With the rapid advances in technology, more and more businesses are moving online and creating their websites.
There are 2 broad ways of creating a website: taking the help of DIY website building tools, or creating one the traditional way – on the back of extensive coding, purchasing hosting packages and getting a domain name.
While the former doesn’t need any technical expertise, the latter requires extensive coding and therefore offers extensive customizability and scalability. It hands you the entire backend control.
With so many websites today, it’s very difficult to stand out. And if you don’t, you’ll hamper your visibility & compromise marketability & sustainability.
That’s why you always need your website to exude professionalism. The best way to do that is by building it from scratch yourself.
Let’s see the first steps to climb!
- Register a professional domain name
A popular adage says, ‘The first impression is the last impression’.
The URL is the first thing that visitors will see, and the domain name provides you a chance to impress them. Needless to say, it’s extremely important to register a relevant and professional name.
You can register your name with the help of domain registration providers in the market.
The domain name is a vital component for websites. It:
- Helps you create a brand image in the customer mind
- Helps in the optimization of SEO rankings
- Helps increase brand recognition in the market
- Host your domain
The second step is hosting your domain. There are a lot of ways to do that.
Based on your business objectives, goals, and expertise, you could choose one web hosting that aligns the best with your needs. For example, if you’re relatively new and just starting, getting a shared hosting with limited resources would probably be a good idea since it’s the cheapest option.
If you’re an expert, you may want dedicated hosting, which comes with more resources like increased storage space and traffic bandwidth, and is more costly.
If you want to enhance website performance without incurring high costs, you’d probably want to choose VPS hosting.
- Buy SSL certificate
When you’re building a professional website, you’ve got to ensure its visibility on the internet. SEO optimization is of utmost importance in this scenario.
Google, the most popular search engine, has already intimated its decision to promote websites that use ‘HTTPS’ over those that use ‘HTTP.’ Websites with HTTP will now display ‘Not Secure’ notification since HTTP doesn’t provide end-to-end data encryption.
This means that websites that don’t have an SSL certificate will see a significant drop in search engine rankings.
It can also lead to erosion of the customer base and weakening of brand image in the market.
That’s why professional websites must have SSL certificates. There are different types of SSL:
You can choose as per site’s requirement from different SSL providers. For instance, ClickSSLis a great website to purchase the certificates you need. For instance if your business is at stating level with the limited volume of transaction then comodo positive ssl is a best choice to making secure your business website because it’s allow SHA-256 bit encryption and trust by authenticating your website ownership.
- Start building your professional website
Once you’ve got the domain name, web host, and an SSL certificate, you can start building your professional website.
Building a website requires you to understand the business deliverables, objectives, and long-term goals of your business. The kind of branding you desire and the space you want to occupy in the customer’s minds are also vital considerations.
Here’s how to start building:
- Theme installation
At this stage, the website will be all skin and bones. You can make it come alive by installing a theme, customizing it, and adding a personal touch.
The most popular themes are from WordPress. Let’s demonstrate how to install themes using its example:
In WordPress, you have the option to search themes and choose the one that suits you.
When you select the theme that you want, click on ‘Install’.
After it is installed, you need to activate it.
Some themes may require specific plugins to work seamlessly, so you may need to download and install those as well.
In case you’re purchasing specific themes from commercial platforms, the process of installing and activating a theme is slightly different.
Once you’ve made the purchase and downloaded the zip file, go to the WordPress admin area.
Choose the ‘themes’ option from Appearance and click on ‘Add new’. Next, you’ll be given an option to upload the theme. You need to choose the zip file you downloaded and click on ‘Install’.
Once the theme is installed, you’ll be given an option to activate it. Once you do, you’ll notice the holistic changes.
However, in WordPress, the ‘upload’ option is applicable only for self-hosted WordPress.org users.
- Add required plugins
A plugin is a software that adds new functionality to your website, allowing you to do different things. It eliminates the need for you to have any coding experience and can take care of multiple functions for you.
However, adding too many plugins can make your website slow and vulnerable to cyber-crime, so be careful about adding only those you need.
- Adding plugins is very simple in case of WordPress websites:
- Login to your WordPress account and research the plugin
- Go to and click the ‘Add new’ option at the top
- When you find the plugin, click ‘Install’
- After you’ve installed it, click ‘Activate’
Many plugins in the market may require an API key for activation. In that case, you need to go to the ‘Settings’ option and enter the key.
If it doesn’t suit you, you can always deactivate the plugin.
Some of the popular plugins that you can check out include Jetpack and Google Analytics.
- Add pages & categories to the website
Now that you’ve got the basic framework of your website, it’s time to add pages and categories to it. A website should have all information related to it easily accessible. Here’s an example:
Some of the added pages here are ‘Home’, ‘About’ & ‘Forum’.
So how do we add those? Let’s illustrate by taking examples from WordPress:
Simply head on to the dashboard and click on the ‘Pages’ option on the left-hand side.
Click on the ‘Add New’ option and begin working on a new page. The process is similarly simple when you use any other tool as well.
All you need to do now is add the title and fill up with the desired content.
You also get the option to add any featured image you want.
- Update quality content
Bill Gates once opined, ‘Content is king’.
To make sure your business achieves its aims and goals, you’ve got to be careful about the kind of content you’re providing. One of the ways to do that is to make consumer-centric content, not search engine-centric.
Google uses its Panda algorithm to ensure that high-quality pages are ranked at the top.
But how do you ensure high quality and use the algorithm to your advantage?
A website should:
- Be Informative – Be sure to incorporate all the relevant information needed. For example, a website of a car showroom should furnish details like the daily timings, off days, telephone number and email address, physical address and blogs to update about any upcoming discounts
- Offer value – If your website offers the same information as 10 others, there isn’t anything special about it. You’ve got to ensure value creation for the customers, by offering them something others don’t.
- Stellar Quality – Your website should be precise, succinct, and relevant. Avoid furnishing unnecessary information and instead, focus on what will appeal to the customers
- Engage – Pique the interest of your website visitors. Make the website visually and aesthetically pleasing with a lot of images and real user feedback. Offer contact details and display a willingness to engage. Never miss an opportunity to delight your target audience.
- Make SEO work for you
Even after ensuring a high quality of content, you may not always find immediate vindication concerning improvement in SEO rankings.
But do you know that with a few changes, you can make SEO work for you?
Here are some steps to follow to do just that:
- Don’t take the shortcut route and devise ways to beat the Panda algorithm
- Don’t focus on search engines while creating websites
- Instead of following the trend, think about how you can make a difference with your content. Think about how you can offer something valuable and useful to your target customers
- Focus on making your prospective targets happy
- Buy ssl certificate
- Don’t engage in piracy
- Don’t use tricks like cloaking, redirects or doorway pages
- Don’t use automatically generated content
- Don’t create pages simply aimed at making money without offering value to customers
Wrapping-Up
A professional website can have a significant impact on the minds of prospective customers and can help businesses occupy customer mind space. It is of crucial importance when the customer is making a purchase.
To create an excellent professional website, you need to be clear about the aims and objectives of the business. You should have an idea about the ideal target market of customers and which segment you’re trying to exclude.
It helps in creating an entirely professional website with the right set of properties to create the intended appeal.
