How to Make a Website in 6 Easy Steps

In our blog, we determined why each and every business needs a website, and we hope you’ve gotten or are considering getting one. In this article, we’ll discuss the steps that you can take as a business owner or entrepreneur on Website Development.

Making a website has become a lot simpler over time. It's more affordable, quicker, and straightforward than ever before. But, in order to create a website, what exactly do you require?

It only needs a stable internet connection and an hour or two of your time.

You don’t have to get alarmed if you’ve never developed a website or written a single line of code. If your bank account balance has a few zeros, it is okay because you don’t need a lot of money to develop a website. Prism Digital will show you how to construct a website from scratch in record time with a simple step-by-step guide. Carefully follow these steps and you’ll have your website up and running with little to no errors.

The first step in creating a website is to select a web host. A web host, or web hoster, is the company that allows you to put your website on their servers and get it hosted for the world to see. You can find many companies that offer hosting services, but Bluehost is highly recommended for its speed, dependability, and ease of use. It is simply only a few dollars per month and includes everything you'll need to create a professional-looking website.

Then you'll need a domain name that accurately describes your website's purpose.A.com domain name is the finest because it earns you brownie points with visitors. The second one would be Bluehost, which offers a free domain name for the first year. This will save you money and eliminate the need for a domain registrar.

Choose a content management system (CMS) after you've registered your domain name. Among the options are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. We prefer WordPress and frequently utilize it for our clients' websites. WordPress is a one-click install if you use Bluehost. And with that, you have a website up and running. However, this is only the first step; continue reading to find out what else you'll need for your website.

The next item on your to-do list should be marketing your company. Because branding is so important these days, you'll need to think about a logo, develop website copy, plan your marketing strategy, and, of course, install Google Analytics.

First step: Pick a few choices for Web Hosting.

 Do you recall your elementary school library's huge, classified bookcases? A web hosting company is similar to a bookcase, whereas the internet is the library. A web hosting company or hosting service provider hosts your website on a server, making anything you put on it available to the internet and your visitors.

These companies provide month-to-month or annual plans on shared servers, dedicated servers, and virtual private servers, allowing you to pick a plan that meets your security and support needs. You can always choose the minimal package if your website does not gather or keep personal or financial data. As a result, you won't have to spend a lot of money.

But how do you determine which web hosting service or company is the best fit for you?

Site loading time

 You'll need a stable and speedy web host if you want to make money from your website. There are numerous advantages to using a fast website. They improve rankings, assist with SEO, and increase conversions.Prism Digital, the leading website development company, highly recommends Bluehost since it maintains loading times to a minimum.

However, we would also urge you to stay away from shared hosting and extremely low-cost alternatives. You'll be sharing your web server with thousands of other websites if you choose shared hosting. In other words, your hosting will be slow–plus, you may end up sharing the server with spammy sites, putting you at risk of being penalized by Google.

The rule is simple: when it comes to budget-friendly hosting, you get what you pay for. When you spend $20 per month, the security and uptime aren't as great—especially when compared to services that cost more than $200 per month. We're not advising you to get the most expensive plan–just stay away from the cheapest hosting, again we'll re-echo that you get what you pay for.

Dependability in terms of uptime

Your web hosting service should be up and running at all times. Otherwise, no one will be able to visit your website. A decent hosting service will provide you with an uptime guarantee, such as "We guarantee 100% network uptime" or similar statements.

If a hosting provider guarantees 99 percent uptime, your website could be unavailable for 3.5 days every year. However, suppliers offering 99.7 percent or 99.97 percent availability will have a downtime of around one hour and five minutes, respectively. Look for an insurance company that gives a money-back guarantee. You may be reimbursed with hosting credits if your website goes down.

Client support management

 When technical troubles develop, you'll need speedy and effective backup help. There are a variety of help options, including chat, email, and phone. In our experience, email is the worst. It's considerably more convenient to get help over the phone or via live chat.

