Best Way to Make a Website for a Small Business

Small business owners have a lot of things to do and they don’t have much time to do it. They need a website that will be easy to maintain and will help them to represent and promote their work.

This article is about the best way to make a website for a small business. It is written with the help of real-life experienced persons so that you can understand how it works and what are the things that you should consider while making your website.

Before you create your website, the following are some of the important points that should be kept in mind while doing so:

1. A website is a platform for your business, so you should make it as user-friendly as possible.
2. If you are going to use a free website builder, then you should check the terms and conditions of the service provider before using it.
3. You should make a website that is easy to update and maintain.
4. If you are going to use a professional website builder, then you should check the features of the service provider before using it.
5. A website is an important part of your business, so you should make it as professional as possible.

Let’s jump to the steps to make a website for your small business:
Tip: If you don’t have the skills or time to do that, hire a good freelancer.

Start with a domain name

The domain name is the address of your website, so you should pick a good domain name that is easy to remember and type.

After all, people are more likely to visit websites with memorable names than ones they can’t find on search engines or don’t recognize. Choosing a catchy title for your company’s website will make it easier for potential customers to locate you online.

Domain names examples:

• amazon.com
• google.com

A great way to make your website stand out is through a domain name extension. There are many different domains from which you can choose:

• .com for commercial use (this is popular and we recommend it)
• .net for “network” purposes
• .org for “organization”
• .uk (United Kingdom)
• .io for “tech company”
• .de (Germany),…

Where to find and get your first domain name from:

There are many ways you can purchase a website. The easiest, cheapest way is through an online service like GoDaddy or NameCheap, or BlueHost (the one we use).

If you have found a company that offers domains for free then it would be wise to check out their terms of use before using them because they may charge fees later on if the site becomes popular or profitable.

Another option is purchasing an old one from someone who already has the domain name for a while. You can find it from some flipping auction platforms like Flippa.

1. Check your name availability:

When it comes to a business name, checking the availability and cost of your desired domain name can be an arduous process. Luckily, below is a tool that will do all this for you!

If you want to make sure your business has its own domain name without having to worry about the costs or downtime caused by any sudden changes in availability, then type your business name here:

2. Choose the right plan for you:

All domain names and hosting providers have plans and costs paid periodically per year. Domain name registries may offer free or discounted registration, but they are not required to do so. The cost of a website is dependent on the type of plan you choose with your provider. But Bluehost offers a free domain name when you host with them.

We’ll get into that in the next step, but before, let’s wrap what’s above:

Wrapping up steps:

1. Choose a good domain name provider
2. Check your business name availability above
3. Choose the appropriate plan.

Tip: Choose your web hoster first, then pick your domain name from the same provider.
P.S. Hosting providers like BlueHost can offer 2-in-1 solutions: domain name and hosting space at once.

Choose a hosting provider

A hosting provider is a company that provides data centers, computer servers, and related services to other companies.

The term “hosting” comes from the idea of providing space for people or businesses to host their websites on these computers.

A hosting provider can be either a local business in your area or an international one with multiple locations around the world.

1. Tips to pick the right hosting

You should choose a hosting provider that provides good support, fast loading speed, and security features.

A few things to look for in a web host are the number of servers they have available and how many websites can be hosted on each server.

In addition to this, you’ll want your website’s performance-optimized so it loads quickly without errors or slow-downs when users visit your site from different devices such as computers or mobile phones.

It is important to find the best hosting service for your website or blog because it can make all of the difference in how well you are able to promote your business.

There are many factors when choosing a web host including price and customer support quality which vary from company to company as well as their uptime reliability – some companies offer better services than others.

Tip. choose a host that includes an SSL certificate, quick WordPress install, and 24/7 Support.

2. How to Pick a Web Hoster

Web Hosting services in the market are offering more than just web hosting and domain registration. They offer additional features such as email, cloud storage, website builder tools, and much more.

There is a wide range of different types of Web Hosting Services that can be filtered by price or feature set but there isn’t one type that fits all needs so it’s important to do your research before deciding on which service will work best for you!

Web Hostings are becoming increasingly popular with businesses because they provide significant benefits over traditional server-based solutions including scalability (the ability to grow without limit), speed (comparable performance), and reliability at a lower cost.

3. Pick Your Best Web Hosting Provider based on QuickSprout

• Bluehost – Best Web Host for Beginners (We are using it, recommended!).
• Hostinger – Affordable Hosting Plans Overall.
• Hostgator – Best for Lean/Minimal Needs.
• SiteGround – Best for Speedy & Secure Site.

