How To Create A Small Business Website in 2021 - Complete Guide

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Running a small business, without a strong web presence is no longer feasible. Consumers use the internet for everything from product testing to finding out where a business is located and operating hours. Even a basic, well-designed website will give you a competitive advantage, and if you sell products or services, your small business website will help you grow your business quickly and cheaply. Read this article fully to know how to create a small business website easily even if you don't have any technical knowledge or experience. 

Website design software has progressed to the point that it can be used by anyone. You don't need to know how to code to build a visually appealing and useful website. Whatever software you use, there are a few simple rules and tips to follow to give your website a professional appearance, make it easy to find, and present your business in the best light.

Step-by-step guide about how to make a small business website

How to create a small business website
Step-by-Step Guide about How to Make a Small Business Website


Step 1. Figure out what your small business website's main goal is

A small business website is typically used to provide general information about the business or as a direct e-commerce portal. If you are creating a simple website that says a little about your business or a more complicated e-commerce site, the most important thing you must do is state what is the purpose of your business – in plain terms – on the homepage. Customers shouldn't have to dig around to see if your small business can do what they need.

You won't have as much work to do setting up your website if you don't want to accept payments from it. If you're a retailer or service provider who wants to give customers the option of paying online, you'll need to use an external payment service, which we'll go through later in this article.


Step 2. Choose a good domain name

One of the most critical aspects of your website is its domain name. It's the connection you'll send to current and future customers, as well as promote on social media. As a result, it should be descriptive and simple to remember and type in. To prevent consumer confusion, keep it brief and avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers if at all possible.

You must also choose a top-level domain or TLD. This is the.com,.net, or.biz suffix at the end of your domain name. Nontraditional TLD titles, on the other hand, have increased in popularity in recent years. TLDs may be based on location, such as “.nyc “ [for New York City], or business form, such as “.marketing”, “.agency”, or “.law”. Although these can be useful, “.com” is still the most popular choice.

Once you've decided on a domain name, you'll need to check for availability and buy it from a domain registrar. You can get a domain from BlueHost. 

Check copyrights when you choose your new domain name to make sure you're not using someone else's protected name. If your favorite URL is already taken, you can either call the organization that owns it and ask to purchase it from them, or you can use a domain buying service like 


Step 3. Choose a good web hosting company

Any website requires a host – a server on which all of its data is stored and accessible to the public at all times. You'll need to use an external host because hosting your own website is likely too expensive for your small business.

You can take one of two ways, depending on your budget. The less expensive alternative, a shared web host, means you'll be sharing a server with other websites. Dedicated hosting is more expensive, but it means you'll have your own private server and won't have to compete with other websites for bandwidth. Web hosting is included in several web builder platforms' but I personally recommend using BlueHost WordPress Website Builder Platform.

Web hosting facilities you must consider and the reason why BlueHost is the best

If you're looking for a free website hosting option, keep in mind that the hosting company does not get paid to host your website. As a result, they may use other methods to compensate for the free hosting, such as putting banner ads on your website. Also, if your website is going through any problem you may not be able to get any quality customer support. That are also various concerns like website uptime, Security, etc. that might arise if you opt for a free domain. BlueHost is the best in terms of customer support, website uptime, security, and various other aspects. (Click here to read my previous article where I have explained in detail why BlueHost is the best web hosting platform).

Consider how well a host can react to questions about its server locations and reliability when selecting a host.

You may need to upgrade to a different web host as your small business expands, or even work with several providers to manage your small business website traffic and operations. You should always keep a close eye on your website's success and the experience your customers have with it to assess your hosting requirements. [I Recommend BlueHost]


Step 4. Put together the pages.

A good website is more than just a page with text on it. Multiple pages dedicated to various aspects of your small business, such as a comprehensive catalog of your products or services or a blog section for small business updates, should be created. In terms of the overall website, make sure that each page contributes to the primary objective of the site, has a specific focus, and has a “call to action” link (e.g., "learn more," "sign up," "contact us" or "buy this").

