How to Make a Website (2024 Guide)
Table of Contents
“How to make a website?” is a trendy question in today’s digital era. Having a website helps establish credibility and legitimacy for your business or personal brand. A website can be the perfect lead generator, helping you turn website visitors into customers.
Creating a website may seem like an overwhelming task, especially for those who are new to it. However, building a website from scratch with WordPress is more effortless than ever.
In this guide, we will show you how to make a website using the WordPress platform. Here you’ll find step-by-step instructions on selecting a custom domain name, choosing a web hosting provider, and customizing your site’s appearance.
Read on to learn also how to organize your content creation, how to promote your website, and ways to maintain it.
How to Plan Your New Website
Everything starts with a plan; the same goes for building a website. Devising a plan ensures you have a clear idea of what you want and how to achieve it.
Before creating your website, take the time to determine your goals and target audience, and research your competitors, and hosting providers. That will be your website’s foundation, so don’t overlook it. Keep reading to learn more about the planning process.
Define the website’s purpose and objectives
First things first! To create your own website, start by establishing your goals. Defining clear objectives and goals is crucial when creating a new website. That is true whether you’re building a business website, an online store, a personal blog, or any other type of website.
Creating a website that meets your and your users’ needs is easier with a clear sight of what you want to achieve. Taking the time to outline your website’s objectives and goals can help you identify your strategy.
That includes defining your target audience, choosing the right site design and functionality, and tailoring content that speaks directly to your users. That may differ depending on whether you plan to monetize your site.
General Website Categories
| Website Category | Objective |
| E-commerce/Online store | designed to sell products or services online, often with the ability to process payments and manage inventory. |
| Business websites | promote a specific company, its products, or its services. |
| Portfolio sites | showcase the work of an individual or company, usually in a creative industry. |
| Personal blogs | express the views and opinions of an individual, usually through blogs or other forms of personal content. |
| Membership sites | offer exclusive access to content, products, or services to registered users who have paid a fee or subscription. |
| Educational websites | provide educational resources and information to students and teachers, often with interactive features and multimedia content. |
| News and Media websites | deliver news and current events to readers, often in a timely and engaging manner. |
| Non-profit websites | promote a specific cause or mission and solicit donations or volunteers from the public. |
Research your market and competitors
After defining your site’s objective, you should explore the market in your niche. Researching your market competitors can provide valuable insights and help you make informed decisions about your website’s design, content, and marketing strategy.
Here we’ll map out the main points to consider during your research.
Conduct Market Research
By conducting market research, you can identify trends and opportunities in your market. You can learn about your competitors, understand your industry’s evolution, and find gaps or niches your website can fill.
Proper market research can help you stand out in your market and drive traffic and sales to your business.
Compile a list of competitors
After you have a clear view of your niche, compile a list of your rivals. Identifying your direct competitors provides a better understanding of your market’s environment. This way, you can track changes in the market and adjust your strategy accordingly, allowing you to stay ahead of the competition.
Analyze the service offerings of your competitors
Study your competitors’ services to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings, and find ways to distinguish your own service. You can also learn about their pricing strategies, customer support, and other factors that impact customer satisfaction.
To analyze your competitors’ service offerings, you can visit their websites and read customer reviews. You can also conduct surveys or focus groups to gather feedback from your target audience. This information can help you develop a service that meets your customers’ needs and stands out in your market.
Analyze the websites of your competitors
Analyzing your competitors’ websites can give you a better understanding of your target audience’s preferences. You can learn what content and features your audience seeks and how to differentiate your website from competitors.
Find out who your competitors are by checking the search engine result pages for the top performers in your niche. Review their website content, including their blog posts, articles, and other resources. Look for topics that they cover frequently and those that they don’t cover at all. These gaps allow you to create unique content that provides more value to your audience.
Pick a Web Hosting provider
To make the website accessible on the internet, it needs to be hosted on a server that can serve it to visitors worldwide. Web hosts provide the necessary server infrastructure and knowledge needed to maintain it. In essence, hosting services allow you to rent web server space, store the files that make up a website, and serve the content upon request.
There are several factors to examine when looking for a web hosting provider. The first thing to consider is the price, which can vary widely depending on the provider and the package you choose.
However, it’s also essential to consider the reliability and speed of the hosting service. Look for a provider with a good uptime guarantee and fast loading times. These factors can greatly affect how users experience your website.
Top-tier web hosts like SiteGround prioritize server security as this ensures a big part of your website’s security. Features to look for in a web host are DDOS protection, firewalls, malware scanning, SSL certificates, and regular backups of website data.
Reading reviews and getting recommendations from other website owners is also a good idea. That way, you can narrow down your options and choose a provider that fits your criteria.
Finally, consider the ease of use of the hosting platform and whether it offers features essential for your website. Such extra features are email hosting, additional tools, and the level of customer support offered.
Considering these factors, you can make an informed decision and choose a web hosting solution that works for you.
Get a Web Hosting Plan
After selecting your preferred web host, check what hosting solutions they offer. Choose a web hosting plan that holds up to your requirements, depending on the scale and type of site you want to run.
Shared or WordPress hosting can be a good starting point if your website doesn’t require much server horsepower just yet. Make sure to explore the features of each plan to find the right fit for your website.