Choose a hosting company that provides help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If something goes wrong, you'll be able to bring your business back up in minutes. As opposed to those you have to reach out to via email and wait for a response.

Make sure you know what kind of customer support the company offers before you buy. If you need help with installation or have questions about compatibility, check their website to see what kind of help they'll provide. You should also look at your service level agreement (SLA) to learn more about the company's support team by visiting their website.

Choose a host that provides a free trial period– it's the only way to get a true idea of the service you'll receive. Even if you don't think you'll need assistance, call them a couple of times throughout the first 30 days. Check to see how quickly they respond.

The quality of service is unlikely to increase if your new host is slow to respond. That is why a free trial is so crucial. If you're unhappy with Bluehost, you can cancel for free during the first month. DreamHost offers a money-back guarantee of 97 days.

Scalability

For two reasons, scalability is critical. The first one is that a hosting company should evolve with you, allowing you to upgrade as needed. Second, your website should be able to withstand large increases in traffic.

To find out if your web host is adaptable, ask yourself the following questions:

• When your visitor counts reach a specific level, would the web host upgrade you from an entry-level shared hosting plan to an intermediate VPS without any downtime?
• How simple is the upgrade procedure?
• Is the web host able to handle seasonal swings in web traffic without a hitch?

It's best if you can find a solution that checks all three boxes.

Learn about other people's experiences with web hosting services by visiting web hosting forums. Then, based on your demands and budget, evaluate services and prices to choose the best package.

Second Step: Choose a Domain Name and ensure that it's Specific and Relevant.

 There isn't such a thing as the perfect domain name. Some names are better than others, but it's only a minor aspect of your company. The most crucial aspect of your website is its content.

A domain name is the internet address for your website. Prism-Me.com is ours, and it displays our own brand and geographic region. Yours can be anything you want it to be, as long as it has anything to do with your business, themes you want to write about, or your name.

Here are some general guidelines to help you choose the right domain name:

• Keep it current.
• Keep your names simple and memorable.
• Numbers should be avoided.
• Choose a.com,.org, or.net domain name.

Check to see if the domain name you want is available.

The following strategies can also be used to find the perfect name:

The First Method is using the Brute Force Method.

 Many people don’t have the imagination to come up with the ideal domain name on their own. If that's the case, you'll need to purchase a domain name from a domain name registrar and then check the availability of your desired domain name. Bluehost is a good place to start because it includes a free name for a year with all hosting options and allows you to check availability.

 The second step is to make use of a device

 Frankly speaking, many of us aren't the most creative people in the world and totally suck at naming things. Use name generators if you're having trouble coming up with a domain name. Simply select one or two keywords, and the generator will explore methods to make a domain name out of them.

Bluehost allows you to check domain name availability in addition to performance and uptime reliability. Enter your domain name in the box on the sign-up now page, and there you have it! You will be given a name.

Keep in mind that your first choice for a domain name might not be available. If this happens, try changing up terms, using a thesaurus, or adding a verb. After you've decided on a domain name, you'll need a platform to develop your website.

Third Step: Which criterion should you follow to pick a good website-building platform or content management system (CMS)?

A fast Google search for website builders and CMS will overwhelm you with the sheer number of possibilities available.

The term "Content Management System" refers to a system that allows you to manage your content. It allows you to edit your website from within the domain, saving you time and making everything much easier. The usage of ready-to-use website templates makes it easier to customize layouts, settings, and content, and create new pages and posts, among other things.

Here are a few possibilities you might want to consider:

WordPress: When it comes to content management systems, WordPress is unrivaled. It's well-liked, user-friendly, and quite simple to use. Furthermore, the platform includes over 50,000 plugins that enable you to accomplish practically anything with your website.

 WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two completely different sites. WordPress.com is a third-party service that allows you to create free blogs that use their software, while WordPress.org allows you to download and install the WordPress software on a website of your own.

