There are the following steps included in a building and managing website:
Step 1: Get your domain
It is important to pick a good name for your domain because it will affect how your potential customers find your site and how much they trust your website or brand.
The domain should also be kept consistent with a brand and easy to remember.
The availability check can be performed on any websites that sell domains.
Step 2: Set up an email that will match the domain name
You are free to use any email services that are out there, such as gmail.com. However, take note that using the email that matches your domain creates a more professional impression.
For example, email info@business.com looks more professional than business@gmail.com
The email service is provided by the web hosting company or the company that registers the domain name. It can be provided for an additional fee or included in a domain/hosting price.
Step 3: Find a web hosting company
For a website to be accessible, it has to be hosted in a secure space on the server. This space is provided by hosting companies.
You can pick the same company to buy a domain and hosting from or you choose different ones if that suits your business needs better.
Fees for hosting will depend on the amount of traffic you get and the size of your website.
Step 4: Design your website
Design is all about the information you want to provide for your visitors and what you want them to do while browsing your website. It is also important to think about the questions your customers may have and the order in which they will be doing things on the website.
This is why a site must be structured in a way that makes it intuitive and easy to navigate.
An easy-to-use website that is designed well will make your business stand out. To ensure that you achieve this, you can use a visual site. An example of a visual site map for a business website shown in the figure 1.
Figure 1. An example of a sitemap. Note how the layout of every page is shown and it is also shown how these pages are linked together. The main point is to give a clear overall picture of the website.
STEP 5: Build your website
When deciding on how to build a website, the maintenance management system and how easy it will be to change the site should be considered. You will want to make regular changes to the content of your website, such as reflecting changes in prices, products, and services, or updating opening times for public holidays.
There are three following ways in which you can build your website:
- Use template-based website builder – this approach is budget-friendly and DIY based. However, there is less opportunity to be creative and you can expect that other businesses may have a similar website like you. Moreover, functionality is limited and it’s harder to provide customers with a personalized experience.
- Using a content management system (CMS) requires no coding knowledge. The theme is selected and content is added to it. It offers more creative opportunities than templated site, a bigger variety of plugins, more functionality, and different options to fit the budget. You are allowed to manage the website yourself and have full control. However, this approach requires more technical knowledge than a template-based builder and can be confusing and time-consuming for people that lack technical skills.
- Hiring a web developer means that you do not need to have any technical skills. There is also full customer support and customization to your needs is almost limitless. Professional web developers bring you unique design ideas and experience and you develop your website over time to become bigger and more complex. On the other hand, this approach can be expensive and you will have to pay for ongoing maintenance. Sometimes it is hard to assess the actual skill set of the developer before hiring him.
Step 6: Add and manage your content on the website
First, work on what type of content you want on your website and then create or buy content. Some examples of content that can be found on the website include:
- images
- videos
- written words (copyright)
- interactive tools, such as booking systems or calculators
- landing pages used for promotional campaigns
Quality content is crucial to converting visitors into paying customers because it will help your visitors to better understand what you have to offer and they will feel comfortable doing business with you.
Step 7: Publishing the website
When the site is ready, it can be published and go online.
For a website to go live across the internet, a day or two is needed. This is called the propagation process.
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