Nowadays, it is difficult to operate a business if you don’t own a website. Whether you have a small or big business, online or offline, having a website is a necessity.

Websites tell people who you are, what products and services your company is offering, how to buy those products, how to get hold of you, and what customers say about you. Unlike physical storefronts, websites don’t only reach the people in your neighborhood and city, but potentially anyone around the world, too.

Yes, websites are definitely a necessity.  

You might be hesitant to get a business website because you may not have the knowledge and skills to create a free website yourself or, you may not have the thousands of dollars needed to hire someone to do it for you.

If that is so, you’d be glad to know that creating a website for your business is now easier than ever. Before we go into what makes it easy these days, here  are the five key steps you need to follow to build your first business website.

#1. The Why: Establish the Purpose of Your Website

This is the very first step you should take when creating a website for your business: you need to know why you need it. What is the website going to do for you? Do you want to use it to sell your products? Or would you like it to be primarily educational?

Knowing the purpose will guide you on how to develop your website. In this case, you have to decide what kind of website you need for your business. An eCommerce website, for example, will require a more advanced strategy other than just landing pages alone.

Knowing what the website is for will lead you to knowing what you need to do. It will guide you in every step going forward.

#2. The What: Build Your Brand

This is the most crucial step in building your website. Decide on WHAT your brand is trying to be.

Branding is crucial in any business. You are more likely to get more customers if you have a reputable brand, and if your brand is easily recognized by customers. A strong brand always leads to more sales.

One way of establishing your brand is to get a good logo done for your business. It should describe your business, capture its essence, and must also be attractive with the correct sizing.

Since not everyone is blessed with design skills, you can hire someone to create your logo for you. For instance, you can outsource the service from Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, and 99designs.com. Prices would range from $5 to hundreds of dollars, depending on the designer you hire and how complex you want the logo to be.

Another site that can be helpful, especially if you don’t have a budget, is Logojoy.com. This site uses artificial intelligence to create top-notch logos for a fraction of the price of hiring logo designers.

#3. The Where: Choose a Platform for Creating Your Website

It is now time to find a platform that is suitable for building a website. Once you have determined the purpose and brand of your site, this step of the process will be easier by reading Website Builder reviews.

Most people prefer to outsource the services from the web design agency. However, this is very costly, and you will always rely on the developer for future changes and updates on your site.

Alternatively, what you can do is do the website development by yourself. You don’t need to be a coder; you can find numerous platforms where you can build your website even without technical skills.

However, note that each of the platforms has strengths and weaknesses. You will have to analyze the available platforms and decide on the best one depending on your website needs.

You can choose Joomla and Shopify, for example, if the main purpose of your website is eCommerce. It is easy to understand and use these platforms if your purpose is to sell products.

Some platforms use artificial intelligence to build websites, in which case, even those with zero coding skills can do them. Bookmark.com, for example, builds most types of business websites. All you need to do is input your business name and which industry you’re in, and the AI will do the rest.  We highly recommend you embrace artificial intelligence for your startup.

Because of its ease of use, any non-technical business owner can create a website with Bookmark within minutes. They have an eCommerce option, too, which could be added easily to the website.

#4. The Who: Edit and Organize Your Website

After choosing the preferred platform for website building, it is now time to edit your website. You will be required to fill your website with images and other forms of content.

Before you do that, though, take time to understand your target audience first. Who do you expect will read your website? What do they need from you?

Knowing this will help you to determine how you will speak directly to your audience, and more importantly, it will guide you in creating the right content for your website. You have to create content that appeal the readers and compel them to want to know more about your business.

As a rule of thumb, you should structure your website depending on the type of audience you intend to have. This is why understanding the purpose of your website is vital. It should prompt the users to perform an action such as signing up to a mailing list, buying a product, or booking an appointment.

#5. The How: Maintain Your Website and Drive Traffic to It

Now that your website is finally live, it is time to take the next vital step. You need to get potential customers to actually go on your website, look around and perform the action you determined is important in step 4.

There are various ways you can drive traffic to your website; for example, Facebook ads & Google Adwords are among the most effective and popular marketing channels to drive traffic to your website.

You will need to target the right audience to get them on your site and complete an action. It will be very important as well to maintain the website and gather feedback from your visitors in order to regularly make minor changes to make it more effective in getting users to perform an action.

It is also very important to test various marketing channels at this point to determine how you will drive traffic to your website in a profitable and sustainable way.

In today’s competitive world, a professional-looking website is a necessity for every business.