How To Make A Website

7 simple, step-by-step guide to creating a website differently

 

Last updated on May 23rd, 2018

 

How will this tutorial help you?

In this “how to make a website” tutorial, we will show you 7 simple and actionable steps that you can follow to build a website by yourself.

We guide you through each step, explaining the choices and how to fit them into your situation.

Clutch.co points out that nearly half of the small businesses surveyed, do not have a website, and that’s not good.

Why?

Because there are a number of compelling reasons that websites can provide major opportunities to small businesses (source),

• Increased marketing opportunity from a “local” audience to a global audience.
• Digital sales conversions save time and labor.
• More cost-effective than brick and mortar.

Not having a website is a huge problem that needs to be solved immediately.

Every business needs a website, where’s yours?

In today’s digital age, having a website is one of the basic fundamentals of any business, big or small. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses put off making a website due to reasons such as:

• Having limited resources (time, budget, and know-how).
• Unsure how or why it will help build your online presence.

The great thing about this tutorial is that you don’t need to be a tech-expert or programming guru to build an online presence or a website. You can easily do all of it yourself.

So, let’s get things started!

Create a website starts here

 

How To Make A Website – 7 Simple Steps

Step #1: Define Your Website’s Purpose

This is the first and most important step you need to consider before creating a website.

We all know that a website is important to show your online presence.  But, it’s also a part of your assets and it should relate back to your profile(s), product(s), or the thing(s) you do.

Here are some tips we help you define your website’s purpose:

• If your primary goal is to sell products, your website should include features to showcase products and make the checkout process super easy.
• If your goal is to display company information to visitors, you might consider a modern one-page design website.
• It’s best to have a blog section on the website if you wish to write and share content about certain topics.

For example, at BuildThis.io, our goal is to help visitors in building an online presence. We suggest useful tools and actionable tips that you can use and take action right after reading our guide.

In a nutshell, your website should solve your visitors’ problems. That should be the goal. That’s also the primary reason why your visitors landed on your website in the first place – to look for an answer.

Also, a website with a clear purpose will make the decision-making process for your website (choosing the right platform, themes, domain name, extensions to use, etc.) a lot easier.

 

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Step #2: Build Your Website With The Right Platform

By now you should have an idea of what your website is going to be. Next is to choose the platform for building your website.

Now, there are many ways for you to build a website, but generally, it boils down to two ways – the old school way or the easy way.

The old school way is to build a website from scratch, which requires you to

• Have a high-level of knowledge in programming language
• Know how to connect to a database
• Set up a local environment to make sure everything works fine before your website goes live
• Know how to use FTP to transfer files to the correct web directory in order to update your website, and etc.

The old school way allows you to have ultimate control over your website such as theme design, configuration, coding style, functionality, etc. but it requires a lot of work.

That was 10 years ago.

Nowadays, the easiest way to build a website is by doing it with a website builder. With a website builder, you can create a website even though you have zero knowledge of web languages.

What makes website builders really easy to use?

• All website builders come with a very useful feature – drag & drop.
• Simply grab any elements (contact form, blog section, box, etc) from the editor and put it on your layout. Then your website is ready to go.
• You don’t need to worry about any technical skills and web designing skills.
• You just have to pick the template suitable to your niche and start working on it
• Popular website builders come with extended functions to enhance your website. You don’t need to waste time developing it yourself.
• No additional software required to install on your PC. Any updating process is made through a web browser
• As long as you know how to use a mouse, you are good to go.

But how does the editor of a website builder looks like? Take a look below.

Often, the process of building a website (using website builders) starts by editing the template you picked. So, it gives you an idea how your website looks like even before you started.

Are website builders popular and reliable?

Quick facts on popular Website Builders,

• There are over 110 million people in 180 countries using Wix. (source)
• Weebly powers more than 45 million websites around the world. (source)

Top of the class. Easy to use, suitable for all sorts of sites, always adding new features and updating their tools.

Here are a few top website builders we recommend

1. Wix

Top of the class. Easy to use, suitable for all sorts of sites, always adding new features and updating their tools.

2. Weebly

Extremely easy to use and maintain. Best for newbies and site owners who don’t want spend too much time online.

3. Strikingly

Endorsed by marketing guru Seth Godin and many online ventures. Strikingly is best-recognized for building one-page websites.

Our recommendation is to start with those that offer a free trial.

