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4 Easy Steps To Start Building Your Website
If you’re a DIY’er looking for a little direction, welcome to the design blog! The truth is, creating a website comes with a lot of unexpected decision making and a learning curve.
To make that process easier, I’ve put together the first four steps you should take to create your website!
1. Choose the right CMS (Wix, Wordpress, Squarespace, etc.)
CMS stands for content management system. It also may be the solution you're looking for to quickly make a website with limited technical knowledge and resources, and without having the knowledge to code.
When picking a CMS, you should choose the one that meets your business requirements first, then - you need to decide how much time you’re willing to commit updating, maintaining, and optimizing your site.
All too often I see people opt for Wordpress, when they don’t want to put the time into maintaining the site or paying someone to do it for them. Then, inevitably, the site becomes vulnerable to hacking.
If you’re not sure what a CMS is, or where to start with picking one - here’s a quick list of some of the more popular options for DIYer’s.
I’ll admit - I’m a Squarespace fan for small businesses looking for the ability to easily update and manage their sites.
Squarespace provides a drag-and-drop interface, intuitive navigation to manage your site, and a truly awesome support team. I love that I can chat them whenever I have a problem, and a real person gets back to me. At least… I think it’s a real person. Whatever it is, it’s good.
It’s also really easy to make updates your website, once you get a hang of the navigation and functionality. Just make sure to choose the right template based on what functionality you think you might need. If you’ve got the hang of CSS, you’ll be able to implement tweaks to make the site look less like a template.
If you’re not ready to invest the time in self-learning, mapping and designing a website but you want to move things forward - I can help. :)
Wordpress is a great platform and best for those who want a more extensive website, and that are willing to hire or step up for the learning curve.
Because Wordpress isn’t very intuitive and it’s rather hard to build from the backend, I suggest using Divi with Wordpress. Divi provides thousands of professional themes that you can install into your Wordpress site, and it gives you a visual builder on the front end thats really intuitive, with a drag and drop interface which makes building a great looking website a lot easier.
Along with building your website on the front-end, Wordpress will require several plugins to make your website safe and secure. Plugins are an important part of the WordPress ecosystem, and they are essential for building great websites using WordPress. They allow you to add new features and functionality to your site, similar to how adding apps to your phone works.
In 2002, Wordpress started out as a simple tool to help you start blogging. Fast forward to today, it has evolved into a powerful CMS and app framework - thanks primarily to the use of plugins.
If you are not working with a Wordpress expert or are not tech-inclined or curious, I would suggest going with a different platform or hiring someone to help.
Wix offers an easy drag and drop interface, and is a direct competitor with Squarespace. This can be a great step for the DIY’er who doesn’t want to spend a bunch of time on their website. However, as with any platform that offers templates, if you are not a designer - less is more!
They have made great strides with the platform where SEO is concerned, and are now building out new features that can help your business scale, though in the beginning these were two very sore spots for the company.
If you don’t have an understanding of SEO, I would likely suggest seeking out other options as they are currently overcoming issues with this.
Shopify makes it really easy to set up your e-commerce store and has almost become an industry standard for many small businesses. There are several options to optimize your store and a ton of templates to choose from. This is a more techincal platform, so it tends to have a steeper learning curve. However, don’t let that deter you if you’re really on the lookout for a platform that can handle your online store and scale with your SKU’s.
2. Define the primary goal of your site
Before getting into the design of your site, it’s critical to understand the purpose or goal of your website - as you can’t achieve things you can’t measure. This will allow you to make design decisions centered on that goal and increasing the likelihood that you’ll achieve it.
Some common goals that small business owners have:
Gain more credibility with ideal audience
Drive revenue / increased inquiries
Attract more ideal customers/clients
The majority of your design decisions should circulate around this goal - notice I did NOT write GOALS.
If you’re looking to create an impactful website that gets results, get focused in on your goals and try to have no more than three at most. Once you’ve written your goals down, prioritize them.
Having too many goals is like trying to hit multiple targets at the same time - nearly impossible!
When competing with the attention span of today’s average consumer, the key is to focus their attention on one goal at a time. This will increase your conversion and ultimately help your business to flourish.
Examples of how your goal can impact your design choices:
Example #1:
GOAL: Increased # of bookings
ACTION: Place a button placed on each page where visitors can easily book a call instantly.
Example #2:
GOAL: Increased Credibility with Target Market
ACTION: Focus on display of social proof (aka testimonials/reviews). Place on all relevant pages near Call-To-Action buttons or links.
3. Create a Sitemap
Before you dig into your chosen CMS and start designing, it’s important to do a little planning so you don’t end up feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by creating a Sitemap.
The Sitemap to your website is pretty much what it sounds like - the MAP to your SITE! You probably knew that much, so let’s get a little deeper.
A sitemap outlines what pages are included in your website, and how they connect. Here’s one example of a sitemap: (insert ultimate website workbook illustration)
Figuring this out before you start building your website will help you to have less stress when building your website. It’s like cutting up all the ingredients for a stir fry before you start cooking, versus trying to chop and toss ingredients in along the way.
Not sure where to start with building a sitemap? Check out my 2019 freebie - The Ultimate Website Guide. There are two pages dedicated to helping you build your sitemap easily.
4. Gather your content ahead of time
Make sure that you have your high-res photos and copy ready ahead of time.
Using the sitemap you’ve now created, begin thinking about what content should go on each page and drafting copy for it. Think about how your ideal client or customer is going to move through your website, and place strategic calls-to-action (or buttons ) throughout it.
Doing this ahead of time will help you to organize your thoughts and feel less overwhelmed when you begin placing the content in your website. Don’t forget to include areas of your site that address specific questions your ideal clients always ask you. This will let them know that you understand them and help to create more trust with your brand.
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