How to buy the package step-by-step

To build your website and bring it to life you will have to pay for your first-year plan. If you are selecting the plan from Bluehost, it’s simple to proceed with the following steps:

Shortcut: Go to the domain tool above and search for your business name, then proceed or…

1. Go to plans page, eg. shared hosting plan
2. Click Get Started
3. Click “Select” your appropriate category: Basic, Plus, or Choice Plus (Basic is recommended for beginners, and Plus for multiple websites). You can click the “Compare Plans” button to start comparing.
4. Put your business name to check the domain name availability
5. Select the domain extension you want like .com
6. Fill in the information needed
7. And finally, click Submit

And here you go, congrats on your first website domain and hosting.

Best way to make a website for a small business step by step – the shortcut

You should create a website using an effective web builder tool. The tool should be easy to use and have many features like blog, photo gallery, video, etc. so that you can create an effective website in no time and within budget limits.

The best way to build your small business website without coding is to use Content Management System (CMS) tools like WordPress or Joomla.

if you are not comfortable with the web builder tool provided by the hosting provider or if you want to have more control over it than what is available through the web builder tool provided (like customizing it).

You can also use it as a platform for other applications that you want to develop. The best thing about using CMS tools is that they are free and open-source so you do not need to pay anything for them. You can also customize them according to your needs and requirements.

Like most popular websites in the world, we are also using WordPress, an easy-to-use content management system. It’s easy to install and has a lot of tools to adapt with – making it the perfect website platform for you! So let’s set up your first website on WordPress (available on Bluehost and some other hosters)

How to Install WordPress on Bluehost

Before installing WordPress, one important step you don’t have to miss is to assign your purchased new domain name to a folder or what we call domain root. 

It is a simple step, go to Domains > Assign > choose your domain name > choose the folder name and the root of your website folder (where everything will be hosted) then click assign this domain. And that’s it. now you can continue your installation.

Lets’ install WordPress now:

• Go to the “My Sites” section,
• Click “create a site”
• Then follow the easy steps

• Choose how would like to install you wordpress

If you know something about wordpress and want to be more flexible, choose Limiteless customization WordPress.

If you are very beginner, and want to make the website quickly following some simple directions, select the Bluehost Website Builder and follow 

• Then, a pop-up window will appear asking you to enter your login details. Enter your login details in the provided fields and continue.
• After successfully installing WordPress, you will be directed to a page with a welcome message. Click on the link provided in this message and you will be redirected to your dashboard where you can see all of your installed plugins, themes, and other settings…

After Install, go to WP and set up:

Some essential setups and customization tasks

You can always enter your WordPress dashboard through Bluehost.

Simply by going to ”My Sites” > select your website > Click “Manage Site” > then click “Login to WordPress”

Let’s jump to the settings and do some important setup:

• Go to Settings > Permalinks and set up your permalinks according to your needs. You can also change the default settings for your permalinks if you want.
• Go to Settings > General and set up your site’s title, description, author name, etc., according to what you want for your website’s content.

Also, we can do some edits on the appearance section:

• Go to Appearance > and set up your site’s theme, header image, etc., according to what you want for your website. You can also change the default settings for your theme if you want.
• Go to Appearance > Widgets and add widgets that will be useful for your site. You can also change the default settings for these widgets if you want.
• Go to Appearance > Menus and add menus that will be useful for your site. You can also change the default settings for these menus if you want.
• Go to Appearance > Widgets and add widgets that will be useful for your site. You can also change the default settings for these widgets if you want.
• Go to Appearance > Widgets > Sidebars and add sidebars that will be useful for your site. You can also change the default settings for these sidebars if you want.

P.S. after working and discovering the WordPress world, you will be exêrienced with all these sections and the whole CMS. So you can edit everything if you understand the environment.

Design your website through premade themes

For the design purposes, themes are premade already, you have just to pick one that appropriates your business and looks professional. The themes are available free and paid:

1. The WP  Free Themes:

These free themes are designed to help you build your website quickly and easily. Whether it’s a personal blog or professional business site, these templates will provide the right look for any project.

The WP Free Themes include everything from simple designs that make building an online presence easy to more complex layouts with many options in order to meet all of your needs. With new themes added daily, there is always something fresh waiting for you on WordPress’ homepage!

Within the WordPress dashboard: 

• Go to Appearance > themes > pick one of the defaults themes or Click Add new Theme to choose other templates.
• Search and choose your favorite one > click Install > then Activate. and the theme is ready to use and customize.

2. Difference between Free and Premium WP Themes

Free WordPress themes often lack features and may not initially have continued support or updates, making them less secure over time than premium ones would be otherwise.

In contrast, Premium themes cost more than free ones. They have a higher potential to be loaded faster and they are generally easier on the eye, given that they come with far more functionality out of the box.

3. The WordPress Premium Themes

There are thousands of wp premium themes available for purchase. These themes range from simple to complex and may be purchased individually or in bundles with additional features such as support, extended licensing, and so on.

