Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale your operations, a website is more than just a digital footprint. It’s an opportunity to create meaningful connections with potential customers. And when built correctly, a website can serve as a high-performing customer conversion tool.
This step-by-step guide walks you through creating your first small business website. The goal is to build something that drives business growth.
Step 1: Understand Your Audience & Define Your Site’s Purpose
Your business’s website should highlight how your products or services are a solution to your target audience’s problems. Begin by identifying your potential customers and understanding their needs, and then clarifying how your offerings meet these needs.
Why: This information will shape the direction of your website design and content. It will allow you to create targeted copy and design elements that resonate with your potential customers.
Define your target audience. Identify their interests and pain points.
Position your products or services as a solution.
PRO TIP: It can help to create user personas representing your audience.
Step 2: Choose Your Domain Name
Select a domain name that’s easy to spell and memorable—ideally, it should be your business name.
Why: Your domain name is your website’s address and the primary way people find you online. It should reflect your brand and be easy for users to remember.
Brainstorm potential domain names.
Check availability through a domain registration service.
Register your chosen domain.
PRO TIP: Refer to Moz’s suggested domain best practices.
Step 3: Select a Website Builder & Design Your Website
For many small businesses, a simple website builder like Squarespace or Wix is ideal. These platforms automatically handle technical aspects, including SSL certificates and XML sitemaps, making it easier for you to focus on the content.
Google’s John Mueller agrees that a simple approach is best for small businesses. That said, see our in-depth review of Squarespace to decide if your business has complex needs justifying a more advanced approach.
Why: Website builders offer customizable templates and features that help you build a business website without extensive coding or technical knowledge.
Assess your technical skills, budget, and website’s purpose to select a suitable platform.
Choose a template that matches your brand. Familiarize yourself with the website builder’s interface and explore the design tools available before you start customizing—this can help to avoid difficulties later. Then customize the template further to align with your brand identity.
At this point, you can map out the expected pages: Home, About, Services, Contact, Privacy Policy, etc.
PRO TIP: For first-time DIY website builders, the allure of design features and customization can be exciting. However, the key to a professional, polished look lies in restraint. Less is often more and can prevent your site from looking homemade. While learning, follow the template without changing, then down the road when you feel you’ve picked up enough design skills you can make changes without over-designing.
Step 4: Gather Your Content
Gather all the necessary materials for your site, including text for your expected pages, along with any necessary images or videos.
Why: Clear, compelling content forms the backbone of your site, conveying your brand story, highlighting your offerings, and providing information potential customers need.
Write original and unique content for all of your pages, services, or products.
As you write, keep in mind it is important to have an SEO-optimized content strategy. Research relevant keywords and include them naturally in your content.
Collect high-quality images, including headshots and product photos. If needed, create or curate any necessary videos or other multimedia elements.
Remember to include any necessary legal pages, such as privacy, terms, etc.
PRO TIP: Don’t be surprised if this process takes longer than expected. Make use of generative AI tools that can help you generate ideas and improve writing if needed.
Struggling with copy?
See how our 1:1 collaborative Zooms have helped small businesses like yours.
Step 5: Define Your Unique Value Proposition
Your website should clearly communicate your unique value proposition (UVP)—what sets you apart from your competitors and how it benefits your customers.
Why: Your unique value proposition demonstrates why customers should choose your business over others, helping to drive conversions. You’ll use this information on your Home page and throughout your website.
Determine how your business uniquely solves your customers’ problems.
Clearly communicate your UVP on your website.
PRO TIP: Your small business can use strategic tools like SWOT analysis to help you distinguish yourself from competitors and stand out in the market.
Step 6. Go Further with Content
Some business sites will want additional content beyond the basic pages. This might include testimonials, case studies, blog posts, or videos relevant to your target audience.
Why: High-quality, helpful content demonstrates your understanding of your audience’s needs and positions your business as a solution. It also can boost your search engine visibility as discussed in the next step.
Focus on topics of interest to your target audience. Again, incorporate keyword topical ideas naturally into your content.
Updating this content regularly will help keep the website fresh and maintain search engine rankings.
PRO TIP: Contrary to popular belief, not every business will benefit from a blog. Learn about the advantages of business blogging, identify who it truly benefits, and understand why it may not be the right fit for your business.
Step 7: Attend to UX & SEO Details
Before you officially launch your website, you’ll want to make sure you’ve attended to the details that impact user experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO).
Why: These UX and SEO details might seem small, but they significantly impact how your website is perceived by both users and search engines.
Check for clean properly structured URLs.
Add buttons for your business’s social media profiles.
Ensure the site looks good on mobile devices.
Verify you have an appropriate call to action (CTA) on relevant pages.
Ensure your website is properly structured and user-friendly.
Make sure your footer and contact page work to your advantage. Read about contact page optimization. If appropriate, include a way for visitors to book a call, see ways to integrate Calendly.
Upload a favicon. Learn about favicon optimization.
Make sure each page on your website has a unique title and meta description, and that your website overall is optimized for relevant keywords. See our in-depth article on how to do SEO for small businesses.
Ensure your site is accessible to all audiences, including those with disabilities.
If your site includes an online store, make sure to review best practices for ecommerce.
Step 8: Test the Site
Thorough testing is crucial before launching your website to ensure a seamless and optimal user experience.
Why: Testing helps to make sure that visitors and search engines encounter no difficulties when accessing your site.
Test your site across different devices and browsers to ensure it functions properly.
Test all links, buttons, and forms.
Use the website as a visitor would—verify the user journey flows smoothly from one page to the next, and that all CTAs are clear and compelling.
Test all functions thoroughly: e-commerce, 3rd-party integrations, etc.
PRO TIP: Before launching, consider a professional site review. Based on our experience, we can confidently assert that every DIY website stands to gain from a second perspective and expert insights. “DIY” can refer to any website built by a well-meaning beginner—your newly graduated graphic designer child, a dedicated summer intern, or a diligent administrative assistant. We firmly believe in the value gained from our feedback sessions and offer affordable website reviews via Zoom.
Step 9: Launch and Promote
Finalize your testing, then once your website is live, promote it via LinkedIn, email, social media, and more.
Why: Promotion drives traffic to your new site.
Publish your website after thorough testing.
Submit your sitemap to search engines like Google and Bing. Learn how to get verified on Google Search Console and how to submit a sitemap.
Promote your website across different channels.
PRO TIP: After launch, your contact form will likely see regular spam activity from bots saying your site has errors or promising you “first page ranking”—ignore all of these. If you need help, learn how to choose an SEO consultant.
Step 10: Keep Going
Plan a post-launch strategy that includes regular site updates and on-going promotion.
Drive more traffic: If applicable, use content marketing and targeted SEO tools to attract quality visitors, focusing on topics that align with your business offerings.
Leverage landing pages: If you run ads, use campaign-specific landing pages.
Use analytics: Install and regularly monitor analytics tools like Google Analytics. This data will inform you about your website’s performance, user behavior, and areas for improvement. Choose digital marketing KPIs that are relevant for your business and monitor your progress.
Review regularly: Regularly review your site for user experience enhancements and security. At a minimum, perform an annual audit to check for content accuracy, broken links, and other issues that can pop up.
Building a high-performing website for your small business might seem like a complex task, but with a step-by-step approach you can create an engaging, customer-converting asset. A high-quality website is an investment in your business’s future growth.
Does your site hit the mark?
Small businesses jump ahead with our 1:1 collaborative reviews.
