So, you have taken the first and the right step for making your presence on the world wide web. But you are wondering how would you do that? Following 5 steps will help you in understanding the fundamentals you need to know about building a website.
This Knowledgement article from Target Integration will touch base on many of the important aspects of creating a website. As this article would provide the foundational knowledge about designing, building, and maintaining your website, Target Integration is here to help you at every stage.
Step 1: Domain Name Selection
If you already have an established business and the website will be an extension of that business, using your company name as the domain name is the most chosen option among the businesses.
If your company name is unavailable or you have some other trading name in mind for popularising your business, you may want to consider a domain that has your target phrase listed as part of the domain.
If your site is focused geographically, try to get the domain name in the Top Level Domain (TLD) of that country (e.g. For Ireland .ie, for UK .co.uk). You can always get multiple domains pointing to one website so that when people open www.yourwebsite.com or www.yourwebsite.ie they come to the same website. A .org TLD can be used for organisations and associations. And for internationalisation .com is the Mantra to adopt.
Avoid excessive use of hyphens; sometimes it is appropriate to use one, as it may make your website hard to remember or even give it a spam feel.
Before buying the domain name make sure that all the aspect of the domain name are considered well, i.e. it should be easy to pronounce, remember, spell and find. Don’t make mistakes like the Californian Therapist Finder who named their website as www.therapistfinder.com
Step 2: Website Backend
Now you need to decide on what type of website you would need. The major question is do you want a small brochure type website which introduces your products and services to your visitors and allows them to contact you. Or would you like to have a large scale website which will grow over time and change constantly.
Depending on the above would decide the backend for your website. A brochure type website can use standard HTML which is proven technology in Website design and development or a Flash based website which is the favourite technology for attractive and beautiful websites. The only problem with such websites is that it’s difficult to grow them after a limit and you need knowledge of html or flash to edit the content in those websites.
A large scale website must use a Content Management System (CMS) so that you can develop it further without knowing the technical jargon of web developers. Also, your selection of CMS should be Search Engine Friendly for a successful website with the internet search engines. Starting a website using a non-friendly CMS is like buying a car without an engine. Sure it may look great, but it won’t get you anywhere.
Your backend will help you to decide in the next step, Hosting.
Step 3: Website Hosting
Web Hosting is one of the critical decisions made before you put your website open to the public. It is important to consider a web hosting company with good customer support available 24×7 because you never know when you may need help. Your website backend will also effect your decision of choosing a web hosting package. Never get lured with unlimited space and bandwidth offers. Analyse your requirements and make a decision based on that.
Step 4: Site Structure & Content
This is really one of the most fundamental aspects of your site creation. If the structure of your site does not work well, then your site may be doomed from the very beginning.
Keeping your URL structure clean and tidy can not only help with search engine rankings, but it will give a good visual impression to the site visitor as well. Often, using each of these categories as main points for your primary site navigation may make the most sense. Do not use more than 2 to 3 levels. The deeper you go more difficult it is for search engines to index your website.
Content is important for your website. Make use of professional content writers if you need to. Communicate enough information to make your visitor interested in talking to you. If you are selling from your website, provide as much information as you can so that customer doesn’t think of going to other sites for information.
Use as many keywords to keep your website interesting for search engine but don’t over load it.
Use all of the above steps and your website is ready for the world to see.
Step 5: Marketing
Now that you have your new site all up and ready to go, you want to give it that kick start to help drive some traffic. It will be a while before the search engines fully index your site and even longer before you start to see organic rankings for your target search phrases. It is important to start off right away to get the ball rolling.
Start off by issuing a press release to announce the launch of your new business website. Press releases are a great way to get some traffic and a rather valuable first link into your site.
Link your website to your friends, business partners and customers’ websites to help in improving your Google Rank.
Now that you have a beautiful website; keep it fresh with new contents added to it periodically.
Target Integration can help you with all of the above steps to let you achieve your dream website. For a no obligation consultation contact us today and our expert team will be happy to help.