A great website has become integral to the success of small businesses. If you want to grow your business, then creating a website is the ideal method. The benefit of creating a website is that it will build confidence in your potential customers.
In today's world, any business, especially a small one with a website, is preferable to consumers than companies that do not. This is because a website will allow your consumers to access information about your business.
The more people who read about your business, the more it will grow. It makes you look more credible and gives people another way to learn more about you before committing to a face-to-face with you.
The best part is all the tools you need to start a website are available for free or at little cost. Here are our tips for small businesses looking to create their website.

 

Choosing a Suitable Domain

The first towards creating your website is to choose a suitable domain. This will be your address on the web. A domain is comparable to your business or house address. Instead of pointing to a real-life location, it takes your customers to your website.
An ideal website address should have your business’s name. However, you can use another keyword if you believe it better represents your brand. An adequate domain name is one which simple, easy to recall, and unique to your business.
It is advisable to use specific search engine friendly keywords in your domain name as it will drive more traffic to your website. This will allow your website to be more readily discoverable.

 

KeywordPlanner

is a free tool that can help you pick out suitable keywords. Search for a new keyword and ad group ideas to see what people are searching for online. Try to pick something with lower competition yet high search volume to maximize your results.
Try testing out different domain names with your friends and family to see which one sticks the best. Your website address must also be unique, so make sure that it is available. You can purchase your domain through web hosting services such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, or Hostgator.

 

Sign Up with a Web Hosting Provider

A web hosting provider will host your website. Pages, pictures, and files related to your website will be stored on the provider's servers. These servers will act as the cyber hub for your web page and will let people find and access your website from anywhere in the world.
This step is easy, as the services above that provided your domain also provide web hosting services. So you can get all of this work done together from one source.
Web hosting providers offer packages containing additional benefits that are relevant to the design of your website. Choosing the right package depends on your budget and the type of website you wish to create, which brings us to the next tip.

 

Website Design

Now that you have your domain and web hosting sorted. Let's dive into the fun world of web design. Your website’s success depends entirely on the user experience. That means you need to have an optimal web design.
What if you don’t have the expertise to design a website?
Let's get one thing straight; you don't need extensive HTML coding knowledge to build your website. All you need to figure out is how you want your website to look and what content you wish to put on it.
If you know how to organize, then you will have no problem building a website yourself. Many plug and play platforms are available for making a small website. Each of these offers their own set of pricing options and features. Let's look at a few of the best ones.

 

Wix

Wix offers a wide range of excellent templates to choose from. It's incredibly flexible, allows you to add animations, and has a powerful App Market. However, the pricing is expensive, with slow loading times and the inability to switch between templates.

 

Weebly

Weebly is much easier to use compared to the other tools mentioned here. The themes are much more responsive; it offers an app center and allows for team management. That being said, its limited design flexibility hinders the user from being creative.

 

Squarespace

Squarespace offers unique templates and designs. The most stand out feature is its blogging tool, making it the editor of choice for blogging websites. They provide quality customer support and support mobile apps. The editor itself is a bit difficult to use, and you would need a little bit of practice to get the hang of it.
The primary benefit of these websites is that they often have all-inclusive functionality that lets you handle the purchase of your domain, order website hosting, and designing your webpage all in one place.

 

Utilize Widgets

A widget is an application that is part of an interface used to perform a function or access a third party service. For example, if your website has an online shopping feature. Then you can use a shopping cart widget to help your online shoppers select and pay for the items they would like to purchase.
There are a wide variety of widgets available for a large number of different uses. You can use them for contact forms, online chat functionality, social media buttons, SEO tasks, and more.
Most online website design platforms already feature built-in widgets to make designing your small business website that much easier. Here are some of the best widgets any website can utilize.

• Smartsupp: Live Chat, great for communicating with your customers on the fly. Studies have shown that implementing live chat cause a significant increase in conversion.
• GetResponse: Great widget to create contact us forms. It allows your customers to get in touch and voice their concerns.
• AddThis: Presents your customers with ways to share your website with their family and friends.
  Elfsight is a widget sharing website where you can find the same widget you are looking for. It offers both free and premium options.

At this point, you've created a domain, hosted it, designed your website, and spiced it up with widgets. Congratulations, you now have a fully functional website for your business. Keep updating it regularly and engage with consumers to improve it further.