Wix:  Launching a website has never been easier with Wix. With just a few clicks, you can create a professional-looking site. Perfect for the small business owner who is not very tech-savvy, Wix allows you to create images and offers stellar marketing tools. Their uptime (99.98%) and security measures (such as 24/7 managed monitoring and optimization) provide you with additional peace of mind.

Wix sites have a long track record of performing well on Google search. However, if you want to build a large site, Wix may lack the advanced features required for large amounts of traffic. If you work with large teams, you'll need more time to get your Wix site up and running.

Drupal: Drupal is the most advanced website-building platform, hence it has a higher learning curve. When you consider the level of personalization it provides, the effort appears to be worthwhile.

While we don't advocate Drupal for beginners, it is without a doubt the greatest solution if advanced customization is a top requirement. You can always engage a professional like Prism Digital to teach you how to use the site.

You now have a fully functional website, and all you have to do now is work on it and make it seem fantastic.

The fourth step: Ensure that your website is easy to navigate and that it stands out from the rest.

You'll need to install a theme for any website builder. There are free and premium theme builders available, with the paid versions offering more customization capabilities. They're also not prohibitively expensive, costing less than $120.

Although WordPress and Wix both have excellent free themes, StudioPress is a good place to start if you want to try out the premium variety.

Themes are based on the basic CMS, but they can be customized to offer your website a distinctive look and function. After all, shouldn't a website for a writer differ from one for a website development company or a hotel?

Your visitors rate your website in a fraction of a second depending on how it looks, therefore visual representation is critical. Your visitors will leave your site in seconds if it appears to be outdated, untrustworthy, or does not meet their expectations.

Fortunately, picking a decent theme is simple.

Before choosing a theme, I recommend reading evaluations and never putting visual appeal ahead of practicality. Yes, you want your website to appear nice with all those beautiful fonts and colors, but not at the expense of functionality. You can also change the theme at any time in the future. Just make sure you don't alter it too often, as this may hurt your Search Engine Optimization and Branding efforts.

Step Five: Protect your website with a Child Theme

Using a child theme is the best approach to protect your website. A child theme is a style sheet that is stored on the webserver separately from the rest of your theme's files. It not only makes your site more difficult to break, but it also prevents you from having to reapply changes every time you upgrade a theme.

Keep in mind that the process of developing a child theme differs depending on the website builder.

In WordPress, you create a "child theme," while in Drupal, you create a "sub-theme." Furthermore, some websites do not allow you to build a child theme, but you may always create a duplicate theme as a backup, as in Joomla.

Step Six: Set up your website and add relevant content

You've completed most of the technical aspects and may now concentrate on the more interesting aspects.

Begin by establishing navigation to help visitors understand what your website is all about and to provide quick access to various aspects of your website. Pick a few colors to symbolize your site without getting too crazy, it’s quite easy to get carried away.

We used several shades of red, black, and white for Prism Digital's website, mixed them together, and voila! Our site is simple to use, and the colors don't distract from the content; we want to appear great, but more importantly, we want you to use our services.

 To make your website more eye-catching and clear, organize, divide, and highlight the vital elements. Plugins can also be installed to aid in the smooth operation of your website.

Here's a quick checklist of everything you'll need to get started with marketing your company online, especially if you want to make money from it:

• Make a logo. This will represent your company, so use caution.
• Write the copy for your website's home page, about me page, and other basic pages like the services Page.
• To keep track of visitors, add Google Analytics code to your website.
• Begin developing your marketing strategy by determining your visitors' preferences.

To get awareness, generate leads, and reach your business goals through your website, you'll need to understand online marketing, content marketing, and the frequently overlooked link building.

Finally, making a website is not without its challenges, but the more experience you gain, the better you will become and the easier it will become. While we've covered all of the crucial details for creating your first website, if you get stuck at any point, contact us at info@prism-me.com  and we'll create you a website that has everything you need.

Choosing a web server and CMS, as well as designing and marketing your website, are just the beginning. You can't anticipate overnight success, but with a little perseverance, you can see substantial results.