Are you having trouble creating your first website? Do the terms ‘domain names’ and ‘dedicated servers’ leave you scratching your head?
If you answered yes to the preceding questions, then you need some guidance on creating websites. Here are our nine easy steps to create a website:
1. Find a Topic
Before you start building your website, you need to know what your website will be about. If your website is to promote your small delivery business, then that’s what you need to focus on. If it is a personal website about your love of Siamese cats, then you’ll have a little more freedom in how to develop your website.
2. Research Your Target Market
Staying with our hypothetical delivery business for a moment, the next step would be to identify your target market. This research can be done online through forums dedicated to your specific topic.
Make note of any problems or specific frustrations that people are facing. You will want to make your site as helpful as possible.
3. Keywords
Now that you have a better understand of your target market, you can brainstorm for some keywords. These are the keywords that people type into search engines in order to find your site. ‘Delivery business’ might be a little too broad, so try and get specific with your keywords. ‘Delivery business Sydney’ would be a lot better.
Try and generate a list of 5-10 great keywords for your topic.
4. Register a Domain
Now that you have a list of keywords, it’s time to register a domain. First find a good domain name provider, like Digital Pacific, and then try to incorporate some of your keywords into a catchy domain name.
This doesn’t have to take a long time, simply take your two favourite keywords and combine them. For example, ‘delivery business’ and ‘Sydney delivery’ can be augmented into ‘www.sydneydeliverybusiness.com’.
5. Find a Hosting Provider
Our next step is to find a hosting provider. There are many good hosting providers on the web, but here are a few things to look out for:
- Good reputation on online forums.
- Great prices.
- Easy one-click WordPress installation.
- Quality support
6. Build Your Site
If you have a basic understanding of HTML or CSS, then you will be able to create a nice looking website in no time at all. However, if you have no experience with any programming language, then it is recommended that you use WordPress to style your website. WordPress is very user-friendly and can look very professional as well.
7. Content
After you have built your website, it’s time to fill it with quality content. Too many well-designed websites have failed because they do not offer quality, unique content. Remember to aim your content towards your readers; help solve any problems they might be having.
8. Optimise Your Site
So your website is up and running. It has a professional design and great content. But the web is a big place and if nobody can find your site, then all your hard work has been in vain. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in handy.
The most important aspect of SEO to keep in mind is to use your main keyword in your Site Title and in your articles. This will give Google a chance to rank your website.
9. Maintain Your Site
Now that your site is up and running, all you need to do is focus on maintenance. This means adding a new article every week or so and moderating any comments your articles receive. It would also be wise to keep an eye on your sites statistics. This can be done with Google Analytics.
With these nine steps, your website will be up and running in no time at all! Good Luck!
