7 Things to Consider Before Building a Website

You’re on the path to success. 2020 has just started, and you’re ready to invest some money in your business and create a decent looking website. Kudos for the enthusiasm!

But if that’s your first website building project, you just have no idea on how much stuff you’ll have to plan for. No worries though, we’re here to share the seven things that you should know before you start building your online presence.

1. Choosing the right domain name

Your domain name is what people will type in the search bar. It’s important to choose the proper domain name because you’ll want it to be either a brand name or something closely related to your business. 

Keep in mind that exact match domains aren’t really that good for SEO, so we’d advise if you stay clear from those and rather buy a branded domain name. 

2. Finding the best hosting provider for your website

Once you decide on your domain name you’ll have to buy it, and we advise you do so from the hosting provider that you’ll use to host your website. While hosting itself is a pretty complicated topic finding a quality web hosting service can be much simpler when you’re looking at comparisons. Key things to look for are setup ease, customer service, and pricing. 

3. Sit down and figure out who’s your target persona 

Building a website requires you to wear many hats. One of those hats is that of a marketer. You’ll have to figure out who’s your target persona as this will dictate the design, copywriting (more on that later) and overall usability of your website.

Building a persona includes everything from what age they are, to how they interact with the online world and what things they like (yup, even music). The idea isn’t for it to be a hundred per cent correct, but rather to give you a guiding point. 

4. And then you can start deciding what features you need

Deciding on the features is kind of tricky. What are you going to use your website for? Do you need users to log in? Do you need interactive parts on your website?

Those are all important questions that you have to answer in order to start building it and at the very least start making mock-ups. 

And while we’re on the topic of features, let’s take a look at an equally important topic…

5. What are your plans for the future?

Building a website can start with creating something small, a portfolio website per se, and build it into something much bigger, interactive and completely unique. 

But in order to save spending a tonne of cash on rebuilding from scratch every time you’re expanding, creating the website the smart way and building something that can be later built upon is a much better technique. 

6. Who’ll write the copy on your website?

Copywriting is often overlooked by people who’re just starting in the space, but it’s a very important aspect of every website. 

Cool design and nice visuals are okay, but having a strong copy is what will increase conversions and create a brand that users will love. That’s why it’s always best to invest in good copywriters who know how to do their job. 

Bonus tip: Always create the copy for each page, decide on what you’ll want to share with it and then go and start working on the website mockups.

7. How much money can you spend on that project?

While making a website can be fun, it can also become quite expensive, quite quickly. That’s why it’s always a good idea to know what you budged is and not go over it. 

Set a number and discuss it with everyone involved in the project. That way the people who’re doing the separate parts of the website will know how much they could charge and adjust their workload accordingly. 

So, are you ready to make your website truly the best one on the web? Don’t be so fast, this is a journey where you’ll learn a lot of lessons around the online space so make sure you have the right mindset.

Just don’t forget to always keep everyone involved in the project updated, so you can skip the back and forth through the process. Saves both time and money at the end.