Where do I start when creating a website?

Making a website for your business is easier than ever.

With the explosion of website builders on the market, you no longer need to have an in-depth knowledge of HTML or CSS coding to have an online presence. Website builders such as Squarespace and Wix have done wonders for small businesses, especially during the pandemic.

Squarespace recorded a 55% year-over-year increase in websites in the first quarter of 2022 (27,493 vs 60,901), whilst Wix reported a in websites year over year using their website building platform (18,178 vs 73,116).

These website builders are great for small businesses just getting off the ground. They are easy to update and display your business information with your own branded style, but there are limitations compared to other website builders used by professional website creators.

What platform should I build my website on?

While website builders such as Wix offer professional and affordable platforms and templates to give your business an online presence, they can struggle to rank organically in search engines unless you have the SEO expertise needed. The AI systems on these sites can guide you through the basics, but there is a lot more to having a successful website that works for you.

Certain sectors and professions need a more optimisable website that can cater to hundreds of web pages. The legal industry is an excellent example of this. Law firm websites need to hold a large amount of information, whether in FAQs and blogs or offered services.

For 40% of all live websites globally, and for us here at FireTap, our preferred website builder is WordPress.

WordPress also offers affordable and easy to manage website builders. Still, these can be a bit daunting to someone just getting started. They provide so many levels of customizability and optimisation and sometimes require a bit more technical knowledge.

What elements work best when building a website?

  • Branding

A good website requires you to display your brand effectively, so ensure your design embodies your business. Everything from colours, imagery and font effectively portrays your brand. See our previous article about how design helps your brand succeed here.

  • Create a wireframe

Creating a wireframe or skeleton plan for your website will significantly benefit your build. Ensuring you have an optimised navigation path between pages and make sure you are displaying all of your services or any necessary information you want on your website. It will keep your website build well organised and keep you on track to your final product.

  • Include Call To Actions

Call to actions (CTAs) are crucial to your website. The main goal of any website is to showcase your business and gain more clients/ customers, so you need to make sure you’re making it as easy as possible for them to get in touch with you or buy your product. We recommend including CTAs near the top of your page, towards the middle, if the page has a lot of content, and at the end to ensure that no matter how far down the page the website user scrolls, they will be able to contact you quickly and easily.

  • Mobile Optimisation

50.59% of all web visits are made on a mobile device, so bear this in mind when designing the layout of your website. Make sure elements are optimally sized and arranged for a great user experience.

  • Imagery

Imagery goes hand in hand with your branding and design. Ensure you are using relevant images or graphics and not violating copyright policies.

  • Optimised Content

As well as showcasing your business, your website needs to work for you when acquiring new business. Having optimised text on your website ensures that it can be found in search engines such as Google and Bing and, in turn, help you gain more brand awareness and clientele. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), while sometimes being left behind the scenes, is a crucial part of a successful website. Read more about how SEO can benefit you.

  • Tracking and analytics

Once your website is live, you want to see its progress and how it affects your business. Installing tracking and analytics is the best way to see how many people have visited your website, see what pages are most popular, and how many people have filled out an inquiry or made a purchase. Have these increased since you launched your website? We want to be able to say yes! Google Analytics is the front runner for tracking your website activity. Wix and Squarespace also have their own analytics dashboards, but they will also guide you through the installation of tracking codes for Google.

This can all seem a bit daunting to someone new to website building, but don’t be intimidated. With drag and drop website builders such as Wix and Squarespace, you can get your business online and be guided through the process. Or you can always outsource to a professional team if you do not have the time or capacity to embark on a website build yourself.

What do I need to include in a website?

If you are looking to launch a website for your business venture or your current website isn’t performing as well as you would like, FireTap is here to help. Talk to our Website Design team today to help figure out a tailored approach to how to improve your online presence. We will advise you on how a website can work for you if you don’t already have one and, if you do, where your current website can be improved and optimised, whether visually, content-wise or with improvements to your technical SEO, to get your website higher in the search results, we will build a tailored package for your needs.

Whether you require an extension to your in-house team or an outsourced solution, we can help you.

Contact us today at 020 3911 9715 or email hello@firetap.co.uk. Alternatively, fill out a contact form and we will get back to you.