical website: the Homepage, Contact Us page, About Us page and Services/What We Do page. Let’s take a look at what each of these generally includes:
Homepage – The landing page for your company website. This should be kept simple enough to not overwhelm your visitors and should be laid out in a clean and uncluttered way. Many businesses are choosing a parallax design which scrolls down through different elements in order to appeal to the growing number of mobile web visitors.
Contact Us page – The page with your basic contact details all in one place, including any key phone numbers, email addresses and your registered business address. This is important to allow prospects to engage with you directly from your site.
About Us page – This page gives your visitors an insight into your history, core values and maybe some of your key staff members. Demonstrate your professional story here.
Services/What We Do page – Be clear about the products and services that you offer, and showcase them here. This will indicate to visitors whether you fit what they are looking for.
#4 Enlist the help of SEO experts
As well as the basics, there are many other things that are necessary for your website to become more visible and rank more highly in organic searches, principally on Google These including a number of SEO techniques both on and off-page, responsive design elements and good blog management. Creating links and utilising other online tools such as social media are a great way to make your website more visible too.
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