It’s important that you feel comfortable when using these website builders. With Wix and Weebly, you can build a website with their free plans.

During the free trial period, you can have a better look and feel about the website builder itself. You also can have a hands-on experience with the website building process and find out more about the features they offer.

 

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Step #3: Using Pre-built Templates to Beautify Your Website

Website design is the first impression you make with your visitors. It’s also one of the major factors in deciding whether your visitors leave or stay.

In many website builders, they often come with beautifully designed templates. This is a great value-added service to those who don’t know how to design, just like me!

As I’ve mentioned earlier, you just need to pick a template you love (from below) and start editing it. You will have an idea of how your website appears when it goes live.

Choose the pre-built website builders’ templates

If you find that the pre-built templates are not to your liking, not to worry. You won’t have to design one yourself as there are plenty of beautiful premium templates available on the internet.

Spend some time to look for premium templates from reputable template designers, some of which we recommend you checking out below!

Get the premium website builders’ templates

Generally speaking, if you want a unique website design, choosing a paid design is the better option.

With paid designs, the chances of you having the same website design with other people are less likely.

Here’s an example of the test website we built,

 

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Step #4: Register and Connect A Domain Name to Your Website

At this stage, your website should be ready by now.

If you notice carefully, your website address will appear similar to something like this

Wixsite.com/yourwebsitename
Yourwebsitename.weebly.com

That website address means that your website is parked under Wixsite.com or Weebly.com

Obviously, this is not what we want.

A website name is important as it represents your business. Registering a website name is like choosing a name for your company in the offline world. In the online world, we call it – domain name.

A domain name is the address of your website, such as BuildThis.io, CNN.com, Facebook.com

You’ll notice that a lot of the popular websites that have a great online presence are likely to be using their own domain name. Even Justin Bieber needs a domain name for his online presence.

If you want to establish your online presence or to grow your website, it’s a must that you register your own domain name. With a proper domain name, not only it will gain your visitor’s trust, it will be a value added to your SEO (more on this later) in the long run.

So, how do I get a domain name?

To own a domain name, you need to think of a unique name and register it with registrars companies.

GoDaddy and NameCheap are two popular domain registrars and we have been using them for a long time.

1. NameCheap

Founded back in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall. Now, NameCheap is a leading ICANN-accredited domain name registrar with 2 million customers and managing over 9 million domains.

2. GoDaddy

The world largest domain registrar company with 17.5 million customers worldwide and 76 million domains under management.

How do you register a domain name?

If the domain name you chose is not available, you will have to look for an alternative.

You can also register your domain name with website builders such as Wix or Weebly. Normally, you can get a 1-year free domain name if you sign up for their annual plans. But, the renewal fee can be different depending on the platform itself.

Wix is offering $14.95 /year to renew while Weebly is slightly more expensive with $19.95 /year.

We don’t recommend you to purchase your domain name with a website builder. Sure, you can easily connect your website to your domain, but you might face difficulties if you want to transfer out later on.

Quick tips for choosing a domain name:

• Pick something unique and easy to remember.
• The shorter, the better. Be creative.
• Don’t put too many dashes or elements that are difficult for your visitors.
• Choose a .com whenever it is possible.

After you have registered a domain name, what you need to do is to connect your domain name to your website and replace the current URL  (Wixsite.com/yourwebsitename, Yourwebsitename.weebly.com).

Connecting your domain name to a website builder

Since your domain name is registered with a domain host, you have to connect your domain name to the website builders using name servers.

Important: Before you can connect a domain to your website, you must upgrade to the basic plan. The upgraded plans will also remove all the brand ads from your website.

Here are the basic plans that you can follow:

• Wix Combo plan – $8.50 /mo
• Weebly Starter plan – $8 /mo

Connecting NameCheap to website builders

Connecting GoDaddy to a website builder

If you are not comfortable with editing those parameters, ask help from your domain registrar companies.

Send them an email with a request to connect your domain name to your website.

I’m sure they are happy to help you on this.

Note: It may take up to 48 hours for the name server changes to take effect.

 

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Step #5: Adding Important Pages to Your Website

No two website is ever the same as they might serve a different purpose and/or function.

However, you will find that there are some standard pages that every website should have. And, these pages are more important than others.

Why do you need these pages on your website?

