If you’re on a budget and thinking about building a website yourself, you can achieve a perfectly smart, functional website very quickly.
I recently changed my business name and wanted a fresh new website to go with it.
It’s true I put together my website in a weekend but I’d done some planning beforehand. I knew how I wanted it to look; I’d mapped out the pages, collated the images and written the content.
Hosting
I bought the domain name and hosting package from 123-Reg. The hosting package comes with the WordPress app so all I needed to do was activate it and get started. Personally, I’m a fan of WordPress but you could opt for Squarespace
Design
With WordPress, the theme or template is the core design of your website, and there are lots of free WordPress themes to choose from which come with two or three options for page layouts and posts.
This website uses a paid for theme called Make from The Theme Foundry. Doing so gave me the option to white label and freedom to customise the design elements, like colours and fonts and page layouts.
TIP: If you’re a new business and still working on your logo design and branding, use plain text for the heading and stick to a three colour palette.
Layout
Because your website is where most people will go to find out about your business and services, when creating your site, I recommend you focus on these pages first:
HOME, ABOUT, SERVICES, CONTACT
Your blog and other information can be added later as you develop your website.
Consistency
Avoid the urge to be too fancy or complicated. Aim for a consistent look and feel across every page and keep it simple.
Content
Words
People tell me they find writing content to be the tough part. Mainly because they struggle to write about themselves.
I’d suggest you focus on one page at a time. Write a list of all the points you want to include, then think about how you can structure your writing to get that information across. Put headings throughout your text to make it easy to read. Finally, ask someone else to proof read everything.
TIP: Write your content in plain text then cut and paste it into the page. That way, you avoid having font styles overwritten by those in your Word document and your text will adopt the default your chosen WordPress theme.
Images
The images you choose need to work across all devices. The resolution needs to be at least 300dpi. If you’re struggling to find photographs or images, there are lots of places to find free stock photos, licensed for commercial use on business websites. One of my favourites is Pexels.com.
Making it work on mobile, iPad, tablets and laptops
As you create your site and before you publish it, check to see how it looks across all devices. It may look great on your laptop or tablet but make sure it’s mobile friendly.