The first website or technically the first webpage of the world went live in August 1991 and as per the survey of January 2019, the total figure of live websites on the world wide web is 1 billion+.
In less than four decades since its actual inception, websites have revolutionized the process of anything that is happening around the world. In 2019 creating a website is easier than preserving groundwater. If you are confused about what to do and where to start for building a new website, then you have just reached the right spot.
Websites have proved to be a boon for the 21st century and there is no better time than now to build one. Blogs, e-commerce, educational, social, professional, or for any other purpose, building a website has a few basic things to be remembered that’s it.
This article will be a comprehensive guide for beginners, to enlighten you about the primary factors essential for building a new website.
1. Define your Target Audience
A product is designed for a consumer. If the product fails to satisfy and impress the potential client it is a super flop in the market and results in constantly declining sales. The same is the case with a website.
A website must not be planned or designed according to the modern & evolving web technology. The process of building a new website should be such that the ‘user’ or ‘visitor’ who is actually going to access the site must have smooth navigation and a fantastic user interface.
If the website is created with enhanced analytics feature and with the best search engine optimization techniques but fails to facilitate the needs of the target audience then it is more of a liability to the company/individual.
Following are the points that must be kept in mind while deciding about the target audience of a website.
a). It is necessary to evaluate and analyze the assumptions. If one assumes that automobile enthusiasts are the target audience for his/her site then it must be analyzed and necessary research in terms of case studies or surveys should be carried out to back those claims. Every data and information, either supporting or contradicting the assumption must be discussed.
b). In most of the cases, the website that you intend to build will have direct competition from one or more existing websites on the internet. Find out your potential competitors. Visit their websites.
Research about the audience they are engaging. You can always try to use and study as much information as possible from the market research conducted by them.
c). Website is not just about connecting with people it is about building an impression of your brand in their minds. But for doing that you must have access to the background of your visitors.
Writing down every aspect of the target audience can help you clearly define them, using the user analytics of the website in the future.
Until the target audience is defined you will always face difficulties in designing the website or while choosing the best WordPress themes. Features, structures, navigation, SEO, content, and domain, everything will be at stake if you do not know who your visitors are.
2. Preparing your Blueprint
Once the target audience is decided you must work on preparing every small and big aspect of your website. Depending upon the type of website you intend to create the content and title of the WebPages of your site should be fixed.
Common pages that are present in almost all websites are Contact Us, About Us, Services, Gallery, and Facilities. Such pages differ when the type of websites changes.
Preparing a wireframe for a website can help you visually see how the final structure of your website will turn out to be. It illustrates the basic outline of the page and enables you to know about the interlinking of the pages.
It is advisable to focus on the navigation and accessibility of your website model. Your visitors must not be left confused about internal or external links.
Also, necessary care should be taken that the website can be easily accessed from any device i.e. mobile, tablet, and computer.
For building a new website one of the most essential parts of the blueprint is the content. Content is the conqueror and hence it must be engaging and impactful for the audience.
3. Choosing a Platform
Websites blueprints take considerable time as it has a lot of tasks involved. But once it is completed the only essential thing to decide upon is the platform for development.
It is advisable that you select a platform which enables you to create a website with ease and also has convenient maintenance options. We highly recommend using WordPress for the same.
Almost 1/3rd of the Website live on the web are made from WordPress i.e. 15 million+ websites of the world. Other than WordPress two other popular options are Joomla and Drupal. Following points should be considered when choosing a platform for building a new website.
a. Cost (Both building and maintenance)
b. Ease of access for procurement and installation
c. It must be mobile-friendly
d. Security
e. Customer Support
f. Flexibility in terms of structure and features according to the requirement
4. Focusing on the Hosting and Domain Name
Finalize a domain name only after you have sorted and worked out all the above-mentioned factors. A domain name should include keywords that the potential audience will search online. It should not be complicated and the most important it should be easy to remember.
The things to look for in a hosting provider are customer support, secure servers, unlimited bandwidth, strong backup potential, and network monitoring. A free domain name and registration by the hosting provider will be cheery on the cake.
Websites play a crucial role in your business operations and blogs have proven to be an effective revenue-generating model. If you have not thought about building a new website for your firm, then now is just the right time.
