How to Start a Website
How to Start a Website
The consumer purchasing power in Kenya has significantly changed over the years. People today prefer to purchase and do research on products and services online, making it crucial for all businesses to have a website and a strong online presence. The journey of bring your business online does not have to be hard. This blog discusses all you need to know about starting a website.
Steps to Start a Website
- Register a Preferred Domain Name
The first step to start a website is by registering the domain name. Users use your domain name to access your website. Therefore, it is important for you to choose a domain name that matches your business. Research has shown that the right domain name can set your business up for success. Host Masters is one of the best domain registrars in Kenya. We help you pick the right domain name for your business.
- Host your Domain
After domain registration you will require to host that domain with a hosting company. Hosting involves reserving a space online to store your website applications and emails. Hosting is what makes your website or domain visible to users. Domain registration and hosting go hand in hand and cannot function without each other.
- Website Design and Development
After completing the first two steps, domain registration and hosting, the real work of designing the website begins. As much as there are ways one can develop a simple website themselves, hiring a qualified developer to develop a business website is essential to get a responsive website that ranks high on Google search engine. They use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to ensure they rank high and your website is the first thing users see whey Google your business.
- SSL Certificate Installation
SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. Having an SSL certificate for your website is not a must, but it is crucial. An SSL certificate protects your customers’ personal data and transactions from scammers and hackers. With the increased cybersecurity threats in Kenya and worldwide, it is advisable that you don’t skip this step.
- Promote your Website
Once the website is visible to the users, it is now time to promote the website to attract potential customers. You can do so through social media marketing and other online marketing tactics.
Benefits of Having a Website
Having an online presence, especially a website, is crucial in this day and age where almost everyone depends on the internet. Some benefits of having a website include:
- Improves Customer Experience
With a website, you can showcase your products or services, which allows your customers to get first-hand information without having to call or visit your physical location. Calling to get every little information is inconvenient to the customer, which may leave them extremely disappointed. Additionally, visiting the physical location just to inquire is tedious. This convenience of getting information increases the chances of those customers purchasing your products or services.
- Increases Customer Reach
Having a website increases the number of people who can access or view your products or services. This concept is good for business because there are high chances of increased sales if more people can access information on products or services offered.
- Improves Credibility
The current trend of scamming has made people fear conducting business with just any company. Having a website proves your credibility to potential customers, which increases the chances of them choosing to purchase products or services from you.
- Attract Organic Traffic
A well-developed website with search engine optimization (SEO) techniques will rank high on Google search results, which will increase the chances of people looking for similar products or services viewing your website. Host Master is the best company to develop a website for you because it develops SEO customized websites that rank well on Google search results.
- Saves Cost
A website removes the cost that the business would have used to do marketing and advertise because people can easily access the needed information on the website.
Features of a Great Website
- Responsive Design
A website should function properly on all devices, be it computers or mobile phones. These types of websites improve user experience because the user is able to use the website properly using any device. Most poorly done website are hard to use when one is using their mobile phone.
- Easy to Use
A website should be easy to navigate for all users. Therefore, it is important to keep your website design as simple as possible and ensure all navigation work properly.
- Optimized for Search Engines
A well-designed website should rank high on search engines. Developers use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques, which ensures this happens. This is one of the most important feature because most of the time consumers don’t go past the first page of a search engine while looking for products or services. Therefore, you might lose business just because potential customers are not viewing your website.
- Social Media Integration
Integrating your social media pages into your websites improves interactivity with users. Potential customers are able to follow updates and inquire about your products and services on social media.
How to Promote your Website
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Using SEO techniques while developing the website is actually a way to promote it because it will rank high on search engines and potential customers can be able to view it.
- Email Marketing
You can also promote your website including its link while sending bulk emails to potential clients.
- Social Media Marketing
One can use social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to promote their website. They will link their website to their everyday post and potential customers are able to visit the website to get more information.
Conclusion
Having a website has become a necessity for all businesses due to the rapid change of the consumer purchasing behavior. A website has numerous benefits to the business including improved credibility, reduced marketing cost, increased customer reach and improved customer experience. Getting a well-designed website will help grow your business.