If you need a website for your small business or want to evaluate a site's initial performance before committing to large-scale projects, you can easily create one on your own.
How Do I Create My Own Business Website?
To build your own business website and get some meaningful results, like brand exposure, search engine visibility, or sales boost, you’ll need to work through it step by step:
- Define your message & make your website outline
- Check what your competitors are doing
- Research legal requirements
- Write up your core texts and gather visual content
- Choose an appropriate domain name
- Find a website builder that matches your skills
- Select a website template that suits your content
- Populate your website
- Checklist your SEO basics
- Review, test, and launch your site
But What If I Need To Make A Website Very Quickly?
It so happens that you attend a trade show and are making new business cards - that’ll look so much better with a website address on them.
Or, you get a call from an industry journalist seeking information for an article that will reference your brand (and your website URL).
Sometimes, in business, things happen fast. And you might need a website yesterday! Thankfully, today, intuitive, nocode website builders give you all the tools you need to make a website from scratch in a matter of hours!
So, here’s a video on how to go about it:
However, if there is no time pressure, it’s always worth diligently completing the planning steps before you start building a business website.
How To Build A Website For A Business In 10 Steps
1. Define Your Message & Make Your Website Outline
What’s your core message? How can your website lure internet users and potential clients?
Jot down your core values and qualities, along with a summary of your services.
Then, see how you can organize it into smaller categories and create an outline of your website in a simple text document or even on paper. On top of your Home page, make sure you include other essential pages, like About and Contact that’ll go into your main menu.
Then, add a ‘Services’ menu item and nestle each one of your services in its own sub-category below it.
2. Check What Your Competitors Are Doing
Browse through your competitors’ websites to see what they are up to. Note their strengths and weaknesses, especially in terms of design, content, and usability - that could spark valuable ideas for your own site.
3. Research Legal Requirements
Depending on your industry and location, there might be legal requirements for business websites like yours to include in your privacy policies, cookie notices, or terms and conditions. Research these requirements to ensure compliance from the outset.
4. Write Up Your Core Texts & Gather Visual Content
At this stage, you or your staff should compile the texts for your core pages. A decent text size for a web page like About or Services is around 300-500 words. More is also OK if it makes sense. As for articles and blog posts, you should aim for 800 to 1500 words.
Don’t forget to enrich your texts with headings, lists, tables, and some SEO-optimized keywords to help visitors skim through your pages faster and facilitate search engines to list your website better.
Finally, look for high-quality images and videos that best complement your written content and elevate the visual feel of your website.
5. Choose An Appropriate Domain Name
Your domain name is your online address. Select a domain name that is memorable, easy to spell, and reflects your brand. Check for availability and register your domain through a registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
Also, create a business email in your domain, like: info@example.com, and add it to your business cards and your site’s Contact page.
6. Find A Website Builder That Matches Your Skills
Look for the best no-code website builders in the market that allow you to start a business website with minimal effort and without the need to purchase extra hosting plans. Remember that your website builder should match your technical skill level.
Opt for a robust platform that suits both beginners and professional developers, like Divhunt: an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop builder for DIY business websites that also supports elaborate coding and customizations to meet your evolving business needs.
7. Select A Website Template That Suits Your Content
Most builders typically offer both paid and free website templates. Pick a design that best suits your content.
For example, if you only have a few decent photos, choose a more text-oriented template. But if you need to showcase a list of project images, find a design with well-functioning photo galleries.
As a beginner, you’ll be much better off with a simple design template. At the end of the day, you can always make it more elaborate in the future with the help of a web designer. Or even change the entire design while keeping your content intact.
8. Populate Your Website
Once you’ve set up your template, start adding your texts and images.
Don’t forget to optimize your photos before uploading them:
- Compress your website images - ideally under 250kb each.
- Give your image files a short, descriptive name in this format: legal-services-boston.png
- Add a descriptive
9. Checklist Your SEO Basics
Even if you create a small business website, it’s worth making it search engine-friendly. To do that, you’ll need to include relevant keywords in your content, page titles, and descriptions.
You should also create a sitemap and eventually submit it to search engines to help them find and index your pages faster.
10. Review, Test & Launch Your Site
Go through your website for errors and irregularities. Then, test its functionalities, including links, forms, and navigation, across different devices and browsers.
If everything looks good and works well, launch your website and make it live for the world to see!
Ready To Start Your Business Website?
With Divhunt, you have all the latest technology at your fingertips! Pre-made templates and easy-to-use tools help you create stunning business websites without any code.
Plus, you get everything from plugin integrations to free translations and ultra-high website speeds - all in one package.
Explore Divhunt and start building your website for free.
