A website is one of the most powerful modern utilities available to businesses and people. Just about every product, service, company, idea, discussion, and concept can be found online.
For professional reasons, there are easily observable benefits – like online stores, strengthening brands through web content, marketing, and so much more. No matter the size of your company, you should have a website. But the question is, how do you get one?
Good news! There are lots of services which allow you to develop a professional website for little to no cost. Multiple third-party vendors exist for this purpose alone. No coding knowledge? No problem. Limited capital? Fret not.
We’ll help you get started in this quick guide.
1 – Get Your Ideas Together
From freelancing to big enterprise, it’s important to understand what the intent of your website is. Selling online? Blog content? Social media? A mix of them?
Understanding the what and why allows you to choose options best suited to you. Third-party options typically specialize in those categories, so it’s good to take advantage of what you need most.
2 – Domain Decision
Now, you need to choose between starting your own website through a hosting service or if you want to utilize professional third-party website builders.
Purchasing a domain host will have a monthly subscription but gives you total creative control along with a verified domain name. However, you’ll need coding knowledge, media assets, and all the utility to build a website from the ground up. On the other hand, a website builder gives you these things for free.
3 – Pick a Service
If you don’t plan on getting a domain host (yet), look at the various professional third-party builders. Things like Wix, Weebly, WordPress, Yola, and so on are all potential choices. Do your research, as they all have different options and functionalities.
WordPress, for instance, is quite popular for professional companies, as it allows them to “upgrade” their website with asset packs. Said assets structure the website in a certain way, with no coding knowledge required.
Keep in mind, while these services are free, their initial offerings are bare bones. We recommend upgrading at some point for a truly professional look.
4 – Prepare Your Website for Mobile
Most of the time, the options listed above will cover mobile compatibility. But if not, you’ll need to do research on preparing your website for mobile access.
This is an urgent step and should be the priority within the first two weeks of your website construction, as enormous chunks of traffic are pulled from smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Once you complete the steps, you’ve taken your first step into establishing an online presence! It might sound too simple, but with third-party offerings as strong as they are, a lot of “behind the scenes” work is taken care of.
Your next steps are mobile traffic, security, and a little SEM magic. Fine tune those and you’ll bring in traffic, build brand strength, and create a whole new level of success for your business.