One of the most critical parts of a small business website is the contact page, which serves as your customers' direct connection to you. Provide as much detail as possible (your business's phone number, email address, and physical location, if you have one). Customers will be able to put real names and faces to your brand if you provide details about the founding team or staff on an "about" tab.

Hire a graphic designer or make your own logo to use on your website, business cards, and social media accounts if your small business doesn't already have one. This will assist your clients in rapidly and easily recognizing your business on the internet. 

You can hire Web Designers, Logo Designers, Content Writers from FiverrPal

If you want to develop your website on your own you may need the following tools:

1. Changio Powerful Website Editor:

If you want to develop your website without using any website building platform and upload it to the Bluehost server by using Cpanel, this is very much ideal. With this software

  • You can edit virtually any web page on the internet with ease and customize them as per your business needs. (including those pages you don't own)
  • You can save a lot of time and money as you do not need to hire a developer
  • No need to have any coding knowledge or experience, very much easy to use.

Click here to know more about Changio Powerful Website Editor

Click here to know how to upload your web pages to the server without using any third-party tool [Free Video Tutorial].


2. WP Toolkit GPL (For Bluehost WordPress Small Business Website Building):
Speed is always a matter of concern for any website. With WP Toolkit GPL you can now get your website loading speed 10 times faster and thus can rank well in search engines.


Click here to know how to create a small business website using WordPress on BlueHost [Free Video Tutorial]

Following are some basic guidelines for creating effective, content-rich web pages:

Make it clear what your small business is actually meant for. Condense your small business activities and offerings into a single, attractive sentence and use it as your lead. Within seconds of landing on your homepage, visitors should be able to grasp what you do. A few well-written pages can outperform hundreds of badly written pages.

Put strategic Calls To Action (CTA) in place. CTA buttons work better when they correspond to the details on the tab. On a product page, for example, a "buy now" button makes sense, but on the "about us" page, a "contact us to learn more" button may be more fitting. A button that takes the reader to the available plans and pricing could be found on a page listing customer reviews.

Boost your pace by automating it. Create as many automatic speed boosts as possible. Installing the correct plugins and tools for your content management system (CMS) will cache parts of your web so tourists don't have to download something twice. If you're not especially tech-savvy, some of the more technical aspects of caching and compressing files may necessitate the assistance of a web development partner.

Stock pictures should be avoided. The fastest way to transform a brilliant site into a bad one is to use tacky stock photography. It's better to use a photo of your actual team or business house if you're looking for pictures to use on your small business website.


Step 5. Establish a payment system (if applicable).

Although this move isn't required for all small business websites, those who wish to allow customers to pay electronically must incorporate electronic payment systems with their pages. E-commerce apps or third-party payment processors are the most convenient ways to do this. 

Many web hosts have an in-house shopping cart or e-commerce integration. Make sure you have a solution that's easy to use and adaptable enough to satisfy your needs now and in the future by doing some testing.

I recommend PayU. It is trusted and easy to integrate.


Step 6. Go over your website with a fine-tooth comb and test it before launching it.

Make sure your small business website works in all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome, before announcing it's live on the web. Check and page and feature in each browser to ensure that images are visible, links are right, and the format is fluid. This will take some time, but the time you invest now will save you from potential complaints from guests who are unable to use these features.

Also, check to see if your website works on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Since Google and other search engines have moved to mobile-first indexing, which prioritizes the success of your website's mobile edition when it comes to search engine rankings, this move should not be ignored.

Analytics software is another essential feature to provide from the start. You will sort out any problems and coordinate a proper setup by doing this before the website goes live. If the website is live, you can track page output and use analytics to figure out why those pages are successful or ineffective.

You can look at which of your marketing strategies are generating the most conversions, as well as any metrics like city, browser, and so on, to get a sense of how your audience is engaging with your site. If you wait until after the site goes live to enforce this, you'll lose out on useful data and won't be able to see which elements of your site are effective or ineffective right away."


