How to create a website?

Why create a website?

There are different reasons to do so, but the main ones are communication, online sales and referencing.

Communicate on the internet

One of the first goals of creating a website is to communicate with Internet users. It allows you to present your activity, to publish articles or news, to answer customers' questions or to spread information about your products or services. For example, if your goal is to share content with a community then you can create a blog.

Digitize your online store

The second reason is to sell online. Thanks to a website, it is possible to sell your products and/or services 24/7. The customers can choose the products they want to buy, pay online and receive their order at home without having to move.

E-commerce websites are therefore very convenient for customers, which can help sales. Moreover, with a website, it is possible to reach a much larger customer base than by selling only in a physical store. Indeed, the Internet users can find your e-commerce site thanks to search engines like Google, which is an excellent way to make known your company.

Making yourself known

The third goal of a website is to get known and to increase its traffic. Indeed, many Internet users use Google to find information about a company and if your website does not appear in the search results, you lose an opportunity to gain new customers.

To improve your SEO, it is important to optimize your website for search engines, which is more commonly known as SEO.

There are several techniques to do this, but it takes time and experience. If you don't have the time or the skills, it's best to hire an agency that specializes in SEO.

In addition, having a professional website shows Internet users that you are serious and that you are committed to offering a quality service. If your website is well designed, it is easier to trust a company that has a professional website than a company that does not.

Create a free website ?

It is common in popular culture to think that it is possible to create a free website. After all, there are many online services that offer this option.

However, what many people do not realize is that this type of free solution remains quite simple and will never allow you to create a website as advanced and personalized as with a paid platform.

Specifically, web hosting and the use of a custom link have costs, which is why these free tools will often limit the bandwidth possible on your free website and only offer you sub-domains in their name.

These costs are not negligible and to offset the investment, these website creation tools will regularly add advertising to your free website.

In short, with a free website, you will have basic functionality and significant technical limitations.

How to choose a domain name?

It is important to choose a personalized domain name that corresponds to your activity and that is easy to remember for Internet users. Moreover, it must be available and free to use.

There are several criteria to consider when choosing a domain name:

• Length: it is important that the personalized domain name is short enough to be easily remembered by Internet users.

• Availability: it is necessary to verify that the domain name is not already taken by another company or organization.

• Relevance: the domain name must be related to your activity and must allow Internet users to understand what you offer.

• Simplicity: it is important that it is easy to pronounce and write for Internet users.

Once you have chosen the domain name, you must then proceed to register it with an approved organization. The domain name registration will allow you to have a personal and unique identity on the web.

If you create your website on a website creator (cms) the process is quite easy, because usually you are directly offered a personalized domain name according to your activity and the keywords you have chosen if you have no inspiration.

As part of your subscription, most of them offer it to you for the first year and then you have to renew it.

Create a website yourself or hire a professional?

There are two possibilities when you decide to create your own website. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages.

Create it yourself

If you decide to create your own website, you will need a creation software and a cms (Content Management System). These tools will facilitate the creation and management of your site by providing you with pre-designed templates, writing and content management tools, etc.

Some website creators also offer in addition to a web editor, advanced features such as SEO or the creation of online stores. However, these features have a cost and it is important to be well informed before.

Delegate to a professional

If you prefer to use a professional, it is important to choose the one that best suits your needs. A good agency has experienced designers and developers who will be able to create a site that meets your expectations. They will also be able to optimize your site for search engines and help you manage it.

Whatever your choice, it is important to take the time to compare the different providers.

If you are just starting your business, the first solution will probably be the most economical and will allow you to create a website quickly.

On the other hand, if you already have a site, but you wish to improve its design or its referencing, it will be perhaps necessary to call upon a professional agency.

How to choose a website builder ?

First of all, it is important to determine what type of website you want to create. Do you want to create a showcase website or an online store? Then, you have to choose the website creation platform that best suits your needs.

Many platforms exist and allow the creation of sites such as Wix, Site123 or Webflow which are each more or less on a typical market: online store, blog, portfolio, contact form etc.

These platforms are cms (Content Management Systems). They are generally easy to use and will help you in the creation of your website with a large number of templates at your disposal. If you don't have the technical skills to create your own website, these platforms are an excellent solution.

In particular, they allow you to build pages by means of drag and drop, a very easy to use technology that is no longer in need of introduction as it makes the use of modern platforms much simpler.

Nevertheless, most of these tools also allow you to modify the HTML/CSS/Javascript code if you want to push the degree of customization a bit further. They also offer other interesting features such as SEO or the possibility to integrate third-party applications.

These platforms are a perfect compromise between simplicity and flexibility, to create a website with a design to your image.

To avoid wasting time comparing the different solutions yourself, take a look at our comparison of the best website builders!