For example, you need a plan with sufficient storage space if you plan to upload large images and videos to your photography portfolio. Similarly, if you expect high traffic, you’ll need a hosting plan with more resources to ensure your website runs smoothly.
Additionally, if you expect your traffic to grow over time, look for hosting plans that offer scalability options. That will allow you to upgrade your hosting plan as your website’s requirements increase.
Moreover, if you plan to target audiences outside your country, you should also look for a CDN (Content Delivery Network). This way, distant visitors can load your website faster anywhere in the world.
Choose a Catchy Domain Name
Choosing a catchy domain name can attract visitors and make your website more memorable.
Here are some general tips to help you choose a custom domain name.
- Keep it simple: Shorter and simple domain names are much easier to type and remember. Avoid using complex or difficult-to-spell words in your domain name.
- Make it easy to pronounce: A domain name that’s easy to pronounce is more likely to stick in people’s minds. That can help your website stand out and be more memorable.
- Use relevant keywords: Think about the words your target audience would use to search for your business online. Entailing relevant keywords in your domain helps with search engine optimization (SEO), making it easier for people to reach your site.
- Be unique: Choose a domain name that stands out. That can help your website be more memorable and attract more visitors.
- Make it brandable: Your domain name should reflect your website’s purpose or niche. That can help with brand recognition and make it easier for people to remember your website.
- Fend off numbers and hyphens: Stick to using letters only, as numbers or hyphens in your custom domain can make it harder to remember and type.
- Consider the extension: The domain extension (such as .com, .net, .org) can affect the perception of your website. In general, “.com” is the most popular and recognizable extension, so try to use it if possible. On the other hand, Google officially stated that “The newer top-level domains (TLDs) are equivalent to other generic top-level domains like .com when it comes to SEO.”
- Test it out: Before committing to a domain name, test it with family and friends to see if it’s easy to remember and spell. You can also use a domain name generator tool to come up with ideas and get feedback.
Having taken care of these prerequisites, you can head on to the next steps of your website creation.
How To Make a Website?
At this point, you probably wonder, “Now, how do I create my own website for my custom domain name?”. Well, there are various answers to this question.
One option to create websites is to use website builders. They allow you to create simple web pages using preset website templates. Unfortunately, they are quite limited in terms of customization options and features. That said, website builders are more suitable for creating a basic site than a business website.
If you are an experienced web developer, you can create a website from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. That option gives you robust customization and functionality opportunities, though you need to know your way around coding.
Luckily, there is also the WordPress website-building platform.
Why choose WordPress as a CMS for your website?
WordPress is the most popular Content Management System out there, powering over 43% of all websites worldwide. Its popularity suggests that WordPress has a large and supportive community, making it easier to find resources and help when building a website.
WordPress is intuitive and easy-to-use open-source software you can use to design a high-quality website. Moreover, it can be used for various purposes, including blogs, e-commerce websites, and portfolios. This versatility makes WordPress a perfect choice for users who may not have experience with website development.
Additionally, there is a plethora of WordPress themes you can pick from to achieve the perfect web design for your site’s objectives. In case you want to add more functionality, you can always install WordPress plugins.
With all that counted in, and for the purpose of this guide, we’ll focus on website building with WordPress. Keep reading to learn more about the WordPress site creation process.
Install WordPress
Stepping into this phase, you are ready to begin building your fully functional website. To start, you must install the WordPress application on your custom domain.
There are three main methods for installing WordPress.
- Auto-Installers – Most hosting services offer application auto-installers you can use to configure WordPress with your domain quickly.
SiteGround clients can easily install WordPress within minutes using the beginner-friendly Auto-installer in their SiteTools > WordPress > Install & Manage.
- Manual installation – If your web host doesn’t include an automated WordPress installation option, you can always do a manual installation. This method is a tad more complicated and takes longer. Thus, it’s more suitable for intermediate users.
- Local installation – In case you prefer to craft your own website first and then make it available to your target audience, you can install WordPress locally. To do that, you must download the latest WordPress version. Afterward, you can set up WordPress locally using WampServer for Windows or MAMP for Mac OS.
In any case, you get to choose your login credentials during the installation process. These are the admin username, password, and email address you’ll use to log in to the WordPress admin panel. Thus, store them in your preferred password manager, where you can keep them safe.
For more details on the installation process at SiteGround, check out our post on How to install WordPress.
Find the perfect theme for your brand and install it
Finding the perfect theme for your WordPress website is a significant step, as it can affect how users and search engines perceive your site. A good theme should have a design you like and be fast and easily customizable to meet your needs.
How to find your preferred theme
Here are some important aspects of a WordPress theme to consider while making your choice.
- Free or paid
One of the first things to consider is whether you want a free or paid option. While many high-quality free themes are available, paid themes often come with more advanced features and support. - Matching your site’s objective
Make sure the theme matches the objective of your site, as it will play a big role in how users and search engines perceive it. For instance, there are themes specifically designed for portfolio websites. Others are meant for e-commerce or blogging.
- Responsive design
According to Statcounter, 55% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. With that in mind, look for a responsive theme that functions properly on different screen sizes and devices.
- Optimized for SEO
An SEO-optimized theme improves your website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). The theme should be fast, lightweight, and have clean code that is easy for search engine bots to crawl and index.
