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You need a website for your business but not sure where to start?

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If you’re partial to a little DIY and are happy to tinker with design and content, using a DIY website platform such as WordPress, Wix or Squarespace could help launch your business online quickly and cost-effectively. To help you get started, here are 10 easy tips:

 

1. Decide on your domain name and purchase

2. Select a hosting service

3. Create content

4. Select images that represent your brand

5. Decide optimum navigation and layout

6. Start building the site using your chosen platform e.g. WordPress, Wix or Squarespace

7. Optimise for search engines (SEO)

8. Set up web analytics

9. Test, test, test

10. Launch

 

Each step is explained in more detail below. If you’re finding any of this overwhelming or need a bit of a steer, please contact us and we can help.

 

Decide on your domain name and purchase

 

This is possibly one of the hardest steps, deciding the domain. Try not to over-think to avoid unnecessary delays in launching your business. When selecting a domain: 



• Avoid hyphens

• Make it easy to remember

• Make it easy to spell

• Make it relevant to your business name

 

We decided on gohalo.co.uk as the domain name for Halo Business Consulting because it is easy to remember, not too long and using the word ‘go’ suggests taking action, which is a subtle call to action to contact us.

 

Once the domain name is decided, register it so it now belongs to your business

 

Selecting a hosting service

 

There are several hosting providers. When deciding which one works best for your business consider:

• The storage capacity and your needs, including whether you’d like an associated email address

• Compatibility with your web builder platform (e.g. Wix, WordPress, Squarespace)

• A comprehensive support service is provided if things go wrong

 

 

Create content

 

This step can take time but it’s essential to:

• Decide what the purpose of your website is and tailor the content accordingly

• Have your target audience in mind

• Ensure the information is clear and ends with a call to action (what do you want them to do) For example, contact you, visit your online shop or sign up to your mailing list

 

When we created Halo’s website, the content creation was the most time-consuming part. The main aim of our website is to introduce who we are, what we do and how to contact us.

 

We have also created an area called Stories where we can regularly update content. This allows us to easily share news and insights from Halo Business Consulting, its clients and the industries we work with, so future clients get a feel for what our business is about. A bonus is that it also helps optimise our website by providing refreshed content (more on SEO below).

 

Select images that represent your brand

 

When selecting images for your website:

• Use your brand guidelines to inform the style and tone of images

• Ensure the hero (main) image effectively represents your business

• Images are taken by a professional photographer

• The images are correctly sized for your website and load quickly

 

For Halo Business Consulting we created our brand identity from the outset which informed all communications from Halo, including our website. We also engaged with a professional photographer for our headshots to effectively represent who we are.

 

Decide optimum navigation and layout

 

Now that the balance has now tipped in favour of mobile-first, with more people accessing websites via their smartphones than on a desktop, this should be taken into account when deciding the navigation of your site.

 

Ensure the path through your site is uncomplicated using a clear navigation bar and links to move easily from page to page.

 

Halo Business Consulting is primarily a simple scrolling home page so people can quickly find out who we are and the services we offer. We then have a series of landing pages for our Stories for visitors to explore in more detail.

 

Start building the site

 

Using the content you’ve drafted and your business’ brand guidelines, create each page, step by step. If you are using a pre-existing template don't be afraid to delete or add pages and make sure you amend or delete any generic functionality.

 

Optimise for search engines (SEO)

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The topic of SEO is almost infinite but some essentials are:

• Ensure the site has a Meta Title and Description (take a screenshot) so search engines and visitors can quickly see if your site is relevant to their search

• Adjust anything that reduced the site’s loading speed

• Weave in keywords (the words that you want your business to be associated with) into your copy

• Ensure images are labelled to effectively describe what they show

• Update business listings and social media profiles with a description of your business and include a link to your website

• Build links to your website from trusted sites to increase visibility

 

 

Set up web analytics

 

Register and regularly review your website on Google Search Console to measure search traffic and site performance

 

Test, test, test

 

Once you’ve built your website allocate time to:

• Proofread

• Test each page to check loading speeds and that all links work

• Contact us submission forms work (if used)

• Check the website works well on different devices such as smartphone, tablet, desktop

 

Launch

 

Let people know you’re online! This could be via target social media channels or adding your URL to your business collateral.

 

For more information or to discuss how we can support your business, contact us via our contact form, email ashleigh@gohalo.co.uk or call +44 (0)7907 058206. We continue to share snippets of our stories on Instagram. Please follow us there on @haloitsmichael and @haloitsashleigh