Julie Chomiak — January 24, 2017 Keeping a small business in motion is a full-time job. Small business owners know that their jobs are nonstop and can require 24/7 attention. However, once a business is up and running, it’s useful to consider what the next step should be. Having a professional website is an integral part of any small business that is looking to grow and remain competitive in the marketplace.
With the constant demand and strain on time, how can someone run a business and launch a successful website? Very easily, in fact! With the right tools, anyone can create an amazing business website. Professionally designed website are within a small business owner’s reach, and by investing only a small amount of time.
Today, we’ll address the key components of a small business website and how to build a website in no time flat.
A Domain Name
First things first: claim a domain name! You can’t launch a successful website without a memorable and relevant domain name. With millions of domains being created each day, the odds your exact business name won’t be available go up the longer you wait. You can check the availability of your ideal domain name while building your site with Vistaprint Digital.
If your perfect domain is taken, brainstorm alternatives that work with your business. It is helpful to pose these three questions as you’re thinking of possible names:
- Is it easy to spell?
- Is it memorable?
- Is it on-brand?
These questions should steer you in a general direction that fits your brand and business industry. Feel free to be clever, but don’t sacrifice logic. It’s better to have a straightforward domain name than a catchy one. If no one can remember your domain, then it’s not serving its purpose. From there, cross reference your domain’s availability and claim the best option immediately.
A Branded Business Email Address
With your domain name secured and ready to be activated, it’s time to get down to business and set up your website. To be considered authentic and trustworthy, having a business email address is key. What does a business email address have to do with building a website? A lot. A website is a digital marketing material for a business, and within the site’s content is contact information. At a bare minimum, a business site should include a branded email address consumers can ask questions or start a sales conversation.
Websites raise eyebrows regarding authenticity, so putting the most secure and professional foot forward is basically required in order to get visitor conversions. When people see Gmail, Yahoo or AOL email addresses instead of one with the business’ custom domain name, it immediately detracts from the site’s authority. The small investment in a business email bears significant meaning to prospective clients.
A Website Hosting Platform
Web hosting sounds complicated, but the easiest way to think about it is a website host is the place where all of your website content lives. It’s the digital storage space for your business website. The website host connects your domain name with your web pages.
There are many types of web hosting services, ranging from free to collocated hosting. Choosing a type of web hosting service depends on a handful of variables, and how much time and resources you are willing to put into hosting your site.
If all of this makes your head spin, don’t fret! With our website builder, you get a website building platform and web hosting all in one. It saves valuable time and removes the needed for competitive research to find the option that best suits your feature and budget needs.
A Clear Website Template Design
Now comes the creative part: designing your website! Having a consistent look and feel across each of the website’s pages is necessary to portray professionalism and industry authority. It can be tempting to craft different themes and color palettes on each webpage, but that could come across as untrustworthy or unprofessional in the business world. Stick to colors and imagery that evoke your business’s brand promise and remember to leave white space! Visitors need white space to process information and it gives them a mental break before moving on to another page or section of your site.
Design a template that fits your business’s brand standards, including your preferred fonts, colors, imagery, and logos so your website seamlessly fits into your overarching marketing materials portfolio. Our website builder makes its easier than ever to design a beautiful site without a graphic design degree. The library of pre-designed content blocks, free image and icon gallery, and complementary color palettes make building a website a snap. You can filter by industry to find popular templates and customize to your heart’s desire.
A Professional Logo
As mentioned above, your business website needs to show your logo. Logos hold incredible power and often create impressions on viewers before they learn anything about a business. A logo conveys a business’s mission, values, and personality through intentional imagery, colors, and graphics.
If you have a logo you love, terrific! Plug it into your website. Ensure your logo is visible on every webpage, ideally in a consistent location. The header field is a popular and effective location for logos.
If you’re in the market for your first logo or need a refresh, logo design services are available. For a small fee, you can work directly with a design professional to create a logo that speaks to you and resonates with your audience.
A Collection of High-Quality Images
An overlooked portion of a business website is its images. Just like having a consistent template design is important for a website’s authority, so are high-quality images. Whether you use free stock images or custom photographs or vector icons, the quality must be top-notch to present a professional image to your viewers.
Of equal importance is using appropriately sized images. When images are grainy, stretched or too small, it implies that the business is not serious and diminishes its authority. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Carefully select images that enhance your webpages and complement the page’s content. Use discretion with your images so they have the greatest impact on your visitors.
If you build your site with Vistaprint, you’ll have access to a library of over 300,000 free stock images and icons. If not, here are some popular stock image providers:
- Unsplash (Free)
- Pixabay (Free)
- Every Stock Photo (Free)
- 500px.com (Free & Paid)
- Getty Images (Paid)
- Shutterstock (Paid)
- Big Stock (Paid)
Once you have each of these pieces in place, your small business website is ready to go live. With these tools and guides, setting up a website is possible for any business owner at any time. Investing a short amount of time into building a website will pay exponential dividends for your business.
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