- Regular updates and Compatibility
Regular updates and compatibility ensure your site stays secure and up-to-date with the latest WordPress version.
- Support
A good theme should include support provided by the developer. That can be helpful if you encounter any issues while customizing or using the theme.
Install your chosen theme.
Once you have chosen your preferred theme, you must install it on your WordPress website. Follow the steps below to install your WordPress theme.
- Log into your WordPress Admin Panel.
- Navigate to Appearance > Themes.
- Then, click on the Add New button at the top of the page and type the name of your theme in the search bar.
- When the installation is complete, hit the “Activate” button.
In case you’ve chosen a premium theme, you must upload its files from your WordPress dashboard.
- Purchase and download the theme files from the theme vendor.
- To install the theme manually, head to Appearance > Themes > Add new.
- Navigate to the Upload Theme tab.
- Hit the “Choose File” button to browse your computer for the theme’s file.
- When the file is uploaded, you can find it listed under Appearance > Themes.
- Hit the Activate button to complete the theme installation.
Now that your theme is installed and active, you can start planning the structure of your website. Keep reading to learn more about that.
Plan your website structure (sitemap)
Planning the structure of a website means organizing its content and pages logically and intuitively. That makes it easy for users to navigate and find what they want. Moreover, a good website structure helps search engines find and index your site’s pages.
You can achieve this through various web structures, as explained below.
- Hierarchical
This is the most straightforward and commonly used web structure. Its logic flows from the home page through parent pages to category and subcategory pages (child pages). The hierarchical structure is suitable for e-commerce websites as it promotes intuitive navigation.
- Sequential (Linear)
The sequential website structure is simple and low-maintenance. It is suitable for small websites with fewer pages where there are no subcategories or child pages. That makes it perfect for small-scale businesses with a limited product range. Here, the visitor can move back and forth within the web pages, following a logical path of actions.
- Webbed structure
The webbed structure creates the visual appearance of a web, as it connects main pages with subpages and child pages via interlinking. This model lacks hierarchy, making it easier for visitors to switch between pages with a minimal number of clicks. Thus, this type of structure is suitable for news or business websites with interconnected products.
The main goal is to provide users and search engines with a clear understanding of the website’s content and layout. If done well, this can lead to increased engagement and conversion rates. Moreover, a properly built website structure ensures the spread of authority throughout your web pages via interlinking.
Plan the structure of a website by creating a sitemap. You can do this using a simple drawing tool like Paint or jot it down on paper.
For instance, the homepage of a website should consist of links to all important pages. Such pages are the main category pages. The website’s menu or main navigation represents the relationship between the homepage and the main category pages.
Remember that the structure of a website can impact its search engine optimization (SEO), as well as its overall user experience and engagement.
Design your own website
After figuring out your website’s architecture, it is time to get your hands on web design. A well-designed website combines visual appeal with functionality that enhances the user’s experience and drives conversions.
Focus on these web design principles to achieve an aesthetically pleasing and intuitive outlook for your website.
- Consistency – Your design should be consistent across the entire website and all platforms.
- Simplicity – A simple and uncluttered design can help increase ease of use and enhance the user experience of your site.
- Typography and Readability – Select appropriate fonts, font sizes, spacing, line height, and other aspects of typography to make the text on your site visually appealing and easy to read.
- Responsiveness – Make sure to test whether your design looks good on various screen sizes. This will ensure that your visitors can access your content from any device.
- Color palette and imagery – Focus on creating a consistent color palette that reflects the brand’s identity and messaging. Select high-quality and relevant images that convey the website’s message and tone.
- Fast loading speed – Optimize your own website’s elements and assets to ensure that the website loads quickly. Slow loading times can result in a poor user experience, causing high bounce rates and potentially impacting the site’s rankings.
- User Experience – A good web design takes into account the needs and expectations of the users and provides a positive experience. It ensures easy navigation, fast loading times, a visually appealing layout, and clear calls to action.
Customize your theme and layout
Now that you have chosen and installed your theme, you can start personalizing it to match your brand’s identity and uniqueness. By customizing your WordPress theme, you can achieve a memorable and appealing website look and feel.
To customize a WordPress theme, you must log in to your admin panel and navigate to Appearance > Customize.
This path will launch the built-in WordPress Customizer for the active theme. From there, you can personalize your theme’s layout, colors, header, and footer, or add call-to-action buttons and widgets. You can also set up a website menu or other key features.
The customizer also allows you to inspect whether your changes display correctly on various devices, as shown in the screenshot above. Additionally, most WordPress themes let you add extra CSS edits to enhance your overall design.
Remember that the available customization options depend on the theme you’ve chosen.
Add plugins for extra functionality
Adding WordPress plugins to your own website helps make it more engaging and user-friendly. Fortunately, there are thousands of free and paid WordPress plugins available. They can add new features, improve performance, or enhance the user interface.
For example, there are plugins that can add chat functionality to your WordPress website, allowing you to communicate live with your visitors. Others let you add social media icons to enable site visitors to share your content.
Most importantly, if you want to build an online store, you must install the WooCommerce plugin.
There are also plugins that help with your WordPress speed optimization, security, or even website migration.
SiteGround clients can take advantage of our in-house SiteGround Central plugin. It improves the initial WordPress setup as it lets you choose from the most popular themes and plugins.
