Google uses more than 200 ranking factors to determine which site to display, and optimizing your site will give you a better chance of ranking well for your industry and location. The tools you use to optimize your site will depend on both the site creator and the host you use. With the right tools and tutorials, businesses can be ready to connect with 4.33 billion Internet users in just one afternoon. As for doing the construction and design of your website, you have a lot of options.
You can hire someone to design and code a website, or you can try your own hand (if you're a novice, The Best Courses for Learning How to Build Websites is a great starting point). You can use an online service to create web pages, or create it offline using a desktop software tool. Or, if you're a programming dynamo, use a plain text editor to create a site from scratch. How you mix and match these decisions depends on your skills, time, budget, and common sense. If you're looking to create a new startup website or make your current site more effective, here are 10 key steps to get started and help your small business website compete effectively in the online marketplace.
1.Choose Your Domain Name
Your domain name, also known as your website address, is usually the entry point to your site.It's important that you make a good impression for usability purposes, as well as for search engine optimization (SEO).
2.Find a Website Host
A website host (or sometimes referred to as a website hosting provider) is a company that offers the technology and services necessary to make a website look on the Internet. Connect your domain name to your hosting provider so that when users visit your website address, they'll be shown the website you store in your hosting account.3.Design Your Homepage
It's important for people to know who you are and what you're doing right away so they don't feel confused when they visit your small business website. Make sure that the main banner on the homepage (also known as the “main image”) and the following banners are visual representations of your services, and also that you have introductory text near the top of the page describing who you are and what you do.4.Choose Your Content Management System
A content management system (CMS) is a software program or application used to create and manage digital content. A good CMS will help you maintain your site and you don't need a lot of technical knowledge to use it.You should choose a CMS that is designed for your unique needs; different systems are used for different reasons, such as ease of use, extensibility, and budget. It should be noted, however, that WordPress's biggest weakness is security, since it's so popular that hackers attack it the most. Your WordPress site should be maintained and protected regularly so that it doesn't get hacked. In addition, it's difficult to protect all third-party plugins, so keeping your WordPress site secure should be an ongoing commitment through several best practices (checking if your plugins have been updated in the last few months, making sure it's a plugin provided in the official WordPress repository, removing immediately any unused add-ons, etc.).
5.Optimize Your Site for SEO
SEO is an extremely important ongoing process that can make the difference between appearing on the first page of search engine results pages (resulting in large amounts of free traffic to your website) or page 300 (resulting in no traffic).6.Create Your Blog
Blogs are fantastic, but sometimes you need a simple place to park your personality on the Internet for branding purposes.7.Use Squarespace or WordPress
Squarespace is the ultimate design platform, allowing you to create truly impressive websites worthy of any web designer, and it offers a 14-day free trial. Create a WordPress account with a strong password and choose from dozens of different design options for your site.WordPress gives you total freedom in terms of creativity, but requires more technical skills than website builders.
