To have an online presence is indeed very good for your business. Many people are spending time browsing the Internet so having a website will make it easier for you to reach your target audience and increase sales. It does not matter if your business is big or small. Do not get intimidated by the big players because the Internet is for everyone and starting a website is easy, you can even do it yourself.
In this article, we will discuss some basic guidelines in setting up a website for your start-up business.
- Choose a domain name – domain name is a big part of your website thus you should think and choose carefully. If the exact-match name of your business is already taken, we suggest coming up with combination of words to form a unique one. You should choose a name that is easy to remember.
- Register domains – after choosing the domain and seeing its availability, you should then proceed to domain registration. You should pick an extension name – most people go for .com or .net since those are the popular ones but it is recommendable to register the name in all extensions to avoid conflict in the future.
- SSL certificate – having an SSL certificate that makes your domain URL “https” with padlock sign is a plus factor for visitors. They know that your website is secured which makes them feel at ease doing transactions especially when they’re required to provide credit card details.
- Use your business logo – it is also important to use your own business logo on your site. If you do not have business logo yet, then it’s time to come up with one. Logo is an important part of branding your business.
- Choose a hosting site – to publish your website, you need to have a hosting site that will host and run your site. Choose a reliable hosting site that has minimal down time, fast loading and connection and best of all, they should have a 24/7 support team to assist you in case an emergency happens. You do not want your site to be down during peak hours so you need to have a contact with the hosting site.
- Register a business email – it is also advisable to have a business email that contains your domain name. It looks very professional rather than using free email platforms.
- Prepare content for your website – next, you should also prepare the content to publish. Before you go live, you should have at least 1-month worth of content that you can publish every week. Having fresh content weekly is a good practice.
- Include social media share and like buttons – finally, make sure to include social media likes and shares buttons to gain more views and followers. Also, you should link your site to your business’ official social media accounts like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and more.
You do not need to hire a professional web developer to set up a website for your business. You should make it simple and direct to the point. Also, make sure that your users will find it easy to navigate on your website. After setting up your site, you should take care of increasing your site’s traffic.
