Creating a small business website is an essential step in establishing your online presence. It’s a your most important digital asset, the corner of the internet where you can showcase your products or services, engage with customers, and drive sales. However, the process may seem daunting if you’re not tech-savvy. Fear not! Here’s a simple guide to help you create your small business website.
1. Define Your Website’s Purpose
Before you start building your website, it’s crucial to define its purpose. Are you creating it to provide information about your products or services? Or is it an e-commerce site where customers can make purchases? Perhaps it’s a platform for engaging with clients and receiving feedback? Once you’ve determined the purpose of your website, it will guide the design and content creation process.
2. Choose a Domain Name
Your domain name is essentially the address where internet users can access your website. It should be simple, memorable and reflective of your brand. You can purchase domain names from various approved registrars. We use grape.ca, many of our clients use GoDaddy . Remember to renew it annually to keep ownership. We help our clients register and setup domains all the time, reach out if you have any questions.
3. Select a Web Hosting Provider
A web hosting provider offers the technologies needed for your small business website to be accessed by internet users (your potential customers!). Boom12 offers a variety of cost-effective and high-performing web hosting options including our very popular, WordPress-optimized Firecracker plan. Hosting providers like us offer different plans based on storage capacity, bandwidth, security features among others. As a small business owner starting out, shared hosting plans are cost-effective and can adequately cater to your needs.
4. Build Your Small Business Website
There are two ways to go about this: hiring a professional web designer or doing it yourself using website builders.
Hiring professionals ensures that all technical aspects are handled expertly but could be costly for small businesses just starting out.
On the other hand, website builders like WordPress, Wix or Squarespace offer user-friendly interfaces that allow you to create websites without any coding knowledge required. They offer templates that you can customize according to your brand’s aesthetics and functionality needs.
5. Create Quality Content
Content is king when it comes to websites! Ensure that all written content is clear, concise and engaging – from product descriptions to company history – while also being SEO-friendly (Search Engine Optimization) so that potential customers can easily find you online.
High-quality images are also crucial as they add visual appeal and give potential clients an idea of what they’re buying into.
6. Test Your Website
Before launching publicly, test every aspect of your site – from loading speed on different devices (desktops/laptops/mobiles), checking links work correctly (no broken links), ensuring forms submit properly etc., This helps ensure smooth user experience once live.
Small business websites don’t need to be scary
Creating a simple small business website does not have to be complicated or expensive task if done right! By defining its purpose clearly, choosing appropriate domain name & hosting provider; building with user-friendly tools; creating quality content; testing thoroughly before launch – you’ll have an effective online presence ready in no time!
If you really want to knock it out of the park, focus on running your business and doing what you do best. Meanwhile, give us a call so we can do what we do best: build you an affordable, high-performing small business website!