Many of the current top-selling premium WordPress theme packages offer hundreds of dollars worth of value at an affordable price point that can help you grow your business online without breaking the bank.

4. The important things to consider when choosing a WP theme

In order to get good themes, you will need some tips and steps.

• Search for  WordPress themes:

The first thing you need to do when looking for a premium theme is to decide what type of site you want to build. Do you want a business website, a blog, or both? This will determine the features that are most important to you.

• Look at the features of the theme:

Once you have decided on your site’s purpose, look at the features of the premium themes available. You can use WordPress Theme Finder and WordPress Theme Checklist to help with this process.

These tools allow you to compare themes and see how they compare in terms of functionality and design. You can also use them to compare themes side by side so that you can see how different designs look on your site and make sure that it fits your needs before making a purchase decision.

• Find out about the support offered by the theme developer:

You should also find out about any support offered by the developer of your chosen theme. Does he/she offer a support forum, a live chat feature, or a phone number for users to call? This is important because you want to make sure that you can get help when you need it.

• Choose a theme:

Once you have found a theme that meets all of your needs, go ahead and purchase it! You will be able to upload and install the theme right away so that all of your content is ready for publishing.

5. Best Place to Find WP premium themes:

We have found the best place for you where you can find only high-quality WordPress premium themes. The site is called ThemeForest and it has tons of quality paid WordPress themes that are compatible with all current versions of WordPress including the latest version.

Themes on this site will be easy to install and update as well which makes them perfect for personal or business use.

So the best of the best are:

1. ThemeForest
2. Elegant Themes
3. Envato

After picking your theme, you can customize it yourself or search for a good development freelancer on Fiverr to do that for you. You can also hire a professional designer for your creative business materials.

And now you can finish by adding useful plugins and start publishing content.

Add useful WordPress Plugins:

What are WordPress plugins? A plugin is a piece of software that adds functionality or content to your website. It can be used for anything from adding an image gallery, to creating and managing online courses, giving you the ability to create custom SEO metadata (such as sitemaps), build forms in seconds, or even add new widgets.

There are thousands of free and premium options available on the market today – but beware! Some will have malicious code hidden behind their “pretty” interface which could compromise your site security, for that pick a good security solution for your website.

Most useful plugins on WordPress:

The following are the most popular and helpful plugins for bloggers, marketers, or website owners. They have been tested by many users and they’re updated frequently to make sure that you don’t miss out when it comes time to take your site from good to great!

The Essential WP plugins List

• W3 Total Cache – This is a caching plugin that caches in several places, including the database, browser memory, and HTTP responses to speed up your website. It also includes built-in CDN support for faster page loads with Cloudflare’s global network of servers…
• Yoast SEO – This plugin is essential if you want your blog posts ranked high in search engines like Google. It’s easy enough for beginners but has advanced settings so even experts can find what works best with their sites’ goals.
• Jetpack – a centralized and easy plugin that balances multiple things: speed, backup, security, and functionality, auto-publicizing on social, social sharing widgets, centralizing connection to wordpress.com and woo-commerce, and more…
• Redirection – a plugin that redirects links, manages 301 redirects, keeps track of 404 errors, and more…
• PrettyLinks – Help to track and analyze link clicks.
• Woocommerce – helps you build an eCommerce site.
• Google Site Kit – the all-in-one plugin that connects you to google services, track and analyze your website traffic through apps like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager,…
• Smush – for minimizing image size.
• Mailchimp, SendinBlue, or MailerLite – for your email marketing campaigns.
• WP Mail SMTP – fix issues with not sending emails and ensure that all your WordPress emails are delivered right into the user’s inbox.
• WPForms, Gravity Forms, OptinMonster – for email forms popups, and lead capture.
• Elementor & DIVI – the easiest themes and landing pages Drag-and-Drop Builders.

And many other essential plugins that will help you customize and finalize the shape and functionality of your website.

Wrapping up

We can say that WordPress is a great tool for building websites. It is easy to use, install, and learn.

In addition, it has an incredible community of developers and users that help you with any issue you may encounter.

So if you are planning to start a website or blog with WordPress, I invite you to follow the steps listed above and try your best to have a successful experience!

Steps – the shortcut

1. Pick your hosting and domain name from Bluehost
2. Setup your website
3. Get a good theme and customize it
4. Add the useful plugins

Bonus steps

1. Don’t forget to publish your website,
2. Index it in search engines,
3. Add legal pages: terms of use, privacy policy, cookies terms, contact page.
4. And finally, start posting articles, pages, your offers for services/products.
5. Analyze, react and reply.
6. Use Canva platform or 99designs to design all your needed creative and promotion materials.

If you like this guide and find it useful, please share it with your friends. Thanks for reading! See you soon!