Ground up: Building your website from start to finish

Websites have become essential to modern businesses over the last few years. When a company doesn’t have something like this behind them, new customers will often ignore them, and older ones will get frustrated that you haven’t developed with the times.

Of course, though, putting something like this together when you have no experience can be a real challenge. A lot more goes into building your website than simply designing it, and this means that you will have to work hard to learn and develop yourself at each stage of the journey. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the work which can go into building your website from start to finish.

The planning

Building your website will always have to start with some clever planning. Even when someone has been making websites for a long time, going through the process without a rough idea of what to do at each stage will make it harder than it has to be. The planning which needs to be done isn’t too complicated, thankfully. There are only a handful of areas which need to be covered, and you can find them below, giving you a good head start when it comes to beginning the process for yourself.

Type of website

There are loads of different types of website out there, ranging from those which are designed as an easy way to share information, to others which can operate as a self-contained retail store. Understanding the type of website you’d like to make is very important.

The type of developer you choose, the hosting you buy, and the content which is made for it will all depend on this consideration, with a lot of companies making the mistake of trying to cover too many areas with their site. There are even handy website designers, like WordPress, that can simplify the process and help you create you website. If you need a guide on how to use WordPress, you could check out youtube.com/@createwpsite for some tutorials.

Its purpose

Along with having an idea of how it will function, it’s also a good idea to figure out how you’d like it to be used. For example, running an eCommerce site can be a way to support a physical store, or it can be a complete replacement for the older ways of doing things. This will be very much down to your business and the way that your company works, with the best sites being those which are able to put the right image in customer’s minds without explicitly telling them that you are responsible for it.

The design concept

While you will probably be having someone working on the designs for you, it’s always a good idea to come up with a rough concept for this element of the job. By looking around at websites which you really like, you can develop a good idea of what other companies are doing, giving you inspiration for your own design. You only need to think about the basic elements here, like the colors and shapes you’ll be using. This can also include the sort of tone you use in your writing.

The content

Most modern websites development companies will only start working on a website once all of the content is ready for it. This means that text, images, and anything else which you want on your pages will have to be put together at the beginning of this process. If you don’t have experience with writing, it will be worth using all of the time you possibly can for this, working hard to replicate the sort of language used on other sites. Along with this, websites like Unsplash can be invaluable when you’re looking for free stock photos to use for your site. Having everything ready nice and early will make the whole process easier.

The digital resources

Getting a website online is often only a challenge because people have no idea of what they need to do along the way. There are a lot of digital resources required for something like this, making this stage often the most confusing one, while also giving you some shopping to do. Below, you can find some examples of these resources.

Hosting

Having a server for your website to call home is essential, and borrowing someone else’s is always far cheaper than investing in your own. Simple shared hosting packages are often enough for small businesses. As time goes on, though, looking for a dedicated option will probably be worth it.

Domains

The web address which goes to your website isn’t something which you get for free. Thankfully, there are loads of sites around the web which sell this sort of resource, and they often come in very cheap. It’s always worth buying a few years on the domain you want, as this will save you from going back and forth to renew it all the time.

Security

Public awareness surrounding data security is at an all time high. If your site isn’t secure, people will be made away by their computers, and this will make them want to look elsewhere. To overcome this sort of issue, it is always worth having SSL encryption in place to protect your site. Website security should be at the front of your mind when building your website.

The design

Designing a website isn’t the same as putting together a logo or a business card. Ensuring that a user has the right kind of experience takes many years of practice, with this being a standalone field. To help you out with this, it can be worth looking for a professional designer with as much experience putting together website mockups as possible. Not only will this ensure that you get a good service when building your website, but it will also give you the chance to get things moving nice and quickly, without having to eat into time which you need for other work. 

The development

Along with having the website designed, you will also need to start looking at people to develop it for you. You can easily find a good web agency by reading a few reviews, with loads of sites available to help you through this. Like looking for a designer, it’s crucial that you pick a developer with the right experience, as building a solid website is harder than it looks. If it falls into your budget, it can be worth having someone with software development experience to help you out. This will enable them to build custom tools which will push your business even further.

The testing

Finally, with your development out of the way, the last job you will have left will be testing the site with some users. By preparing a feedback form with a list of questions you’d like them to answer, you can send people you know around your new site to make sure that nothing is too hard to use or in the wrong places. While this can be easy to neglect, it can often provide invaluable information about problems which you may never have spotted. It can be hard to be critical of something you’ve worked so hard to get up and running, but this will be essential if you want to have the best possible website.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to take on the challenge of building your website for your business. A lot of people struggle with this sort of work, finding it hard to know what they should be putting their time into when they’re putting together a digital platform. As time goes on, this is only getting easier, as more and more companies come about which are dedicated to taking away the challenging jobs you have to do. Of course, though, you already have plenty of support.