Setting Up Your Business’ Website: A Guide

Having a website connected to your business is vital in the 21st century. In the past, you would have been in the minority if you had one, but now you would put yourself at a disadvantage if you do not have a website for people to browse, find out more about you, and potentially even buy from. Therefore, setting one up should be one of the first jobs you undertake when starting a new business. Read on to find out how to do it. 

photo/ Gerd Altmann

Choose A Domain

The domain is the website address for your business, so it’s important to get this right. It needs to be memorable and easy to type without making a mistake (especially if a mistake would take potential customers to a competitor). It’s best to register something as close to your business name as possible. If it is already taken, you will need to think of alternatives, but whatever you choose it should still be descriptive about what you do. 

At this point, you need to also decide the purpose of your website. Are you going to simply have it there for information, or will it form an integral part of your business? Are you solely going to sell online? Working out what you will do will make a big difference to how you set everything up. 

Choose A Host 

Once you have your website name and have bought the domain, you need to find a company to host your website for you. There are lots of choices available, and it will again depend on what you want your website to do. 

Things to consider include:

• Storage limits 
• Bandwidth
• Cost
• Number of pages available

Have A Site Plan 

Before you can start populating your site, you’ll need a plan for it. Start with working out which pages you are going to want, including your home page, about us page, and contact page. What other pages will you need to add? A blog is often a good choice, for example. 

After you have determined your plan, you can start writing the content, or have someone else do it for you. The content should be geared towards your customers, but also contain plenty of SEO elements in order to get your site noticed by Google and ranking higher in search results. 

Protect Your Website 

Once the site is up and running, many people leave it at that, not thinking that a problem could occur. However, cyber criminals can easily attack unprotected sites and systems, and all that hard work you put into setting everything up will come to nothing if a hacker gets into it. 

Using hardware from Checkpoint Direct to add an additional layer or protection to your site is a good idea – it will give you peace of mind and your customers will be completely safe when they are buying from you. 

Promote Your Website  

Now that everything is set up and ready to launch, you need to promote your website. Without promotion, far fewer people will ever find it that would otherwise. Start with social media, as this is an excellent way to spread a message. Set up a page or group relating to your business and share your web content there. 

With the right content, people will be interested not only in reading what you have to say, but in sharing it around as well. The more this happens, the more people will visit your site.

Author: Carol Trehearn