If you want your business to stand out in this noisy marketplace, you need to create a unique and clear message and make your own website to convey it effectively. Our guide will take you through the different stages of building your brand online starting off with how to make a website and building great content.
It’s important to note that every brand’s journey is different, with its own set of challenges that it needs to face. Whether you have an established business or you’re in the process of building one, these guidelines should still apply to your situation. Feel free to modify them as they apply to your situation, and benchmark within your industry.
1. Take stock of what you have in terms of marketing assets
Before you set off to make a website, it’s important to have an inventory of what you have already. If you’re just starting out on a business venture, you probably need a business name, a custom logo and a good grasp of what kind of products and services you intend to offer and how to deliver them. At the core of any profitable business is a set of clear and measurable objectives to set the direction for any digital marketing campaign, and the values that will set your brand apart from its competitors. What kind of image do you want to project to your customers? Once you have all these in order, we can move on to the next step.
2. Do your research
The next step on how to make your own website is to do a fair bit of research on your competitors and your target audience. Identify the brands who are competing for the same market share that you are eyeing on. You don’t have to automatically go to the big brands for this. There’s no point in aiming to break Coca-Cola’s market share, for instance, if you’re operating locally to start. Identify the local brands that are doing great in your industry, as well as those who have similar values. Find out what makes their websites successful and the areas where they need to improve. Incorporate these findings into your own website maker to create a site that customers will want to visit. Learn more about your target market as well. What are its challenges and needs? What keeps them engaged?
3. Get a good website maker
Fortunately, creating a successful website these days does not always require a huge amount of investment. You can get a free website maker just to get started and, once your venture takes off, scale up to a paid version to accommodate more traffic. A good website builder simplifies the web development process so you can focus on building your content. If you’re creating a website for free, you want to make sure that you maximize the features that you can access on a free account. Go for a platform that lets you try most features out so you can test different functionalities on your site. For instance, Strikingly is probably one of the few free website makers that allow you to build online stores without charging extra transaction fees on sales and on a free subscription.
4. Design your branding
The next step on how to make your own website is to decide on different design elements that you will use on the site. This is where branding guidelines become important. If you have not done so in the past, or if you’re just in the process of starting a business, now is a good time to decide on such details as logos, color schemes and fonts. Make sure to choose design elements that reflect your personality or the image that you want to convey to your target customers.
5. Build your content
Once you have all the design elements and features sorted out, the next step is to start building your content. Create a strong voice for your brand through high quality images and engaging website copy. If you are working with a team to write your website copy, prepare a style guide to keep your tone consistent across all platforms including your social media pages.
