In today’s world, having a business website is almost a necessity. However, that doesn’t mean it has to be complex or expensive. With a little know-how, anyone can set up a basic corporate website that’s affordable and functional.
In the past, people may have considered a business website to be an optional extra. Now, thanks to the wide availability of affordable, content-managed web hosting, setting up a website has become something of a “standard” for any business.
This is great news for those seeking to establish a web presence and for-solers who want to expand their services. With so much competition in today’s marketplace, prospective clients can easily access a wealth of information online. So, as a business owner or manager, it’s imperative that you provide all the necessary details about your company within your website.
Here are the top three mistakes that non-tech savvy businesses make when setting up their site and how to avoid them:
Not Having A Plan B
Even for those who consider themselves to be tech-savvy entrepreneurs or executives, the task of setting up a website can still seem daunting. After all, you’re probably used to dealing with the various functions of a conventional website, like having a domain name, installing WordPress, and configuring the site to display correctly on all devices.
The issue is that when you’re first establishing your online presence, you may not yet have a fully-formed plan for what you’ll do should things go wrong. This can cause significant problems, especially if you’re relying on a third party to host your site (e.g., Bluehost, Hostgator, etc.).
When you’re relying on a third party to provide services that you need for your website, it’s imperative that you’re aware of the risks and have a plan in place to deal with them. For example, if your host suddenly decides to suspend your account or increase your monthly fees, how will you continue to operate your website?
To ensure that this type of situation doesn’t occur, you might want to consider purchasing a high-quality domain name (e.g., Geekdom.com) and setting up your hosting with a company like Bluehost. With these services, you can easily install WordPress to create a fully-functional website in less than 10 minutes. You don’t need to be a tech-savvy expert to use these services, but even those seeking to establish a website for the first time can follow the simple instructions.
Not Testing The Functionality Of The Site
When you’re seeking to establish an online presence, one of the first things you’ll want to do is to test the functionality of your site. This means that you’ll want to visit the site on various devices (e.g., desktop, tablet, and mobile) and see if everything appears as you intended it to appear. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to go back and review what you’ve written to see if something’s missing or if there’s an error in the code.
While this may sound like a tedious task, it’s an important one that you must do, especially if you’re purchasing an “off-the-shelf” template from a third party. The reason behind this is that you don’t want to purchase a template that isn’t fully functional, as this could lead to headaches down the line. For instance, if you’re trying to establish a photography site and you decide to use an image-heavy template, but something isn’t working as intended, it could potentially undermine the whole operation.
To save yourself from potential headaches, you should research the company that you’re purchasing the template from. If possible, you should also look into their customer base and existing reviews. By doing this, you’ll have an idea of whether or not you’re purchasing a fully-functioning template.
Not Customizing The Theme
When you’re in the process of establishing an online presence, it’s easy to be tempted into purchasing a theme for your site, which is pre-designed to look like thousands of other sites out there. One important thing to keep in mind is that if you’re not a professional web designer or developer, you shouldn’t feel intimidated into purchasing a theme because it’s “professional looking.”
When you’re seeking to establish an online presence, it’s important that you stand out from the crowd and provide your visitors with content that’s relevant to them. One way to do this is by creating unique content that’s directly related to your product or service. For example, if you’re an online marketing agency seeking to promote a digital marketing strategy, you could create content such as how-to guides or infographics that help your readers understand the ins and outs of digital marketing.
While it’s tempting to simply purchase a theme and start populating it with content, doing so without first taking the time to customize it to your liking could prove to be quite costly. In most cases, you’ll want to hire a professional designer or developer to help you out with this task. By doing so, you’ll ensure that the end product looks exactly like you wanted it to look and avoid any headaches down the line.
Once you’ve established a functional website, it’s important to periodically review it and make any necessary adjustments. This will help ensure that your website remains fresh and that your visitors stay engaged.