It seems everyone these days has their own something. Their own blog, their own podcast, their own brand or something similar. There’s a chance to that they are also have their own website.
When you think about making a website, you may think about endless lines of confusing code, fruitlessly trying to design the perfect homepage or struggling to choose an attractive color scheme.
But the good news is it isn’t that difficult. Of course, there may be a bit of a learning curve, but there are plenty of tools out there to help you and ways to go about it. Down below is a short list compiled of some beginner’s tips for your website.
Choose a Name
First and foremost, you want to have an idea of what your website is going to be. You should already know if this website is going to be a personal website or something for a business. Maybe you’re a small business trying to make a footprint on the web or an artist who has their pieces of art online.
Whatever it is, you’re going to want to choose a name for your website and make sure you can get the domain you want. Some domains will already be taken.
What is a domain?
A domain, in the simplest terms, is your website’s name. Think of anything that goes www.INSERTNAME.com. That INSERTNAME.com is your domain name. You’ll want to make sure it succinctly ties into your business and tells your visitors what they’re looking at. No one is going to click on something they don’t understand.
If you run an organic farm, you’ll want to make it obvious to your visitors that they are looking at a webpage for an organic farm. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best solution.
The name is the first thing people are going to see on your website, so you’ll want to make it easy for people.
Lay Out the Blueprint
Whatever your website is for, you likely made it for others to come visit it and see what you’re saying, selling or showing.
There are many ways to drive traffic to your website (more on that later), but one of the proven ways is regularly updating your website with content.
Go back to the organic farm example. What are some content pieces you could put on your website?
- A photoblog about your new crops
- Tips on starting your own farm
- Tips on how to keep your garden strong during bad weather
- Dos and don’ts
The list is endless, but you’ll want to think about ways you’ll have people routinely visiting. So put on your thinking cap and lay out a plan for yourself and your website.
Start on the Look
This is the part that may throw many people off: the actual design, coding and look of the website. The good news is, you’re not going to have to be an HTML or Java expert to get your website off the ground and running.
There are lots of great tools out there to help you get started. A lot of them boil down to simple actions like click, point, drag and type. They’ll help you align your text, resize your photos and almost everything in between.
No one is expecting you to build a website that will wow NASA scientists, but with a bit of playing around and tutorials, you’ll be able to start making your website look like home.
Get Familiar With SEO
SEO is an acronym that seems to rear its head anytime you head online. In case you don’t know, SEO stands for search engine optimization and it’s what can separate your website from coming up regularly on searches to being cast to the second page of Google.
So, how can you make sure you’re driving a lot of people to your website? There are tons of strategies, frankly too many to list here, but you can go about learning the basics.
There are many free courses or lessons where you can give yourself a crash course on SEO and driving traffic to your website. Chances are, your domain host or your web design tools will also have tips and suggestions to make your website more attractive and how to lure more visitors in.
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