To install WordPress plugins, log into your dashboard and head to Plugins > Add New.
WordPress will send you to the following page, where you can select and install plugins by clicking the Install button.
Additionally, WordPress allows you to search for plugins by name or install plugins from a file. You can do that from the Upload plugin tab, as the screenshot shows.
Once the plugin is installed, you must Activate it using the respective button and configure it if necessary.
Create your first web page
Congrats on reaching this stage of your own website building! Now, it’s time to create your first web page, so keep reading to learn how to do that.
Typically, the homepage is the first web page you should create when building a new website. The homepage is usually the main landing page for your website and serves as an introduction to your brand or business. It’s the page that visitors will see first when they navigate to your website, so it’s essential to make a good first impression.
4 Tips for Crafting a Home Page
- Try building an inviting homepage that should reflect your brand’s identity, including your logo, brand colors, and brand messaging.
- The page should include clear navigation links to help visitors find the information they need quickly and easily.
- Spice it up by filling it with compelling content that engages visitors and encourages them to explore your website further.
- Your homepage should include a call to action (CTA) that encourages visitors to take a specific action. For example, you can ask your audience to sign up for a newsletter or purchase a product.
Overall, your Home page is a crucial part of your website; thus, strive to make it visually appealing, easy to navigate, and informative. By creating a strong Home page, you can set the tone for the rest of your website and help visitors understand what your brand or business is all about.
How to Add a Page in WordPress
It is common for your theme to have sample pages or preset web pages you can customize to your needs. However, even if that is not the case with your theme, you’ll eventually still need to learn how to add new pages. Here, we’ll show you how, so keep reading.
To create your first web page, get into your WordPress dashboard and head to Pages > Add New.
Set a page title and select what type of content, formatting, and multimedia you want to add to it from the left-hand side menu.
From the right-hand side menu, you can tweak other website settings like the page URL structure, visibility, publishing date, etc.
Once you are ready, hit the Publish button on the top right corner, and the page will become accessible for visitors to browse.
Make sure to adjust the Reading settings for your Home page in order to make it a static one. That means that you won’t be regularly changing the content of this page, and new posts won’t be published on it. A static home page allows you to highlight products, services, or tools you offer to your target audience.
To set your Home page as a static one, navigate to Settings > Reading from the right sidebar.
Then check the box “A static page” next to “Your homepage displays” and select your homepage from the dropdown menu. Next, select your Blog page for your WordPress Posts page. This way, any new blog post you create will be displayed on your Blog page.
Add other essential pages
After designing and publishing your Home page, get your hands on creating other essential pages. The most important web pages for a website are as follows:
- About Us Page – This page should tell visitors who you are, what your company does, and what your mission and values are. It should also include information about your team and history.
- Products/Services Page – This one should provide detailed information about your products or services. It should include images, descriptions, and prices.
- Contact Page – This page should make it easy for visitors to get in touch with you. It should include contact forms, your email address, phone number, and physical address. Additionally, if your business has an offline store, adding a Google Maps reference to its location on your Contact page is considerate. This will make it easier for local buyers to find your store.
- Blog – A blog is a great way to provide valuable content to your visitors and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. It can also help improve your website’s search engine rankings.
Other common pages are Reviews/Testimonials, Portfolio, Privacy Policy, or FAQ pages.
Hire a professional web designer or developer
If you need help creating websites, you can always hire a professional. A professional web developer can use their expertise to create a website that meets your expectations.
Professionals have the expertise to optimize the website’s construction, management, and functionality to provide a better user experience.
Additionally, outsourcing your website development can free up your time and resources. This way, you can focus on other aspects of your business.
Hiring a professional can often be more cost-effective than building a website yourself. By hiring a pro, you’ll avoid potentially costly mistakes or the need to invest in expensive web development tools and software.
Read on to learn a few tips on how to find and hire a professional WordPress developer for your site.
Define what you need
Defining what you need from a professional developer is an important first step in hiring one. You must define exactly what you expect from a professional developer and your goals. That will help determine what specific skills and experience you need from a professional.
For example, If you have already installed the content management system and found the perfect WordPress theme, you may need a web designer to customize it. Or, you may need some code writing, special plugin development, or website administration.
Identify the areas where you need the most help and narrow your search to developers with experience. Then, prepare a list of questions to help you assess the developer’s skills, knowledge, and communication. For instance, you can ask about their previous projects, approach, and communication availability.
Search professionals in freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr
Freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr can be great places to search for professional developers for your project. These platforms connect clients with a wide variety of freelancers with different skill sets, including web developers.
Upwork, for example, offers a pool of WordPress developers who can build, design, and maintain websites.
Similarly, Fiverr provides access to freelance developers who handle projects related to website development, app development, and programming languages, among others.
Look for a web developer with a robust skill set and experience
When looking for a web developer on freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, it’s essential to do your research. Take the time to evaluate each candidate’s skills, experience, and work quality. This way, you can ensure they have the necessary skills and expertise to deliver a high-quality project that fits your requirements.
Consider the developer’s ratings, reviews, and client feedback on the platform. This can give you an idea of their work quality, reliability, and communication skills.