It is important to compare the different offers before launching yourself. Indeed, some website creators offer a free subscription but limited in terms of features or bandwidth. Others are paying but their price can vary greatly from one platform to another.

Most will still allow you to create your website for free and only charge you when you publish your site or benefit from a custom domain name setup.

The main tips for building your web pages

There are some basic rules to follow to build an effective web page. Here are the main tips to follow:

1. Use templates: this will allow you to create a uniform structure and design for all your pages. In addition, templates are often optimized for SEO and conversion, which leads us to our second tip.

2. Choose the right keywords for your website: think of integrating relevant keywords in your pages, in order to optimize your referencing. This way, you will have more chances to be well positioned in the search results and to attract qualified traffic to your site.

3. Use images and text: images and text are essential to make your page attractive and informative. The rules of design and content presentation apply to all elements of a web page, whether they are graphic or textual. When designing your page using drag and drop, keep in mind that the goal is to provide the reader with an enjoyable and easy-to-understand experience. For images, choose photos that are of good quality and representative of your topic.

4. Take care of the content: make sure that the content of your pages is interesting and useful for the visitors. The better the content is, the better it will be received by visitors and the more likely you are to attract qualified visitors to your site. Moreover, by providing useful content, you show search engines that your site deserves to be ranked high in search results.

5. Make your pages accessible: make sure that visitors can easily navigate through your site and find what they are looking for. Navigation should be intuitive and links should be clear and easy to follow. In addition, pages should load quickly so that visitors are not frustrated by long loading times.

6. Create responsive pages: with the increasing popularity of mobile devices, it's important to make sure your pages display properly on them. Responsive pages automatically adapt to the screen size, allowing visitors to have an optimal experience regardless of their device size.

By following these tips, you are well on your way to creating an effective web page that will rank well in search results and attract qualified traffic to your site.

How to promote your website?

Obviously, having a website does not do it all and you will need to work on your online reputation. There are different ways to promote a website. Here are the main techniques to use:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the most effective way to make a website known. The results are generally felt in the long term, but it is important to have a good content and to optimize the pages according to the rules of SEO. More details on this subject below.

Search Engine Advertising (SEA)

Search Engine Advertising is a technique that allows you to position yourself quickly in the search results. It is based on the purchase of keywords from advertisers and can be quite expensive depending on the activity and keywords chosen.

Usually when we talk about engine advertising it is implicitly that we refer to Google Ads but contrary to what we might think, paid referencing is not limited to Google Ads. Bing Ads is also an excellent tool to do paid referencing and it can be very effective especially if your target is in the United States.

Communication on social media

Social networks are a great way to communicate with your customers and promote your website. Create a page dedicated to your website on the main social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram ...) and publish interesting and original content to attract the attention of Internet users.

Advertising campaigns

Advertising campaigns are also a good way to promote your website. They can be sponsored on websites or in specialized magazines, or via banner ads on popular websites.

Backlink

By placing backlinks to your website on partner sites, you increase its visibility and get a better ranking in search results. These links must be relevant to your audience and correspond to your field of activity.

What you need to know about SEO for your website

There are different ways to work on the SEO of a site: study of keywords and competition, creation and optimization of content, development of tools and specific applications, netlinking, etc. To succeed in improving its positioning on search results, it is important for a company to learn the best practices and implement a consistent and effective strategy.

To generate qualified traffic on your website and improve your referencing, it is important to produce quality content. Indeed, search engines prefer sites that offer relevant and quality content. For this, it is important to identify the keywords on which you want to position yourself and to adapt your content accordingly.

Content optimization must also take into account tags and meta descriptions. Tags are important elements that allow search engines to understand the content of a page.

Meta descriptions are short and punchy explanations that appear under the title of an article in the SERPs. They allow Internet users to quickly understand what a page is about and if it is relevant to them.

To improve its referencing, it is also important to work on the backlinks towards its site. Backlinks are indeed extremely important elements that allow search engines to understand the quality of a site.

The more quality backlinks a site has, the more relevant it will be considered by search engines and better positioned in search results.

Finally, it is important to mention that SEO is an ever-evolving discipline. Search engines are constantly evolving and the algorithms they use to rank sites in search results are becoming more and more complex. To be successful in SEO, it is therefore important to keep up with the latest developments and adapt accordingly.

Conclusion

You have probably already heard that creating a website is a good idea. And you are right! In this article, we have seen why it is important to have your own website and how to create it easily in a few clicks using a website builder (cms). But creating a website is not everything and it is also necessary to promote it to be visible and known by the greatest number of people.

For this, you will have to create content adapted to natural or paid referencing on search engines as well as advertising via social networks. Once your website is online, it is important to keep it updated regularly to avoid losing visibility.

Indeed, search engines favor current websites and penalize those that are not. So don't wait any longer, create your own website via one of the best website builders and start enjoying the benefits it offers!