How to create a website

If you have your own brand, you will need a website to effectively promote it and increase your customer base. It can be either a blog, an online store or a landing site. We will answer the popular question: “How can I build a website?” and suggest convenient tools for development and promotion.

Before proceeding to the direct development of the platform, you need to define project objectives and goals. In essence, you need to answer the question of why you need your own site and what tasks it should solve. If you will use the services of hired developers, this information will then be included in the Terms of Reference (ToR).

It is better to write a project concept in a structured format. The first step we recommend is to define the overall goal. Popular variants are presented in the table below.

For more specificity, you can use the SMART methodology. It will allow you to define distinct goals for your site. For example, a specific goal could be: “Increase sales of the company’s products by 10% in 5 months”.

Next, it is necessary to determine the target audience of the site (CA). That is, which customers the platform will be targeting. To structure and effectively use this information, you can make a portrait of a potential client. This includes geographical, psychological, and age estimates. For example, you need to determine:

• Age of your CA: a range is specified;
• Gender: may include multiple items;
• Geographic location;
• Interests and occupations;
• Needs;
• Pains and problems;
• Income level;
• Motivation.

To compile a portrait of a potential client, you can look at data on competitors’ websites. SimilarWeb, SEMrush and Ahrefs tools for analysing traffic and visitor behaviour will help with this. You can get a detailed description of the audience (gender, age, and geography), their behaviour on the site and what search queries brought them to the platform. Next, the information obtained about the portrait of a potential client needs to be matched with your goods/services.

Based on the chosen goal and target audience, you need to decide what kind of online resource you want to launch. This will further help to determine the functionality of the site, its UI/UX design, methods of advertising and attracting traffic. The most popular options are:

• Blog. It can be both personal, then a great emphasis on individualisation, and thematic. The main structural element is posts that are divided into categories. This format implies frequent content updates, integration with messengers and the availability of tools for active communication with the audience;
• Online shop. It has a more complex structure with the inclusion of a large number of pages. Therefore, it is important to provide convenient navigation, as well as to connect payment services and make order forms;
• Business card sites. Concise and easy to create. Emphasis is placed on brand recognition. It is also important to provide a feedback form and set up SEO optimisation;
• Informational, educational and entertainment platforms. Assume a lot of diverse content in different formats (text, pictures, and videos). Easy navigation between pages is important. A plus will be interactivity and the possibility for visitors to give feedback.

Creating a website with the help of a builder becomes easier because you don’t need to develop the structure of the platform from scratch. This approach requires less programming knowledge. The architecture of your website, its functionality, customisation options and security level depend on the builder. What characterises good software:

• User-friendly interface and more tools are available. Many builders also provide access to tutorials and videos;
• High level of security. This guarantees the protection of sensitive customer information, payment transactions and good uptime. A plus will be support for the backup option;
• A large selection of templates for design. Also, an advantage of a good builder is the availability of UX/UI tools that will allow you to create a customised design;
• Functionality. You need to look at what kind of websites a particular builder is best suited for. For example, Shopify is aimed at creating online shops. You should pay attention to widgets and tools, for example, to add galleries or functional elements.

A domain is the address of your website on the internet. A properly chosen name will help to ensure high traffic and will be effectively used for advertising purposes. It is better to choose a concise name (up to 15 characters) that reflects the essence of your brand. The extension (TLD) plays an important role:

• “.com”;
• “.net”;
• “.uk” and so on.

Don’t stop at one option, as that name may be taken. Before buying a domain, you will need to make sure you are not using someone else’s brand name.

To get your website displayed on the internet, you need to pay a hosting provider. These are companies that own servers (physical or virtual). They provide data storage and are connected to the internet. There are several types of hosting you can use:

• Dedicated server for a single client;
• Shared hosting;
• VPS;
• Cloud hosting.

The type of hosting and the characteristics of the chosen provider determine the performance and speed of your site, availability and the level of protection against DDoS attacks. For example, for large platforms with a large volume of traffic, a dedicated server is suitable, and shared hosting can be used for small sites.

