Everyone knows that in 2018, a business that doesn’t have an online presence is losing out on a whole lot of opportunities. The prospect of taking your business online can be daunting especially if you’re not the kind of person who knows things about coding and websites and URLs and the rest.
In all honesty, it’s a lot less hassle than it looks, particularly with our helpful how-to’s below.
- Decide What Kind Of Website You Want
This is the most important part, which is why it’s first. Your website is a tool, and it’s critical to determine what kind of function it will have. Is its sole purpose to provide contact details and referrals? Or do you want to create an online community using your website, with engagement and traffic and fancy gallery effects? Deciding on the function of your website will also help determine what it ends up looking like, and just how much work you need to do.
- DIY Or Hire Someone?
Once you’ve laid down the basics of your website needs, you need to decide whether you can do the whole job yourself, or whether you’ll need to get a professional in. This is mostly dictated by your budget, but it’s also important to recognise your new website as an investment, with returns if you do it right.
If you decide on DIY, there are a number of online platforms like Word Press and Squarespace that will certainly make the whole process easier for you. And, if you decide to go with someone professional, it’s important to try and balance quality and price so that you get the best result.
- Get A Domain And Hosting
The first step in taking your business online is registering a domain name. There are dozens of companies, or registrars that can help you with this process. Most of them also offer hosting, which you will need to get as well. This is essentially online space where you can store all your website data, as well as content related information like images.
Top Tip: If you’ve hired someone to help you with your website, check if they also offer hosting services.
- Pick A CMS And Site Design
To manage your website on the day-to-day, you’ll need to select a content management system (CMS). If you have hired someone to help with your website design and launch, then they will generally recommend one, or have one they prefer to use.
However, if you’re managing the project on your own, then most of the top CMS available not only come with a way of managing your content, but also often have the option to pick the look and feel of your website, which is helpful because they don’t require any background knowledge in coding or website design.
- Prepare Your Content
Content is what pulls the whole site together. It’s content that keeps visitors coming back, content that gives your website and your business real punch. Not only should it be compelling and well-written, but it should also conform to best SEO practices as we have detailed in one of our blogs Big Red Cloud’s best SEO practices, so that your content contributes to your website’s success as well as it can.
- Maintain Your Website
Finally, part of having a successful and functioning website is ensuring that it is regularly maintained, upgraded if needs be, and generally kept looking all great and shiny. Using some kind of analytics tool is one of the best ways to track the movement and activity around your site, and a good way to plot out future changes and additions.