Use the platform’s search filters to narrow down your search to developers who match your requirements. For example, you can filter by location, hourly rate, availability, and skill set.
Check their portfolio
A portfolio can demonstrate a developer’s ability to use their claimed skills in real-world projects. While a developer’s portfolio may not be the only factor to consider when evaluating their skills and experience, it can provide valuable insights into their abilities.
Check the developers’ portfolios to see examples of their previous work and assess their style and quality. You can also view their ratings and reviews on freelance marketplaces. Thus, this is a crucial part of the evaluation process. Keep in mind that low prices do not necessarily mean quality work.
Finally, consider pricing and payment expectations. Negotiate a fair rate for the project based on your budget and the developer’s skills and experience.
How to create content for your website?
Website content creation is vital in inbound marketing, as it helps attract new visitors and engages with your existing audience. Before starting the creative work, identify your target audience and what topics may appeal to them.
With that at hand, you can begin devising your content strategy and decide what content you want to publish. Keep reading to learn more about this process.
Get to know your target audience
For this step, you’ll need to “get in the shoes” of your website visitors. Try to figure out where they go when they stumble upon a problem (for which you offer a solution), how they speak (like the terms and phrases they use) in that niche, etc.
Remember that list of competitors that we told you about at the beginning of this guide? Use it now! Check the website or social media of every single competitor on that list and go through their user comments. This user feedback can give you lots of useful information on creating your content, topics, posts, etc.
Conduct keyword research
Conducting keyword research is an essential part of SEO website creation. By finding relevant keywords, you can create content that reaches more relevant leads. Use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush to find keywords your target audience is searching for.
If you are looking for a free keyword research tool – you can always use Google’s Keyword Planner. Then incorporate these keywords naturally into your content.
When doing keyword research, look for these metrics:
- High monthly search volume – This high volume means a lot of people search for the keyword on a monthly basis.
- Low keyword difficulty – Low difficulty suggests that ranking for that keyword’s first position in the search engine results page would be comparatively easy.
- Trends – This means that the keyword could be seasonal. For example, keywords like “ski shoes” or “summer hat” trend better in wintertime.
Now that you know what metrics to look at when doing keyword research, we’ll show you what keywords to choose for your content.
You can split your keyword research into two groups:
- Short keywords
- Long-tail keywords
Short keywords may have a really high monthly search volume. However, in general, they have high keyword difficulty as well. In addition, they are really broad in terms of the intent of the user’s search.
On the other hand, we have long-tail keywords. These keywords are referred to as long-tail because they are usually more than 2 words. The long-tail keywords don’t have as many monthly searches as the short ones. Still, they are very particular and have a specific intent in their search.
Examples:
- “Hat” – short keyword with broad intent;
- “Red summer hat for ladies” – long-tail keywords with specific intent.
When doing keyword research, choose both short & long-tail keywords for your website and blog posts. This combination works wonders for finding the right balance between reaching a wider audience and targeting a more specific one.
Create a content strategy
Set yourself up for success by creating a content strategy that drives the results you need. A well-designed content strategy will help you stay on track with your business goals and publish high-quality content regularly.
You can start by defining your goals. Whether you aim for a traffic increase, upping your conversion rates, or increasing brand visibility, you need clear goals for a working content strategy.
Once you are clear about your niche keywords, audience, and marketing goals, start creating a content calendar. Your content calendar should outline your topics, keywords, and publishing schedule.
If you don’t know how to create a content calendar or you simply don’t have the time – you can use this Google Sheet Content Calendar to help you arrange and schedule your content throughout the whole year.
A content plan is a valuable tool that streamlines your strategy in the following ways.
- Content creation consistency. It can help you regularly create content that aligns with your business goals and resonates with your target audience.
- Organizing and prioritizing your content. With a content plan, you can organize and prioritize your content ideas based on their importance and relevance to your business.
- Efficiency. Having a plan can boost your productivity by allowing you to focus on creating content rather than figuring out what to write about.
- Tracking your content’s success. Measure the effectiveness of your content strategy by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as traffic, engagement, and conversions. That can help you identify what is working well and what needs to be improved.
- Adaptability. Adapt your content plan to accommodate changes in your business goals, marketing strategy, or audience needs. This flexibility can help you stay agile and responsive to changes in the market or industry.
A well-designed content strategy lets you stay on top of your game by promoting consistency, organization, efficiency, tracking, and adaptability.
Craft quality SEO and UX-optimized content
Crafting quality SEO and UX-optimized content can help improve your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Thanks to such content, you can attract more traffic and provide a better user experience for your visitors.
Here are 7 Tips on how to create quality SEO and UX-optimized content.
- Keyword Research – Research the top keywords site visitors use when searching for a topic related to your business. Use these keywords in your content, including your page titles, meta descriptions, page URLs, and text content. Remember to use them naturally and avoid keyword stuffing.
- High-Quality Content – Your content should be informative, engaging, and valuable to your audience. High-quality content keeps visitors on your site for longer and encourages them to return in the future.
- Clear and Concise Headlines – Your headlines should be clear and concise. That makes it easy for visitors and search engines to understand your content.
- Optimize for User Experience – Optimize your content for a positive user experience by using easy-to-read fonts and formatting your content with headings and subheadings. Also, break up long blocks of text into smaller paragraphs.
