In these days, online presence is vital for any business. With all the online competition, it's not enough to just have a website.
Today, creating a website is not particularly difficult with the many website building tools available. Regardless of the software or CMS you choose, keep these design principles in mind:
Get secure and scalable web hosting with good technical support
A web hosting provider is a company that offers the technology and services necessary for a website to be visible on the Internet. It connects your domain name to your hosting provider so that when users visit your website's address, they see the website stored on your hosting account.
Make sure your hosting provider has phone or chat support so that you can quickly receive help if you have an issue. Email support can often take too long and become frustrating when a problem needs to be resolved immediately.
Some popular web hosting companies include:
- GoDaddy
- DreamHost
- Bluehost
- InMotion
- SiteGround
Consider investing in a CMS
A Content Management System (CMS) is a program or software application used to create and manage digital content. A good CMS will help you maintain your site and doesn't require much technical knowledge to use. You should choose a CMS that is designed for your unique needs such as ease of use, extensibility, and budget.
The following are some popular systems with descriptions of their strengths and weaknesses.
WordPress.
It is used by more than 30% of the websites on the web. It offers unparalleled ease not only in managing a website but also in creating professional and attractive web pages, all for an affordable or even free price. It is also reliable and flexible, providing exceptional performance for you and your website visitors. Its disadvantage is the support as it is open-source.
Joomla.
It is the second most used CMS, after WordPress. It is also an open-source CMS, allowing you to create powerful web pages without the need for coding. Its disadvantage is the support as it is open-source.
HubSpot CMS.
HubSpot is an all-in-one platform where you can find multiple tools with extraordinary features. According to a survey, more than 24,000 customers are connected with HubSpot every week.
Hubspot CMS is the best platform if you are looking to merge your website and marketing efforts with top-notch support. The feature-rich content management tool helps grow your business by providing a fully integrated and easy-to-use solution for all marketers.
Refer to the G2Crowd Guide to determine the best CMS
Make your website responsive.
Smartphones have become a normal part of everyday life. Today, it's strange to see someone leaving home without their phone. It's common to see people working on their smartphones in any waiting space they have.
For website owners, that means it's time for your website to provide a good mobile experience.
If potential customers arrive at your site but find it difficult to read or navigate on a mobile device, they may simply abandon it and visit your competitor's site. Additionally, a negative mobile user experience affects your website in search engine rankings, making it harder for users to find it through a Google search.
Make your website easy to find.
Getting your website to stand out on Google is another matter and not always easy. This means incorporating the best technical SEO practices, keyword research, content marketing, and paid advertising campaigns to drive traffic to your website.
SEO is a set of practices that you apply to your website to ensure search engines properly index and rank your website, and then show it to search engine users. Once your website is "crawled" by search engines, it competes with other websites that have similar content. The better the design and content of your website, the higher it will appear in search engine results pages.
Make your website fast
A study by digital marketing company Akamai found that 88.5% of web users will leave a website if it takes too long to load. Additionally, the time it takes to load a web page affects the purchasing decisions of nearly 70% of online shoppers.
Ensure that your website runs smoothly by keeping the software updated, optimizing videos and images for faster downloads, and using a web hosting server that can handle your bandwidth demands.
As you can see, creating an excellent website for businesses may not be as simple as you thought. However, if you follow these recommendations, your company will have an excellent chance of success in the online market.