Whether you own a restaurant or own a spa a good-looking website is vital for success. If you already own a website that is outdated and does not bring good results or if you want to build a new one for the upcoming venture, there are certain steps that you need to take to get started.
First of all you will need to get a good domain name. This is your address on the web where people can find you and your products and services. It has to be good for optimization and also make you look good.
A domain name can give you optimal traffic if you choose it right. In the domain name do not use slang language and make it easy to sell. People tend to forget difficult domain names. So keep it simple and short as people can type short names more correctly. Use the right domain name extension such as .com or .biz or .edu. Numbers and hyphens can be used but do not look good at all.
Think of broader names so you can expand further in your business. Catchy names are more memorable so think of something people will not forget easily. First, make a Google search or a Whois search to make sure it is available. You can also go to Godaddy.com and book the domain name after making a small payment. Their prices are lower than others. Your domain name is your URL and it has to be SEO friendly so include your main keyword in it. If you are a hairdresser located in Los Angeles, you will be doing more local SEO. A domain name such as “LosAngelesHairdresser” will be just right.
Along with the domain name you will also need hosting. There is shared hosting available for smaller websites and also dedicated server hosting. With shared hosting, other websites will also share the server, and this is a cheaper option. Your website will load slowly at times. Comparatively, with a dedicated server, only your website is hosted on the server. This allows your website pages to load fast and give optimal performance. The only drawback is that it is very costly. With the hosting, you will get a cPanel which is an interface with the server. Yearly plans are more affordable than the monthly plans.
The best option for a new business is VPS hosting. It is affordable and also better than shared hosting. It is more secure and performance-wise is a lot better than shared hosting. One thing you will need is phone support or online support from the hosting service provider as you want website-related problems resolved ASAP. For hosting GoDaddy is the better option.
After your domain name and hosting are taken care of you are ready to finalize and upload your home page and the rest of the website. Your business description has to be clear and precise. The banners on the home page represent your products and services and have to be tastefully made. Using the blurbs in the home page describing your businesses works well. Use About Us page in both header and footer menus.
To manage the content of the website you will need a content management system (CMS). It allows users to add new text, images, and videos to their websites as and when required without any level of complexity. Deleting old content and updating it is also a breeze. You do not need to learn to code to work with a CMS as it is all WYSIWIG. WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are the most popular these days. WordPress has many plugins that also help you with search engine optimization. Your website will show up in search engine results pages if you use the plugins right.
Companies that offer website design services know all about web design. They will help you make an effective online presence and will also help you maintain the site at a low cost. You can get all the content for the website built by them. They will write all your website text within budget. Most web design companies also have the SEO teams that will work towards bringing in more traffic. They will do social media marketing and get the word out about your business to a large target market.
Having a well-experienced web design and development house working for you is beneficial. It will help put your brand forward at a time when millions of entities are competing for higher visibility online. Many websites go down in only six months as they do not know how to get more traffic or get higher search rankings on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
The teams hired by web design houses are professional. They have formal degrees in their field and know all about the latest trends. Talent is what makes people and companies move forward in the creative fields. You can work with talented designers and SEOs to build an awe aspiring website and enhance your online marketing. Designers will show you two or three web design options to choose from. Before the digital marketing team works on your project, they will devise a strategy that will be first approved by you.