There are many reasons why people and organizations build a website. Bloggers use websites as a form of expressing their thoughts and eventually monetizing their content. Some people also use a website to form a portfolio for their skills in web development or design.
Even small business owners invest in internet marketing service and build a website because it helps them reach as many people as possible.
Building a website isn’t difficult. But you will need to have the right ideas and tools to work with.
There are three basic things you need to build a website:
- Domain Name
- Web Host Service
- Website platform
Having a domain name and web host service ensures that your website is accessible to others. After choosing the domain name and web host service, you can choose a website platform to start designing and posting content. WordPress is one of the widely used website platforms by many. You can also contact an Essex web design agency to get professional help in designing your website.
Steps for Building a Website from Scratch
1. Set Your Goals
Before you start working on your domain name and finding the best web host service, you need to do some homework. First, you should have a clear and defined goal. Why are you building a website? Are you building one to attract more customers to your business? Will it be a platform for selling your goods and services? Will it be a platform where you can share your thoughts, expertise, and skills?
2. Conduct Research
After answering these questions, you need to research other websites that are a part of your niche. Learning from other websites will give you an idea of presenting your brand and how to optimize your content.
Searching for website templates and designs will also give you many options to choose your website’s most appropriate one. From the information you gathered, you can establish the elements you think will work for your website.
3. Choose and Register a Domain Name
Choosing your site’s domain name is the most important decision in the website making process. Your domain name is how people will remember your website, and it should display your brand.
Your domain name should be something memorable and yet unique from your competitors.
When creating a domain name, you should consider the following:
- Easy to Say and Spell: You want people sharing about your website easily, and they won’t need to spell it to other people to make them remember it.
- Short but Memorable: It is recommended to use at most 14 characters when choosing your domain name. Choosing a long string will make it harder for people to remember it.
- It is best to use your name for personal blogs or websites as your personality should focus on your brand.
- Avoid adding numbers and hyphens because it will make the URL look weird, and it will be harder for people to pass your domain name on to others.
Check out these blog name ideas and suggestions if you are looking for some inspiration.
4. Choose a Web Hosting Service
A web hosting service allocates space on their server for your website to store its files like codes and images that are available for online viewing. A web hosting service makes it possible for people to access your site on the web.
There are several things you need to consider when choosing the right web hosting service for your site:
- Price of Service: Web hosting services have various prices for sign-up and renewal. Also, make sure to check if there are hidden fees that come with your plan
- Technical Features: Ensure that all the hosting web service’s technical features meet all your website needs. For example, if you are hosting an eCommerce website, you might require all the necessary features of an eCommerce hosting platform.
- When your server suddenly goes down, customer support helps sign-up with a web host service that has responsive customer support and is available 24 hours a day.
- Ease of Use: It’s best to choose a web host service that provides faster reload times so your audience won’t have difficulty accessing your site’s pages.
- Management Settings: If you have multiple sites to manage, choose a web hosting service that can efficiently help you manage all of them.
5. Choose a Website Platform
Many businesses and personalities choose WordPress to build their website because it is easy to use, and the platform has a high level of customizability. If you’re unsure if WordPress is the best platform for your needs, here are things you need to consider when choosing one:
- Functionality: Choosing the right platform depends on the intended use of your website. If you constantly add new elements like photos and videos, you need a platform to make changes without messing up the codes easily.
- Ease of Use: If you’re new to website building, you need a platform that’s user friendly. Platforms like WordPress are easier to handle because adding elements like videos, content, and images can be done easily. They also have ready-made themes for you to choose from.
- Customization: It’s important that your chosen platform can be customized according to your needs. If you want to attract more people to your business, you need to have a good homepage that converts your audience to become customers. If you have a personal blog, you should also create call-to-action elements so they will sign-up for email newsletters.
6. Pick Important Elements on Your Site
After setting up all the technical items on your site, you should now add important elements to complete it. First, you need to have a consistent design layout. You can customize the layout or choose from the ready-made options provided by your chosen website platform.
Next, you should choose a fitting color palette that matches your brand. The use of color is more than just making your site look pretty – you should also use this to evoke emotions in your visitors.
After choosing a color palette, you should also choose the right fonts. Just like colors, fonts play a key role in evoking feelings in your audience. Fonts also bring up connotations, so it should fit your brand and personality.
Final Thoughts
Websites are helpful tools to reach more people and increase brand awareness. This is the reason why websites are important to businesses.
For newbies, follow the basic steps and experiment and learn what layout, fonts, and colorwork attract more people to your site. You should also focus on high-quality content and find ways like investing in SEO to ensure that your online presence is high. Creating a website is easy, but maintaining it and spreading the word about it involves a lot of work.