Creating a solid online presence is vital for your business. In fact, 97 percent of consumers look at local businesses up online before making a purchase.

The reality is, your business cannot afford to not have one anymore. If you want to stay ahead of your competitors and boost your existing client base, you definitely should have a website.

Sure, you might have a lot of things in your to-do list, and adding building a website on that list can be quite overwhelming. The good news is that building a website for your business is not as hard as you think.

In this post, we will walk you through some tips on how to build your first business website.

Define a Clear Business Goal

Every business should have a clear goal and purpose. Why do you need to have a website in the first place? Do you need it to leverage your business, to have regular leads come in? Are you using it as a portfolio to display your work, or for your customers to access all kinds of data?

Answering these questions will help you know what you want out of your site, which helps with the overall design flow.

If you want your business to be a go-to place for interested people who want to buy your products, then you should build your website according to that goal. A site that does not have a clear purpose will only cost you time and money and will provide you with very little benefit.

Pick a Reliable Host

Your web host is where your website lives online. It is like a plot of land, and your website is like your home. Without it, how can you create a website?

Ideally, a good server should be online 24/7 and is highly accessible to the public. Thus, it is crucial that you research first the web hosting company that you want to work with to have guaranteed uptime, strong site security, and highly accessible customer service in case issues arise along the way.

For instance, if you are considering Hostgator as your web host; you can simply type in “HostGator review” on Google to check out what other people are saying about this web host.

Write Original Content

The power of unique content is essential when building your website. Without the right content, your business will have a difficult time building brand awareness. At the end of the day, this is what can bring visitors to your website.

You do not need to have a million-dollar budget like Apple and Coca-Cola for you to make content. With a little creativity and hard work, you can create a compelling blog post, social media update, or infographic that could potentially go viral.

This is a dream for most businesses, but you can make it a reality if you have excellent content management skills.

Tell Customers What You Can Do for Them

One of the biggest mistakes of new website owners is to be caught up in what they are doing rather than focusing on the benefits they can provide to their prospective clients.

Try to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. It also helps to read your content as a potential visitor rather than as a creator.

Utilize Calls-to-Action

When a user comes across your site, they should be able to interact with your site easily, whether it is getting a free download, scheduling an appointment, or filling out a contact form.

Do you want people to sign up for your newsletter? Then, add a form on your main page.

Want them to browse through your latest collection of products? If so, make it easy for them to visit your online store.

A strong CTA is one of the key elements in creating a great website. Therefore, it should be taken seriously. If you could get users to interact with your website, then you are likely to convert them into a paying customer.

Make it Easy to Navigate

You need to limit your top-level navigation menu to at most five labeled tags with relevant pages that are organized underneath them, like in a hierarchy structure.

Apart from that, you should also provide users a clear way to go back to the homepage no matter where they may land. A search bar can take your reader to other pages apart from the home page.

Make Your Website Mobile Responsive

Since 2016, mobile has now surpassed desktop traffic, and the number of mobile users is expected to hit 5 billion this year.

The data is telling us that more and more people are browsing the internet, buying things, and sharing stuff online using their smartphones and tablets rather than on their laptops and desktop computers.

No matter what kind of content you decide to place on your website, make sure that your website is responsive and mobile-friendly.

A site that is not optimized can turn away prospects, hurt your SEO rankings, and make your business look unprofessional.

Consider Load Times

Users can get impatient when browsing websites. Having a slow loading site will determine whether or not people are willing to know more about what you have to offer and buy your products.

So, audit the performance of your website regularly by checking the site speed, load times, formatting, and continuity of your texts and images.

Make Your Website Easily Accessible

You also need to consider people with disabilities, such as those that have color-blindness. Tailor your website in a way that allows them to learn more about your products and services.

You also need to be aware that people that have slower internet connections will also visit your site. Think of ways you can to improve their overall experience.

Keep Your Design Simple

The first thing that prospects see when they visit your site is your homepage.

Ideally, your homepage should answer the questions visitors would be asking, such as who you are, what your business is, and what could they do on your website. What impression do you want to make, and what message do you want to send out?

The key here is not to overload your homepage, as it might be distracting and confusing to your audience.

Consider Future Growth

For your business to scale quickly, stay away from low-cost platforms that are fit for smaller sites.

These cheap platforms can work great for businesses that want to stay small, with limited features. But if you wanted to grow in the long run, transferring your site into a new host can be a pain.

Thus, opt for the biggest and most reliable web host that you can afford.

Final Thoughts

You have probably spent an enormous amount of time, energy, and resources on building your website. Therefore, building a quality website can be a primary factor in generating leads and, ultimately, sales.