- Internal and External Linking – Linking to other relevant pages on your site and external resources can improve your search engine rankings and provide additional value to your visitors.
- Relevant URL slug – A URL slug is part of a URL that comes after the domain name and typically describes the page’s content. Create URL slugs that are descriptive, easy to read, and relevant to the content of the page.
- Mobile Optimization – With the increasing number of people accessing the internet on their mobile devices, mobile optimization is a must. That includes using responsive design and ensuring your content is easily read and navigated on various screens.
All in all, your content should be engaging, easy to read, and accessible to users and search engines.
Promote your website
Promoting your new website is crucial because it helps you increase visibility, drive traffic, and reach your target audience. Without promotion, your website may remain hidden, making it difficult for potential customers to find you online.
Read on to learn how to promote your new website and build brand awareness.
Optimize your website for search engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a cost-effective way to attract traffic. While it does require an investment of time and effort, the long-term benefits can be significant. Thus, in this section, we’ll discuss what optimization aspects you should focus on to promote your website.
Add your site to Google
Adding your new website to Google Search Console is a good first step in SEO optimization. Google Search Console is a free tool provided by Google that allows website owners to monitor their website’s performance in Google search results.
When adding your website to Google Search Console, you can submit your website’s sitemap. This will help Google understand the structure of your website and crawl it more efficiently. You can also see if any errors or issues with your website affect your search performance.
Additionally, you can use Google Search Console to monitor your website’s search traffic and identify improvement opportunities in your SEO strategy.
Ensure your website is crawlable by checking if your robots.txt file is blocking search bots. You can do this by typing your domain in the address bar, followed by “/robots.txt”
Alternatively, you can test your robots.txt file for any issues in Google’s Robots Testing Tool.
Add metadata
Meta tags provide information about a web page and its content to search engines and other web services. Here are the most significant meta tags you can add for SEO purposes:
- Title Tag is the most important meta tag for SEO. It should be concise and accurately describe the content on the page. Keep it under 70 characters.
- Meta Description Tag provides a brief summary of the content on the page. It should be under 155 characters and include the primary keyword for the page.
- Image Alt attributes provide a description of the images within your content. They make your site accessible to readers and easier to understand for search engines.
Add meta tags to every page on your site, and use them to accurately describe the content on the page. Avoid keyword stuffing and focus on creating high-quality, user-friendly content.
Create compelling and keyword-rich content
Another important SEO aspect is the content you create. Make sure to create engaging content that is meaningful to your visitors. Avoid keyword stuffing and focus on creating content for humans rather than search bots like Google.
Add relevant external and internal links within your posts to enrich your content with effective anchors.
Strive to keep your content fresh and updated to ensure your website’s value and relevancy. Use images, videos, and other multimedia to make your content more engaging and visually appealing.
Additionally, use catchy page titles that contain pertinent keywords to entice visitors to your website.
Optimize your site’s speed
The speed at which your site is serving its content to readers is also of great importance. A well-optimized site speed improves the user experience, reduces bounce rates, and increases search engine rankings. A fast-loading site keeps visitors engaged and helps retain them for longer periods.
To optimize your site’s speed, choose a fast web host, install a lightweight theme, and keep your plugin count in check. You can use caching and CDN services to reduce your site’s time to load.
Overall, promoting your site is paramount to its success. Effectively promoting your site helps attract visitors, reach wider audiences, and solidify your brand’s image.
Create Social media profiles to promote your brand
Creating social media profiles for your brand increases brand awareness, improves customer engagement, and enhances customer loyalty.
Use social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to connect with your niche audience. That will help you broaden your brand’s reach and establish a live connection with your followers. Furthermore, you can build a strong brand reputation by sharing compelling content and interacting with your audience.
Focusing on metrics that align with your goals is crucial to effectively promoting your brand on social media. Such metrics are engagement rates, reach, and conversions. Additionally, using hashtags (keywords used to sort content by category) can help users find your content and products more efficiently.
Ultimately, choosing which social media platforms to use depends on your target audience and business goals.
- Facebook is an excellent choice for reaching a broad audience.
- LinkedIn may be more appropriate if you are targeting professionals.
- Instagram and TikTok are popular among younger audiences and can be effective for visual marketing.
- Twitter is useful for real-time engagement and customer service.
Engage with your audience
Engaging with your audience on social media is essential for your brand’s success. You can build stronger relationships with them and increase brand loyalty. It also helps to establish a human connection with your customers, making them more likely to trust and purchase from your brand.
To engage with your audience and build a relationship with your visitors, you can:
- Post content that people can engage with – polls, relatable videos, graphics that make people laugh, or product photos that encourage people to tag their friends.
- Create shareable content and get creative with your social media ideas to increase your social media shares and reach a wider audience.
- Conduct surveys and polls regularly.
- Ask your visitors about the type of content they want to see.
By engaging with your audience, you can manage the public’s perception of your brand and develop new customer leads. Additionally, you can collect feedback about new products or educate your audience with resources and advice.
Build backlinks
Backlinks are an essential part of search engine optimization (SEO), as they help boost a website’s organic search engine rankings. Backlinks are links from one website to a page on another website, and search engines like Google consider them “votes” for a specific page.
Websites with a high number of backlinks tend to rank higher in search engine results. Here are a few techniques to build backlinks for your WordPress website.
