What Does a Great Website Look Like?
Now that you have created a stellar logo, you are going to need something to put it on. Once you’ve got a good handle on your brand and what you really want your customers to know about your company, its a good time to think about creating a website. Almost every new company has a website and it is your job as the founder of your startup to determine what yours will do for your business. You can create a website for multiple reasons:
- Provide information
- Sell your product or service
- Create brand awareness
- Get new leads
- Your website may also be the product or service itself (ex. social networks, Software as a Service, etc.)
What Does Your Website Need?
Once youve determined the core purpose for building your site, you can decide what to include to achieve that purpose. Here are some common pages and elements to consider when designing your website:
- Key Components: Homepage, About Us, FAQ, Contact Forms, etc.
- Photos and Videos: It may be clich, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Media content tends to grab a viewers attention more than text.
- Social Media Integration: Link your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media sites your company has a presence in to drive traffic to your webpage.
- E-Commerce: If you are selling your product or service on your website, it will be important to include items such as a shopping cart or online banking.
Get a Domain Name
Your startups domain name is the name of the address of your website. Keep in mind that acquiring your desired domain name is going to add to your startup expenses and let us be the first to warn you, getting the domain name you want can be a tough process. Sometimes it feels like all the good ones are taken, so you might want to hire a web development firm to get some advice on the subject if you get stuck. Here are some rules to live by when choosing your companys domain name:
- If you plan on using internet marketing as a big part of your strategy, makes sure your company name is available as a domain.
- Picking a domain name that is keyword rich is extremely helpful for Search Engine Marketing. Check out the Google Keywords tool for some help.
Get your Website Hosted
Think of web hosting as renting office space, you are paying someone to place your webpages on the internet so everyone can connect to them. Different websites have different hosting requirements, so again check with a web firm if you have hired one. In our experience, a good hosting company should be affordable and reliable, with fast connecting speeds.
How do I build my Website?
Most of the time, there are 3 options to building a website:
- Build it yourself
- Hire a freelancer
- Hire a firm
Firms will give you the highest quality, but are also the most expensive. Freelancers can give you a high quality site for less than a firm, but they can be unreliable. If you do hire a freelancer, be sure to get recommendations and see examples of their previous work.
Once you have completed all of these steps make sure you test your site thoroughly before you launch. You don’t want any snags or typos when you make your first impression on your future customers.
