You can’t get away without having a website. It’s the most important tool for businesses to reach customers, gather leads, and sell more products online. And with the overwhelming number of options available when it comes to web design, if you don’t have a lot of cash for a professional or you’re creative, then you should consider building it yourself! Here’s the best advice on how to build your website, regardless of the products or services you’re planning on offering.
Nail Your Niche
Some DIY-ers get so caught up in what they want that they forget to ask themselves who they’re serving. Before you write a single line of copy, make sure you know exactly who you want to attract. In other words, have your soulmate client in mind before you build anything. The better you understand your target market, their needs, and their goals, the easier it will be to create an experience that accomplishes its most important task: Get ’em to take action! If you can do that, you’ll know whether or not what you’re creating is useful and it will make your website more than just another pretty face.
Know What You Need
If you’re planning to build a site for your business, think about what kind of site would be best. Is it a simple landing page that tells visitors about your company and where they can go for more information? Or do you want something more interactive, like an e-commerce storefront or community forum? Maybe you need something in between—like a video gallery. Whatever your needs, make sure you know them before moving forward with the design. Having a clear picture of what you want will help guide everything else that comes next.
Keep it Simple
If you don’t have much experience, it can be easy to get carried away with design. Sometimes less is more and just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You may want to create something spectacular, but if you don’t have all of your branding figured out, you’ll end up designing something too elaborate and run a much higher risk of having to redesign it later on. In many cases, a plain text-based website can be incredibly effective if done right.
Use the Tools Available
Whether you’re looking to build a personal blog or a website for your online business, there are plenty of tools available to make it easier. There are template designs through WordPress and all you need to do is change some text and images. There are tons of drag-and-drop builders like Squarespace, Wix & Weebly that make it easy to build a professional-looking site without having to understand a lot of code which makes them great options for anyone without web design experience.
Ask For Help
Building your website from scratch is hard work, especially if you’re a beginner. In most cases, you’ll be much better off working with someone who can give you good advice on how to set up and design your site. If you want to develop a professional-looking website that doesn’t cost a lot of money, consider hiring a coach that will help walk you through some of the more technical parts of the design. It’s always smart to get a little advice (or just an honest assessment) from someone who has experience before launching into a big project by yourself.
