If you run or own a business, but that business does not have an official website, or your business has an outdated website, you need to create one soon if you want your business to stay competitive, no matter what market you are in. You might think this will require hiring a web designer, but you may be surprised to learn that you can create a business website yourself, with no experience at all, and even without paying for a website creator. These are some tips to help you get started.
Getting Started
Before you create the actual website, you need to make a plan. There are key elements that must be present on your business’s website, and you have to make a commitment to keep those elements updated at all times, no matter what. The most important information that your website will include is the functional information about your business. This includes your days and hours of operation, any days of the year that you are closed, your business’s location, and working telephone numbers and email addresses. Make sure that you also include a section about your business that explains the products or services that you offer. If possible, put pricing information on your website, as many people will continue to look for a different service or product provider if they can’t use the website to get a good idea of how much money it will cost them to be your customer. Also plan your website’s design based on the type of business you run. Keep it professional, but select a tone that reflects your services or product, whether that means a serious, sophisticated web design or a more fun and colorful one.
Creating the Site Yourself
Once you know what your website will look like and what kind of content it will include, you can design it yourself without paying anyone any money at all by using free website templates that you access online. There will be options for the templates, so you can choose one that works well for your business and one that reflects the tone you determined during the planning stage. You can import all your important content into the template and the website creator will often even help you determine the best way to organize your information. If you find that the template you are using doesn’t have all the features you want, you can consider upgrading to a premium web design template, which will give you more features and options. Even the premium templates are likely to cost much less money than hiring a web designer to create your business’s website for you.
No matter what type of business you own or manage, it is important to have a professional and functional website if you want people to be able to locate your business and if you want people to take it seriously. Having an outdated website indicates to potential customers that your business is also outdated. Negate this idea with a current and modern website that looks great and functions well.