- Skyscraper Technique – This technique suggests finding relevant content with lots of backlinks and creating better content to replace it. Then, reach out to the websites linking to the original content to ask them to link to the improved version instead.
- Reverse Skyscraper Technique – Find popular content in your niche and create a piece of content that is intentionally less comprehensive or less detailed. The goal here is to get links from people who prefer your shorter, easier-to-read version.
- Resource page link building – This technique involves finding a website page listing resources related to your niche. Then reach out to the website owner to suggest they include a link to your website as a valuable resource.
- Broken link building – To use this technique, you should find broken links on websites and notify the website owner of the broken link. Then suggest that they replace the link with a link to your website instead.
A WordPress site can increase its visibility and attract more traffic by building quality backlinks. An effective way to build backlinks is to create high-quality content that is useful and unique, making it more appealing for other websites to link to.
You can also consider guest blogging, podcast interviews, and pursuing link gaps to attract more backlinks. When building backlinks, focus on quality over quantity to avoid search engine penalties.
Advertise
Promoting your website through advertising is a great way to attract new visitors and customers. Here are some hints for advertising your website:
- Google AdWords: This is one of the most popular ways to promote a website or blog. By investing capital in distribution, you can create ads that appear at the top of Google’s search results pages, targeting specific keywords and audiences.
- Social Media Advertising: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer advertising options that allow you to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behavior. That can be a cost-effective way to reach your target audience.
- Email Marketing: Build an email list of subscribers and send targeted emails to promote your website. You can offer exclusive content or promotions to entice subscribers to click through to your site.
- Online Directories: Submit your site to online directories such as Yelp, Google My Business, or Yahoo! Local to increase your visibility and improve your SEO.
- Content Marketing: Start a blog or try guest blogging on other websites. That will help you establish yourself as an expert in your industry and allow you to link back to your site.
- Outreach Marketing: Reach out to other websites or influencers in your industry and offer to collaborate on content or promotions. That can help you tap into new audiences and build relationships with other brands.
Remember, to effectively advertise your website; you must first solidify its SEO. That includes keyword research and optimizing your website for search engines. Also, focus on quality content that provides value to your audience.
How to Maintain Your Site?
Maintaining a website is pivotal for several reasons. First and foremost, it ensures that your website is functioning properly and remains secure from potential security threats. Regular maintenance, like updating software, plugins, and themes, can help prevent security breaches and vulnerabilities.
Additionally, consistent website maintenance improves website performance and load times. That has a significant impact on user satisfaction and search engine rankings. Finally, website maintenance can help identify and fix any issues or bugs that may be impacting website performance.
Keep your site up to date
Keeping your site up to date is a significant part of website maintenance. Outdated software, like plugins and themes, can cause great harm to your site. Therefore, security updates and patches are released regularly to protect your website from potential vulnerabilities.
WordPress gets rather frequent core updates. Thus, plugin and theme developers strive to keep up by releasing updates for their software to remain secure and compatible.
As the website owner, it is up to you to administer these updates and protect your website from security breaches. Therefore, you must update WordPress core, plugins, and themes to ensure optimal performance.
WordPress updates are of paramount importance at SiteGround. Find out how to use SiteGround’s WordPress AutoUpdate Tool to keep your site always up to date.
Remember that an up-to-date website performs better, loads faster, provides a better user experience, and supports your brand’s credibility.
Monitor and track your progress
Progress tracking and monitoring is how you measure your site’s success. By monitoring your website’s traffic, you gain insights into your site’s performance, understand which pages are popular, and identify any problems that users may be experiencing.
Use a web analytics tool like Google Analytics to track traffic, measure user behavior, and understand your website’s performance. With Google Analytics, website owners can track the number of visitors to their site, where visitors are coming from, which pages they visit, how long they stay on the site, and more.
A good strategy is to establish specific goals for your website. For instance, you may aim to increase traffic or conversions, hence, track your progress toward those goals.
You can also use SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to monitor your website’s search engine rankings and identify bountiful topics and keywords that are driving traffic to your site.
Furthermore, track engagement on social media platforms by monitoring shares, likes, and comments. This can help you determine what content is resonating with your audience.
Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze the performance of your website, identify any issues, and optimize your site for faster load times.
Regularly review website content and make updates as needed to ensure it remains relevant, accurate, and valuable to your audience.
By regularly monitoring and tracking your website’s progress, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to improve your website’s performance and achieve your goals.
Continuously optimize your site for SEO and User Experience
It is important to lay the foundations of SEO and cover all the basics regarding optimization. But doing it continuously is equally important.
In terms of SEO, running monthly audits of your website is highly recommended.
You can do the above-mentioned audits on a monthly basis or at least once every 3 months.
The user experience on the website should not be ignored in the long run. As with the SEO audits, you should do a UX/Usability audit once every couple of months.
When doing a usability audit, you should check the following:
- Are the visitor engagement metrics good (e.g. “Average time on page”, “Bounce rate”, etc.);
- Is it easy for users to navigate the website;
- Is the information presented in accordance with the region of the user;
- Does the user always know in which section of the website he is located;
- Does clickable and non-clickable elements differentiate from each other;
- Can the users achieve their desired goals on the website;
- How quickly can the users achieve their goals on the website;
- Is your site easy to learn the first time a user enters it;
- Can returning users easily remember how to use your site;
- How does the website help users recover from errors;
- Do users like using your website & recommend it to others?