When choosing a provider, look at uptime statistics, the geographical location of its servers and the list of technologies to ensure download speed.

The next step is to move on to customisation. Personalised websites that reflect your brand and differentiate you from your competitors are the most popular with visitors. You need to develop a personalised website design that is associated with your company and chosen theme. What customisation involves:

• Choosing a colour scheme;
• Adding logos;
• Choosing the style of the site: it is recommended to study UX/UI design trends;
• Selection of fonts: they should be easy to read and perceive.

You need to decide what your site will look like in the eyes of the visitor. Convenience and ease of perception are key factors. Therefore, pay attention to the composition. That is, the placement of different sections and elements. Navigation should be simple and intuitive. Then the visitor will be able to quickly find the desired information / products. If the process will be too complicated, you may lose a potential client.

Build a site plan taking into account all sections and pages. And also develop a convenient and concise navigation menu. We recommend using such Web Development services to visualise your architecture:

• MindMeister. This service helps you create a virtual map where you can easily describe the hierarchy of pages. There are ready-made templates, and integration with third-party editors is supported.
• GlooMaps. It is a simple tool for creating an interactive map of your future website.
• Trello. If you are comfortable working in text format, then this service is suitable. In the future, it will be convenient to use it to distribute tasks if you work with a team.
• Lucidchart. This service is aimed at visualising your ideas. It offers tools for creating various schemes/diagrams and has dozens of templates.

Content is the core of your website. It is the material that you will use to attract and retain your audience. Depending on the type of site, the format of content presentation may differ, but the main thing is to ensure that it is easy to understand. We recommend using not only text but also adding illustrations and videos. SEO service will assist in optimising your content so that it is more easily identified by search engines. For example, Google. For the preparation of materials you can use:

• Text content can be prepared in convenient editors. The most commonly used is Google Docs;
• Photos and diagrams can be processed in Abobe Photoshop, Canva, and other programmes;
• For video editing, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and Filmora are suitable.

The builders you used to create your website have built-in editors for adding content to the site. You can easily drag and drop the elements you need, from texts to diagrams. In some builders, adding content is done through the admin panel.

Do not rush to launch the site right away. Be sure to do a variety of testing before doing so. What this includes:

• Evaluate correct operation. Make sure that all links lead to the right pages and that function buttons work;
• Check performance. Pages should load quickly and without bugs;
• Test the security of the site. Use vulnerability detection tools such as Nessus. Check for protection against DDoS attacks;
• Check content. There should be no errors in text, and images and videos should be displayed correctly.

Only after that, proceed to publishing. For this, you need to upload the files to the server via your hosting provider.

Advertising is the main source of traffic to your website. Combine different methods of promotion. At the same time, do not forget about SEO optimisation. Popular methods of advertising:

• Social media publishing. Create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other messengers and publish content regularly;
• Set up email newsletters. New newsletters and enticing emails should be prepared regularly;
• Keep a blog. Regardless of the format of your website, regular expert articles will help attract new visitors and increase brand awareness;
• Order paid advertising. You can place it with popular bloggers, on affiliate sites, and so on.

Which sites, blogs and social networks are most effective to use for advertising depends on the topic of your website. Monitor the results and regularly adjust your marketing programme.

The success of your website depends on proper planning and consideration of all factors during development. Do not rush with the launch, pay attention to setting the goal and analysing the CA. Create as detailed a plan as possible and study your competitors. It is important to keep track of current trends in UX/UI design to get your site to the top. Use modern editors and tools for content preparation, SEO optimisation and quality design.

Although self-development is an effective solution but it requires skills and is often time-consuming. An alternative and simpler option is to entrust the creation of a website to professionals. We at Digital Marketing Agency can help with this. Write to our managers and they will tell you in detail how we can make a website. Our team will take into account all your wishes and create a platform that will fully reflect your brand.