Every business needs to have an online presence, and while being active on social media is useful for businesses, it shouldn’t come at the expense of a proper website. Your business’s website will be the primary point of contact between you and your customers. Obviously, if your business is e-commerce based or most of your trade will be online, you can’t afford to have a lousy website.
If this is your first time building your own website, it might all seem a bit daunting, but don’t worry, website building has only gotten easier over the years. With just a few simple pointers in mind, building your first website should be a worthwhile and enjoyable experience. Here’s what you need to know before you get started.
Anyone Can Do It
Thanks to the various tools and software packages now on the market, anyone who wants to build their own website can do so. Even if you have no previous experience with coding or website design, there are numerous website designers you can use. Many of these utilize drag and drop interfaces, enabling you to simply place elements on the page where you want them and let the software fill in the underlying code for you.
There’s no need to be afraid of web design. It isn’t anywhere near as hard as most people think it is. That’s not to say that designing and building a perfect website is easy. Just that it is a task many people are more capable of than they realize.
You Need a Host and Domain
The website itself is just one part of what you need to get online. In addition to the website, you will also need to secure hosting and a domain name.
Your host is the company that owns the servers that physically store your website. When internet users access your website, they connect to a server owned by your hosting company. Needless to say, the quality of your host is an essential factor in determining the user experience on your site, so make sure you research your options thoroughly and don’t just jump on the first host you come across.
Your website’s domain name is the URL that is used to access the host’s server. When you type a URL into your web browser or click on a hyperlink, your browser consults the Domain Name System, a kind of phonebook for websites. The DNS lookup tells the browser which IP address corresponds to the requested URL and connects directly to the relevant server.
If You Want Something Unique, Build It Yourself
Building a functioning website is child’s play, anyone can do it, but if you want a website that is unique and fine-tuned to your business or brand, you need to build it yourself. You can always hire a web designer to do it for you, but if you want your website to be a real one of a kind, you need to avoid the cookie-cutter approach of many free online platforms.
However, there are Web Design platforms like Editor X available. The Editor X website design platform combines the ease of use of a drag and drop editor, with the scope of a custom code editor. Whether you want to code your website from scratch or build upon the foundations you lay in a drag and drop editor, Editor X has the features you need.
Navigating the Challenges
One of the most important functions of any business website is to provide news and information to its audience. People discovering your business for the first time and those who are already familiar with what you do should both have an equally straightforward browsing experience on your website. Your website’s navigation determines how easy it is for your audience to find the information they need and discover new information that might convince them to increase spending with your business.
Because of this fact, it is worth taking your time devising a navigation system for your website that you have confidence in. If you have any doubts about the effectiveness of your website navigation, you simply need to put it in the hands of someone who has never seen it before. If you have designed your user interface well, it will be easy for a new user to find their way around your site.
Having a business website is no longer optional in 2020, rather, if you want consumers and competitors to take you seriously, you need to have an online presence. A professional website will create a much better first impression with new audience members than a generic design that they’ve seen a thousand times before. Before you start building your website, make sure you are clear with yourself about what is involved and what your website needs to contain. A bad website can derail a business launch, so don’t let lazy decision-making ruin your plans.
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