Step 7. Use social media to promote your website.

The easiest way to expand your audience reach and alert consumers to what's going on with your business is to use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest. When you update your website, let your social media followers know about it, but balance it out with real, non-promotional interaction.

Include links to your social media accounts on your website as well. The footer or ancillary bar are the most popular ways to do this (the extra menu in the top right that often holds login or contact links). In our marketer's guide, you'll learn more about how to use social media for companies.


Step 8. Make a search engine optimization investment (SEO).

Submitting your website to major search engines and implementing a strong SEO strategy across your site will help guide potential leads to your page. According to Shaoolian, identifying appropriate title tags, meta descriptions, and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) for your small business and affiliate marketing will help you rank higher in search engines for the goods or services you're trying to sell.

Building important keywords into your content from the very beginning phases of your small business website, as well as a strong emphasis on SEO from the beginning, will help you generate buyer traffic early on.

These critical on-site SEO strategies will help you boost your ability to move up the rankings as you develop your small business website. You can also try off-site SEO strategies.

Select the appropriate keywords. Choose keywords that are important to your small business and that your future customers are looking for on the internet. 

Internal and external ties should be included. Internal links are links on your website pages that connect to other pages on your site, while external links are links to other well-known, authoritative websites. These links should be strategically placed on your website. If the links don't make sense, don't suit the context, and don't provide value to the reader, linking could work against you.

Improve the quality of your pictures. Compress photos to reduce the time it takes for your site to load. Take the same approach with video, ensuring that any clips load quickly and do not impede the overall flow of your web. The metadata of images, such as tags and captions, provides another opportunity to incorporate keywords and inform search engines about the images' content.

Improve the pace of your website. Page loading time should be as short as possible; a few seconds is ideal. To see if your site is working optimally, you can use free site speed checkers like Google's Page Speed Insights.


Step 9. Keep your website up to date.

To keep visitors coming back to the website, refresh it with blog posts about current business trends, new products and deals, and business updates regularly.

You can also make sure your apps and add-ons are up to date at least once a month. Even if your website host's protection is solid, If your software isn't up to date, you're at risk of being hacked. Delegate the job to a trustworthy employee or a freelance website manager if you don't have time to do it yourself.

Starting a small business website is a low-cost investment that will help you build a reputation and reach a larger consumer base than conventional marketing strategies might. You'll never have to worry about "not existing" to your current and potential clients if you keep your website updated with new, current content and react quickly to technical issues.



FAQs for small business websites

What does it cost to build a small business website?

According to Mark Brinker's report, the estimated cost of a small business website is between $4,000 and $10,000. The explanation for such a broad variety is due to the nature of the business and the amount of effort the owner can put in. A few hundred dollars can be the difference between taking your own pictures and hiring a photographer. Professional copywriting for web content, for example, is the same.

How long does it take to build a website for a small business?

Small Business Website development can take anything from a few days to several months.

What information do you put on your website?

Any small business should provide important details such as who they are, what they do, and how they can be reached. Your website should also list the goods or services you provide, as well as a simple way for consumers to make online transactions. Mission statements, feedback, testimonials, and a frequently updated blog that offers useful information about the organization and industry are all things that businesses should consider including.


Tools and Tutorials discussed in this post to create a small business website

1. Hosting Platform - BlueHost

2. Web Designers, Logo Designers, Content Writers - FiverrPal

3. Speeding up of WordPress website - WP Toolkit GPL

4. Online Payment System - PayU

5. Video tutorial on how to buy a domain from BlueHost

5. Video Tutorial on Small Business Website Development using BlueHost and WordPress.

6. Video Tutorial on Uploading Webpages to BlueHost Server using BlueHost CPanel


I hope, that this article has certainly helped you in getting an idea about how to create a small business website. Follow my next articles on Content Writing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Promotion.

Feel free to comment. In case you have any questions or doubts, feel free to email me at - mailrajibmukherjee1982@gmail.com.


Also Read about other interesting money-making and marketing tools:

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