Do you remember that first day at your first job – your hands were sweating, it felt like you had a lump lodged in your throat, and you were looking around for possible places to hide. You felt really stupid while your new supervisor was trying to train you for your new tasks. There was so much information! Impossible to remember even half of it! You felt overwhelmed and, at the end of the day, you went back home feeling like someone had just sucked out all your energy and thoughts…

I know this feeling pretty well. Everyone who just comes across the mysterious field of websites feels the same. In the beginning.

Domain, hosting, URL structure, meta titles, and descriptions, H tags, image alt tags, SEO, conversion rate, …. WHAT????

Don’t worry! It is absolutely normal to feel the way you do right now. I felt the same way 6 years ago. Today, though, I want to give you a quick course on what you have to do, and in what order, so you can calm down and use all your creativity and reason. I won’t be able to be very detailed as this post would grow to more than 200 pages, but I will outline the main steps you should make when you create your website.

Main steps you should take when creating your website:

1. Do your research.

• What are the main keywords that describe your website (service/product)? Do people search for them or maybe they use some other phrases? Use Google’s Keyword Planner to find out what the average search volume for your keywords is.
• Who are your competitors? What are they offering? Check their websites for some ideas for keywords and design.

2. Pick a domain name.

This is your website’s name. Be careful when choosing the domain name. There are some traps you may fall into, so take some time reading about the best practices on picking a domain name.

3. Pick a hosting company.

This is where your website will be actually hosted. It should be saved on a server. There are a lot of hosting companies, so choose wisely. Do some research because there are some specifics you should know about.

4. Define your ebsite goal.

Why do you need a website? You want to sell something, or to promote, or to generate leads, or just to write some blog posts? It is important to have the website’s goal in mind before you move on to the steps below.

5. What platform will you use to build your website?

If you are not a developer, and I suspect you aren’t, then you will most probably use a platform that makes website creation as easy as riding a bike. (If you can’t ride a bike… as easy as eating chocolate cake). There are different platforms out there and you need to choose one, depending on your website goal. Check out Simvoly (my favorite one!), WordPress, Wix, Shopify, etc.

6. Color psychology – what colors should you use to reflect your brand identity?

Every color carries a subconscious meaning. Research the colors you are thinking of using. What meanings do they have? For example, you don’t want for a SPA center, which is a calm and relaxing place, to use red. When you research this topic a bit, you will understand why 🙂

7. Create a memorable logo

This step may be done last, but if you rely on a professional designer to do it for you, bear in mind this task usually takes some time. Do not expect your logo will be ready in 2 days.

8. What should be the URL structure of the website?

Your content goes Make it easy for users and search engines! The URL structure is important for achieving a good position on Google, as well as a pleasant user experience. Take your time to sketch the URL structure in advance. You can, of course, change it later when your website is already working, but it is time- and money- consuming and it will be better if it is done correctly from the start. If you are a beginner and you have no idea what I am talking about, you better consult with an SEO specialist. SEO = Search Engine Optimization, or how to make your website great so Google will like it and show it on its first page. First-page position = more visitors to your website, and you will definitely love this.here…

9. What elements should your website include?

There are a lot of potential elements you should consider using. Some of them are a sidebar, subscribe forms, contact forms, phone number, trust factors (reviews, certificates, guarantees, etc.), banners, social icons and many more. Every element has its importance and depending on its position on the website may produce different results.

10. Search engine optimization (SEO)

As I already mentioned, SEO is important for the traffic volume you will have on your website. Some elements of the website may be optimized for better positioning on Google (Google is a search engine). It is a very broad topic so I won’t get into details now. If you consult an SEO specialist about the URL structure of the website, ask them for some tips on how to prepare your content – text, images, headlines, etc.

11. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) tricks

CRO shows how many of your visitors are converted into buyers/subscribers/or any other goal you may have. There are a lot of best practices you can implement in the beginning so you can skyrocket from the start and there are as many things you can test afterwards.

Basically, this is the outline of the steps you should use when you decide to create a website. Like everything else, good planning produces better results. So take your time to think of every step discussed here.

 

There is a lot of information on the Internet about these topics if you have the time to do the research. Just bear this in mind: when you are reading an article, check the date when it was published.A lot of articles are outdated and I don’t want you to implement something that hasn’t worked for 2 years.

If you value your time and you prefer to have everything up-to-date in one place, check out my book “Create a Website and Profit: Your A to Z Blueprint for a Successful Website that Converts Visitors into Buyers”. It is a comprehensive 200+ pages guide on what you have just read. After you read it, you won’t need any SEO consultations. Moreover, a great value bonus is you will enter a closed Facebook group where you will have unlimited access to my knowledge and experience.

If you have any questions or you want to add something I have missed, please do so in the comments section below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Wish you all the best,
Iskra