For starters, these pages act as a hub to inform or sell to your visitors. Furthermore, visitors who want to know more about your website can find them on these pages. If they can’t find what they are looking for, chances are they will leave your site pretty quickly.

Here are some basic yet important (and most-visited) pages you need on a website:

• Homepage
• About page
• Contact page
• FAQ page

What should you write on these pages?

Homepage

The homepage is the first place where most visitors will land on your website for the first time. You need to make a great first impression and deliver the right pitch. The homepage should let visitors know how you can help them, and drive them deeper into your site.

About page

This is the page that builds a rapport with your visitors. The About Page lets you introduce yourself to your visitors and tells them more about your website. It’s best to include images to show that there are “real people” behind this website.

Contact page

If people want to get in touch with you, the Contact page is the page to go. Although this page sounds dry, you can impress your visitors with some personality. Make sure to include as many options as possible (social media account, email address, etc) for visitors to reach you.

FAQ page

Think about the hesitations, objection, excuses from potential visitors when they visit your website. List these questions down and provide answers to them strategically. Using an FAQ page, you will be able to tell visitors that you know their queries and that you can solve them.

Here are some examples of the pages from different niches that we think are great:

 

You might consider adding additional pages like a Gallery page to showcase your works or products. This is useful when you are in a specific niche, for example, photography, property agent, car dealers, etc.

 

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Step #6 – How to Make A Website: Helpful Additional Tips

With all those important pages done, your website is pretty much ready to launch!

Congratulations!

But wait!

The process of making a website doesn’t end here. In fact, you need to do more if you want to take your website to the next level.

Thus, in this tutorial, we go the extra mile by giving you additional tips to make your website better, ahead of others.

Additional tips that will elevate your website

Include images

Images are an important and cost-effective way to enhance a website. You can easily search the Internet for stock free image or royalty free images. Most of them are free to integrate into your website.

Learn about SEO

I bet you’ve heard about SEO. SEO is a process that’s used to enhance your website so that it will appear in search engines such as Google.

Like it or not, you’ll need to know the basics of SEO in order to gain exposure to your website. Having a branded URL will surely boost your SEO effort in the long run

Understand Basic HTML

Yes, I know I’ve mentioned that you don’t need to know any programming language to create a website with website builders. However, it doesn’t hurt to learn some basic HTML syntax, which could be a lifesaver down the road.

Design an awesome logo

Having a logo is important for a website’s branding and can be key in attracting new customers. If you have a logo in the real world, include it on your website.

Plus, people tend to go to a website with a familiar logo when they’re searching online or need help.

Promote your website

Just because you have launched a great website, doesn’t mean everyone knows about it. You need to utilize different types of channels, such as social media channel, email marketing, Search engine listing, to market your website.

Design a Favicon

Did you see the letter “B” that appeared on the left of your browser tab? This is a favicon that represents our website. Like a logo, Favicon is a smaller version of a logo representing a website that appears in browser tabs or bookmark bars.

It’s a nifty little branding technique that’s often overlooked by website owners.

Monetize your website

Besides the nature of your focus, you can make use of your website to earn extra income. For example, selling Ad space, accepting sponsored articles, joining Google Adsense, selling your own products, etc.

Make a Sitemap

A sitemap is a document that helps search engine to better understand your website while crawling it. A sitemap can also be a basic page on your website that lists every page on the website for navigation purpose.

Implement HTTPS

Consider implementing HTTPS to your website because it’s good for search engines and that Google’s algorithm requires it.

Also, having SSL implemented will enhance user privacy. That’s important if your website is going to handle credit cards or utilize a login functionality.

 

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Step #7: Take Action to Create A Website Now!

To recap what you’ve learned in this tutorial,

1. Define your website’s purpose
2. Build your website with the right platform.
3. Pick a template that fits your niche.
4. Register and connect a domain name to your website.
5. Create important pages to build rapport with visitors
6. Additional web building tips to elevate your website.
7. Take action to sign up for a free account.

Action speaks louder than words! We encourage you to take action and start building a website yourself.

To begin, follow the link and you are on your way to Sign Up for a free account.

Just enter your email and preferred password, like the example above, and it’ll take you to the initial first step.

It’s that easy!

… if you still have any questions, you are welcome to get in touch with us. Or, find us on Facebook or Twitter.

If you find our tutorial useful and offer something different, please share it with others. This will keep us motivated to stay up to date and provide more unbiased information.

 

Happy building!