If you’re considering building a website, there are a lot of things you have to think about. For instance, how will you make your site attractive to visitors? How will you attract visitors? Do you know how to make your site search engine-friendly? It can seem overwhelming, but if you prepare yourself with the right information, you’ll be just fine.
To start with, let’s look at the five most important things that you need to think about when building a website:
Choosing a Hosting Provider
Web hosting is how your site gets on the internet. Web hosts are businesses that provide the services and technologies that are necessary for a site or page to be seen on the internet. Websites are stored on servers, so when a person wants to visit your website, they type in the address, and then their computer connects to the server that’s hosting your website.
You will need to select and pay a web host for your website. There are a lot of options out there, so you must do your research. The main thing you should look at is page loading rates. You will want to choose a web host with fast load times. There is nothing more frustrating to a visitor than a page that is slow to load, so choose wisely.
Deciding on a Domain Name
In simple terms, a domain name is the address of your site. It’s what a person will type into their browser to find your website. Domain names are how a person’s computer finds the server where your website is hosted. You can purchase a domain name through a domain registrar or your hosting provider.
A domain name should be short, unique, and easy to remember. You should consider your branding strategy when choosing a domain name, as well as what you want people to know about your website.
For instance, if your brand is humorous and you sell lamps, you might go with something like LampUpYourLife. However, you need to remember that if your domain name is already taken, you’ll be out of luck, so do some research before settling on a name, or you’ll be disappointed.
Consider your Target Audience
A website should always be designed for a specific group of people. These people are your target audience. Your target audience is the users or customers that you’re looking to attract. Your site should appeal to your target audience’s wants and needs. Otherwise, your site will be lost among the millions of other websites on the internet.
Determining your target audience’s wants and needs requires research. Start by researching who your audience is, their general age, ethnicity, marital status, financial class, etc. Then figure out where they spend most of their time online, what social sites they use, where they do their shopping etc. If you can find a group of your target audience online, then you can survey them to find out some of this information. Also, look at keyword searches related to your business to see how people search for your product or service.
Make Sure Your Site is Secure
Although the internet offers many advantages, it can also be a dangerous place. The internet can become compromised by malware, viruses, and malicious applications. It’s therefore important that you take steps to make sure your users aren’t at risk when they visit your site. This is mainly for eCommerce sites that ask for personal information and credit card numbers, but sites that collect cookie data should also be protected.
To make your website secure, it should have an SSL certificate, and you should perform security checks should regularly.
Optimize your Site for Search Engines
You can have amazing content, great design, and a fast-loading site, but if no one visits, then what’s the point. This is why search engine optimization is key. Search engine optimization (SEO) involves making your site easily readable by search engines so that when a user submits a query, they will know whether your site is relevant.
To optimize your site for search engines, you need to include relevant keywords and phrases on your site. Keywords are words or phrases that users would use to find your site. For example, if you’re selling lamps, they might search for “places to buy lamps.” You should place the keywords in content, headlines, meta tags, internal links, sub-headings, image names, and ALT tags and title tags.
