Startup founders generally don’t have the means to outsource certain tasks. Hiring a web designer to establish an online presence could prove costly. The good news is that you’re perfectly capable of creating your own small business website.
It’s easier than you may believe. There are website builders which are very beginner-friendly and ideal for a small business. They are quite budget-friendly as well.
If you want to make your small business website, this article illustrates the steps to take.
Choose a website builder
You don’t need coding knowledge to build your site. There are user-friendly solutions that can do this for you. Some good options for small businesses are WordPress and website building and hosting services.
Top features and more control
WordPress provides access to top features and offers greater control. If you choose WordPress.org, you will have to look for a hosting provider separately. You might consider Wix or Squarespace – they are both reputable all-in-one solutions. They come with ready-made website designs that you can use a drag-and-drop tool to customize.
While there will be less design flexibility, it won’t be necessary to outsource hosting to an external firm or freelancer. You’ll save a lot of money in the process.
Your plan determines the costs associated with builders of hosted websites. Being an open-source platform, WordPress is completely free to use. Only the hosting will cost you money.
Benefits of WordPress for your small business website
WordPress powers websites of all sizes and all kinds of designs. From corporations to small blogs, there is something for everyone from this highly efficient content management system. A website based on WordPress can outshine the competition at little to no cost.
There are WordPress plugins for your site’s specific features. You will enjoy high speed, create an incredible design, and even build an ecommerce shop if you want.
Choose a domain
You choose your site’s name or domain and register it for a small fee with a domain registrar. Have an alternative ready in case your name of choice is taken.
The right hosting
WordPress has free and paid hosting plans on WordPress.com. If you host directly on this platform, you won’t have to pay any fees upfront. You don’t need to purchase a separate domain name, either. You install and update WordPress automatically at yourdomain.com/wp-admin/. Here are more details about how to install WordPress.
You’ll find little difference between the screens in the panel. There is a sidebar with a menu on the left. You’ll see some information about shortcuts apart from the welcome message on the initial dashboard screen.
The popular plugin Jetpack block is located here as well. Some hosting services have it preinstalled.
Content on your small business website
You can publish blog posts to announce new products, events, and developments. There are a few tags or categories and a basic structure consisting of a title, the main text, a meta title, and a meta description.
In the media section, it’s possible to upload files straight to your website. After that, you can use them on your posts, pages, and other areas. They can be in all kinds of formats, including videos, images, PDFs, Word documents, etc. While posts and pages don’t really differ in structure, you won’t see them in reverse chronological order. You have to link from a menu to your pages if you want visitors to the website to see them.
Pages can be used for terms of use, contact information, an About Us section, or anything else that isn’t subject to frequent changes.
Plugins and comments
If you enable comments, there is a special section where you can moderate them. The Settings panel/Discussion section offers this option. You let people communicate by letting them leave comments, which might lead a small community to form around your business.
It’s possible to add custom features to the site using plugins. These were mentioned earlier. They are compact elements of WP software that you can install and that integrate with the main site.
More about settings
The Settings link is in the side menu. Click on it to go to the General settings panel and pay attention to the site title, tagline, and time zone. Your site’s name is the title. You set the tagline to send a message with the name. Finally, you set the time zone to where most of your customers are or would be located.
Themes
Your theme is what can help you stand out from the competition. In the User Accounts section, you can create new accounts and change passwords. You choose your site’s design in the Themes section. Typically, you’re sent a zip file with your theme of choice. WordPress.org has an official directory of free WP themes.