Doing this usability audit will help both your SEO efforts and your user experience because, in the past few years, the trend has been for SEO and UX to go hand-in-hand. Moreover, good website usability means better intuitiveness and more conversions.
Summary
Making a website can seem daunting, but there are many tools available to help you create one quickly. To get started, determine your goals and target audience, choose a content management system (CMS), and select a template or design that fits your needs.
From there on, you can customize your site by adding content, images, and other elements and optimizing it for search engines and mobile devices. It’s also important to consider security measures and ongoing maintenance to ensure your website remains secure and up-to-date.
Anyone can create an effective, engaging, relevant, and profitable website by following the steps in this guide.
How to Make a Website FAQs
How long does it take to create a website?
The time it takes to create a website can vary depending on its size and complexity, as well as the development process used. A small website can be built in a few days to a few months, while larger websites may take several months or longer to develop.
If you opt for professional web development, you can agree on a reasonable due date with the specialist you are hiring. However, if you are building your own website, the timing depends mostly on you.
Can anyone start a website?
Nowadays, anyone can start a website. Even those who have no prior experience in web development can dip their toes into website building using free website builders.
One option is hiring someone to design and code a website for you, or you can try creating your own website using WordPress. WordPress is fairly easy to use and has a large community, allowing you to check with other users if you encounter difficulties.
Overall, creating a website is a manageable task with the right tools and resources at your disposal. Whether you decide to hire a professional or do it yourself, plenty of options are available for anyone who wants to start a website.
Can I create a website for free?
With the availability of various free website builders and hosting providers, creating a website for free is possible. As we hinted earlier, WordPress is the most popular content management system out there and is free to use.
Alternatively, you may decide to use free website builders. However, keep in mind that they are limited in terms of features and functionality. Free website builders usually offer limited web design templates and customization options, which may not fit your needs or brand.
Additionally, a free website builder may give you limited control over your website, including the ability to access your website files or database.
Moreover, some free website builders may display ads on your website. That can be distracting to your visitors and impact the credibility of your website.
How to monetize your website?
There are several ways to monetize your website, depending on the type of content you create and your business goals. Here are some common strategies for monetizing a website:
- Advertising: You can sell advertising space on your website to other businesses. For instance, you can use an advertising network like Google AdSense to display ads on your site and earn money based on clicks or impressions.
- Affiliate marketing: You can earn a commission by promoting other people’s products or services on your website. You can join an affiliate program and add affiliate links to your content, or you can create product reviews and comparisons that include affiliate links.
Here at SiteGround, we welcome every website owner to join our Affiliate program and make money from advertising our services.
- Selling products or services – You can sell physical or digital products directly on your website or offer services like coaching or consulting. E-commerce platforms like WooCommerce can help you set up an online store on your website.
- Sponsorships – You can partner with brands or businesses that align with your niche and audience. This way, you can offer sponsored content, such as sponsored blog posts, videos, or social media posts.
- Subscriptions – You can create premium content or membership programs requiring a subscription fee. This could include exclusive content, courses, or a community forum.
- Donations – If you create valuable content that people find useful or entertaining, you can ask for donations to support your work. You can use platforms like Patreon or PayPal to accept donations directly on your website.
When deciding how to monetize your website, it’s important to consider the needs and preferences of your audience. Choose strategies that align with your brand and goals. Creating high-quality content that provides value to your audience and builds trust and loyalty over time is also important.
Do you need to have technical skills to make a website?
You do not necessarily need technical skills to make a website. There are website builders and content management systems (CMS) that allow you to create a website without any coding knowledge.
These tools typically use a drag-and-drop interface and offer a range of website templates and web design options to help you create a website effortlessly.
However, having some technical knowledge can be helpful when it comes to customizing your website or troubleshooting issues that may arise. For example, if you want to add custom functionality or design elements to your site, you may need some coding knowledge.
Additionally, understanding concepts like search engine optimization (SEO) and website security can help you create a more effective and secure website.
While technical skills are not necessarily required to make a website, having some coding and web development knowledge can be beneficial.
How to make a website into an app?
There are different approaches to turning a WordPress website into an app, depending on the desired functionality and user experience.
Several WordPress plugins are available to help you create a mobile app version of a website. Such tools are AppPresser, WPMobile.App, and MobiLoud. These plugins usually offer features such as push notifications, offline access, and native app styling.
Converting the website into a Progressive Web App (PWA) is also an option. A PWA is a website that can be accessed via a mobile browser but offers some of the functionality of a native app, such as offline access and push notifications. To make a WordPress site into a PWA, you can use a PWA plugin such as SuperPWA or PWA for WP & AMP.
Another option is to build a custom app using WordPress as the backend. This option requires more technical skills and resources. However, it allows for more customization and control over the app’s features and design.
It involves using WordPress as a content management system (CMS) to manage the app’s content and data and building its front end using a mobile development framework such as React Native or Flutter.
Regardless of the method you choose, consider the app’s user experience, security, and performance. Make sure to test the app thoroughly on different devices and platforms before publishing it to the app stores.