How To Make A Small Business Website (Step-by-Step Guide)
In today's digital age, having a website is essential for small businesses to attract customers. This step-by-step guide will walk you through creating a small business website.
Reasons to Create a Website
- Credibility and professionalism: A website can give your business a more professional image and make it easier for potential customers to trust your brand.
- Provide information about your business, products, and services: A website allows you to showcase your products or services, provide pricing information, and share critical business information with your customers. This can make it easier for potential customers to learn about your business and make informed decisions.
- Plays an integral part in the customer journey: A website can be an essential touchpoint in the customer journey, providing customers with the information they need to make a purchase.
- Increases your visibility: Having a website makes it easier for potential customers to find your business. There are 5.16 billion users on the Internet worldwide.
- Attract new customers and retain existing ones: By providing valuable information and engaging content, you can build lasting relationships with customers and encourage them to make repeat purchases.
- Foundation for your marketing: A website can be the foundation for your entire marketing strategy, providing a central hub for all your marketing efforts.
- Helps you beat your competition: A website can help you differentiate your brand and stand out in a crowded market.
- Improve customer communication and engagement: A website can facilitate communication with your customers, providing them with a way to ask questions, leave feedback, and engage with your brand. This can help you build stronger customer relationships and improve customer satisfaction.
- Enable e-commerce and online sales: A website can provide a platform for e-commerce and online sales, allowing customers to purchase your products or services directly from your website.
- Collect valuable customer data and insights: A website can provide valuable data and insights about your customers, including their demographics, interests, and behavior. This data can inform your marketing strategy and improve your customer experience.
- Improve search engine optimization (SEO) and online discoverability: A website can be optimized for search engines, making it easier for potential customers to find your business online. That means free traffic that you can convert to customers.
1. Define your Goals
Before you start creating your website, you need to define your goals. Ask yourself: What do you want your website to achieve? Do you want to use it to sell products, generate leads, or provide information about your business? Maybe a combination of them? Once you know your goals, you can create a tailored website to meet them.
2. Pick a Domain Name
A domain name is an easy-to-remember address used to access websites. Ideally, your domain name matches the name of your business. That way, it is easy for customers to find it. You can read this article for more information on considerations to make when selecting your domain name.
After you have picked your domain name, I recommend using Google Domains or GoDaddy to purchase and register your domain.
3. Pick a Website Builder
Now that you have your domain, it's time to pick your website builder. Here are the best website builders and a step-by-step guide to creating a website using Wix (in 1 hour or less), Squarespace (in 1 hour or less), Webflow (in 1 hour or less), and WordPress (in 1 hour or less).
4. Edit your Website
After choosing a website builder, you'll want to edit the content, create pages, and style it to present your brand best.
Here are important components of your website:
- A beautiful homepage: Your homepage is the first thing that visitors will see when they land on your website, so it's important to make a great first impression. Your homepage should be visually appealing and give visitors a clear idea of your business.
- A compelling 'About us' or 'Company Mission' page: Your About us or Company Mission page is an opportunity to tell visitors about your business, values, and unique selling proposition. This page can help you establish credibility and differentiate your brand from competitors.
- Information about your products or services: Visitors to your website will want to know what products or services you offer, so providing clear and concise information about what you do is essential. This can help visitors understand how your business can meet their needs.
- The ability for a customer to indicate interest in your products or services: Providing a way for visitors to express interest in your products or services can help you generate leads and build your customer base. This can be done through an interest form or payment.
- A way to contact you: Making it easy for visitors to contact you is essential for building relationships with potential customers. Your website should include a clear and visible contact page and a way for visitors to contact you directly from your homepage.
- A consistent font and color scheme: Consistency in your website's design can help establish your brand identity and make your website more visually appealing. A consistent font and color scheme throughout your website can help create a cohesive look and feel.
- Social proof: Including press coverage, customer reviews, or testimonials can help build credibility and trust with visitors to your website.
Once you're happy with your website, publish it!
5. Tell Google your Website Exists
You need to submit your website to Google so that it knows your website exists! You can do this for free at Google Search Console.
Here are the steps to submit your website to Google:
- Sign in to Google Search Console.
- Copy the URL for your domain name.
- Paste the URL into the top of the Google Search Console where it says, "Inspect any URL in..."
- Click "Request Indexing"
You'll want to repeat this process for each page on your website. If you don't, it's not the end of the world because Google will eventually find your website, but it might take up to a few weeks.
6. Add Google Analytics
The next step is to add Google Analytics to your website by following the video tutorial. This is important so you can see the number of users visiting your website, page views, average session duration, which countries your website visitors are from, if they view your site on mobile or desktop, and more.
In conclusion, creating a website for your small business is essential. You can create a website that helps you meet your business goals by following these steps.
