“There are three responses to a piece of design - yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.” - Milton Glaser

Introduction:

While building a website might seem overwhelming, breaking it down into manageable steps can simplify it. If you think you need to be a tech expert to build one, you’re completely wrong! And you have no idea how much your business is missing out without a professional website. It’s time to turn things around if you want your business to grow.

This guide will help you get your business website up and running. Plus, we’ve got a free website planner checklist from Meriflo to keep you on track — more on than at the end. Let’s start!

Easy Steps for Setting Up Your Small Business Website

1. Define Your Purpose and Goals

Before even designing your site, you have to be clear about what you want to achieve. Pick the best one that best suits your business needs below:

• Are you looking to sell products online? 

• Build a portfolio?

• Simply provide awareness and information about your services.

Understanding your goals will guide every decision you make during the website creation process. Your site’s purpose should be the backbone of its design and functionality. Don’t rush this step; a well-defined purpose will save you time and headaches later on. 

2. Choose a Domain Name

What is it? 

It’s basically just your website’s address on the internet — with your brand name in it. It should be memorable, easy to spell, and reflect your business name or the services you offer. Be creative when thinking of a perfect domain name but don’t overcomplicate it. You want it to be inviting and easy for customers to find. 

Short, catchy, and relevant is the way to go. Avoid numbers and hyphens if possible. 

3. Select a Reliable Hosting Provider

Web hosting is where your website lives on the internet. A good hosting provider ensures your site is accessible and fast. Look for a provider that offers strong uptime guarantees, excellent customer support, and scalable options as your business grows. 

Don’t skimp on hosting; a slow or frequently down site can drive potential customers away. Research and read reviews before committing. 

4. Plan Your Website Structure

Think about the pages you need: 

• Home 

• About Us

• Services

• Products

• Blog

• Contact

Planning your site’s structure helps ensure a smooth navigation experience for your visitors, which is always crucial for first visits. A clear, logical layout keeps them on your site longer and makes it easier for them to find what they’re looking for. 

You want to make sure they can do exactly what they plan to do on your site so don’t frustrate them with complicated website structure. 

You can start by sketching a simple sitemap before you start building — this will be your blueprint. You can also either visit and analyze your competitors’ websites or go for Pinterest for inspiration. 

5. Design with Meriflo 

Now comes the fun part — designing your website. You can either hire a professional web designer or use a website builder with customizable templates like Meriflo. Choose from our range of industry-specific template library. 

Pick the template you like the most and start customizing it according to your brand’s identity — colors, fonts, and overall style should be consistent with your other marketing materials. 

With Meriflo’s drag-and-drop editor, you can easily design a professional-looking website without needing any coding skills. 

First impressions matter. Clean, modern designs with plenty of white space often perform best. Give yourself a trial and error stage until you’re confident with the final result. 

Optimize for Mobile

Meriflo ensures that all templates are responsive, meaning they look great and function well on mobile devices. You can check on it simultaneously to see the actual look of your website from both website and mobile view. 

With more people browsing on their phones, your website must provide a seamless user experience on all screen sizes. Test your site on multiple devices using Meriflo’s preview feature. Share the preview link to different devices and confirm if it’s user-friendly everywhere. 

Create Quality Content

Once you start with your content creation, you’ll always hear everyone say ‘Content is King’, which is in fact, the truth. High-quality, engaging content attracts visitors, keeps them on your site, and encourages them to take action. 

This includes compelling copy, eye-catching images, and informative blog posts. Meriflo’s content management system makes it easy to add and update your content regularly. Use keywords to improve your SEO strategically throughout your content or input them on Meriflo’s SEO feature to help people find you. 

Set-Up E-commerce Functionality

You don’t have to add this right away, especially if you’re still familiarizing yourself with having a website. Later on, when you think you’re ready for it, you can turn your website into an e-commerce site. 

The good news is you don’t have to go anywhere. Meriflo offers an integrated e-commerce solution where you can easily set up product pages, manage inventory, and handle payments securely. 

Once again, make an easy-to-navigate structure for product pages, a secure checkout process, and clear calls-to-action to drive sales. Make the shopping experience as smooth as possible — no room for errors to avoid frustrated customers.

Test, Launch, Promote

Before you launch your website, test it thoroughly, and navigate it as a customer would. Check all links, forms, and e-commerce processes are working. Once again, confirm your site looks and works well across different browsers and devices. Once you’re confident everything is working perfectly, it’s time to go live! 

This is your moment — make sure everything is perfect. 

Share your new site on social media, include it in your email signature, and consider running online ads. Meriflo’s marketing tools can help you drive traffic to your site and start converting visitors into customers. 

With Meriflo’s social planner, you can publish and schedule all your social media marketing content on all platforms in just one click! 

Check Analytics

Meriflo has its own analytic dashboard to track visitor behavior, see which pages are most popular, and understand where your traffic data, which is invaluable for making the right decisions about your website and marketing strategies. Regularly review your dashboard to see what’s working and what needs improvement. 

Get Your Free Website Planner 

Still feeling overwhelmed by all these steps? Don’t worry, as I mentioned above, we have a free guide to help you through each step of setting up your business website so you don’t miss all the important steps. 

Get your Website Checklist here and start planning your dream website. 

Sign up to Meriflo today for more valuable resources on how to build and grow your business. 

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