Nowadays, when technology is developing rapidly, and the digital world and social networks rule everything, it’s a must for every business to create a website. It can be its hub from where it can communicate with its customers or partners and reach every part of the world.
Creating a website is a complex process that involves many elements and a large number of variables. In today’s article, we’ll tell you how to make a website and what are these mandatory elements. We’ll also tell you how we at CreateX approach this task to make the final product work for your business’s success.
What you need to know before creating a website
Creating a website is challenging, especially if you’re doing it for the first time. With the proper guidance, the process can become easier and more enjoyable. Before creating a website, you must address a few essential tasks.
Namely:
- Define a purpose and target audience;
- Choose a platform to create your website;
- Create a website structure;
- Choose hosting and domain;
- Website design and content;
Defining a goal – the most important first step to creating a website
First, you need to decide your website’s purpose and the target audience you want to attract. This is a mandatory question to clarify to develop a successful strategy for creating and further developing the website.
A news site will be built differently from a supplement site geared toward sales or a beauty blog created primarily for informational purposes. According to its purpose and audience, the site will provide different functionalities to its visitors. And this requires the use of various technologies in its creation.
A detailed and properly designed plan right from the start will protect you from unexpected problems that require further development to fix them. An example is the need to redesign or add features not identified in the original plan but vital to your goals.
Will the site be for a business, a blog or a portfolio? A clear idea of why you are creating a website will help you determine the type of content and features you’ll need.
The first and most important step involves extensive research and analysis of your business and competition. This process can sometimes take at least two weeks or even longer.
After defining the goal and target audience, perhaps you think it’s time to choose hosting and domain. Before these, choosing a content management system or CMS (Content Management System) is a good idea.
Which platform to choose for creating the website – WordPress website or another CMS system
Web pages are created using HTML, JavaScript and CSS programming languages. Building a website from scratch requires an excellent knowledge of these languages and writing a large amount of code. That is why custom websites, i.e., created from scratch, are extremely expensive, take a long time to develop and test, and need special maintenance.
CMS systems solve this problem because they allow the creation of a website without knowledge of programming languages. They are software that allows easy creation of a website and management of its content. They also have a programming language “hidden” behind an easy-to-use site management panel.
There are many different content management systems (CMS) that you can use when creating a website. Some of the most popular CMS systems are WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Wix, Shopify and Drupal. Each system has advantages and disadvantages; choosing the one that best suits your needs is important.
WordPress should be your first choice if you are looking for an easy-to-use CMS system. Created in 2003, the system is now used by almost 50% of all non-custom websites. Disney and Sonny’s are just a few of the most well-known companies worldwide that use WordPress for their websites.
So it’s unsurprising that WordPress is the most popular and widely used CMS for website development.
Reasons to choose WordPress for your website development:
- The system is easy to learn and use;
- Huge base of plugins and themes that allow ease of customization;
- Mobile readiness – mobile optimization is effortless;
- Security features;
- SEO capabilities.
In addition, WordPress is well-maintained and constantly updated, so you can be confident that your website will remain secure and up-to-date. There’s also a great community of WordPress developers worldwide who help each other solve issues or problems.
Website development – structure
Once you choose the suitable CMS, you must move on to the website structure. Usually, it’s created by the website developer and has the following functions:
- get an idea of how your website structure will look like;
- define the links between the main menus on the site and the hierarchy.
A wireframe or visual representation of the user interface could also be created. It includes design, colors, and logos and is an excellent way to describe the elements visible on each site page and their placement.
Hosting and domain
You have determined your CMS and have a site structure; now, you need to choose a domain name and hosting provider. This will determine where the website will be located on the internet and how it will be accessible to the target audience. It’s important to choose a domain name that reflects the website’s purpose and a reliable hosting provider with the necessary capacity and basic hosting features such as cPanel, phpMyAdmin, FTP and more.
Consider choosing an email address for your business. It’s recommended that it matches your domain and business name because this gives a more professional impression. You can use free or paid email services depending on your specific needs.
You can then move on to the following stages. The most important here include design and layout, adding textual content and optimizing the website for search engines.
It’s recommended that the design corresponds as much as possible with the theme of your business and, at the same time, creates user-friendliness.
Website design and text content
This is where your website will start to take shape because this is the step where all the visual elements are created, and photos and videos are added. Again, the first and most important part of the website creation process should be remembered here – purpose and target audience.
In the design stage, a web designer does the site layout. It includes a logo, color palette, fonts, pictograms and other graphic elements. The main goal is to have a clear project structure, visualize how the pages and content will look and have an accurate idea of the final finished website.
The exact location of the texts should also be fixed in the website design. The optimal option for creating quality text content for a new website involves having it planned by an SEO specialist and then written by a copywriter.
The text content covers all the most important pages: the homepage, “About Us”, “Contact Us”, “Products”, or “Services”, and the blog section. The importance of the website texts should not be underestimated. Their role is to present your business in the best light and give it the right voice to its target audience, which they will remember and want to associate with. This can be done using keywords, descriptions, compelling headlines, calls to action and other copywriting techniques.
Of course, the textual content is also essential for the SEO work on a website and its ranking in Google searches. Among other technical tasks, SEO involves optimizing the elements of a website (e.g., title, description, keyword) that will help it achieve a higher position in search engines. A well-built technical website is also vital for SEO. You can read more about the importance of SEO in our article “What is SEO”.
Once work has been completed on the key stages listed above in creating a website – selecting a site purpose, CMS, domain and hosting, creating structure, content and design – your website’s actual technical building can begin. It starts with the homepage and then follows all the essential subpages for the website that are defined in the structure. The previously created graphic and static elements, special features, and interactive elements are added. According to the chosen CMS system, the necessary plugins are also added. At this step, it’s important to consider the site’s security to protect it from malicious attacks. This can be done through two-factor access control to the site management and various plugins, such as for controlling spam comments.
Website creation – the final stage
After we have covered all the stages, it is time for the final one – uploading the site to a server and connecting it to the network. The site is now online and can be found in search engines and visited by users.
This stage also includes complete testing of the project – links, image and text. Everything needs to be reviewed and checked, including the site’s code, to see if it meets current web standards and if any errors would make it unusable.
If all of the previous steps are done correctly, the website will work flawlessly and be easily usable. However, technical errors can lead to incompatibilities between different browsers, impaired mobile responsiveness or problems with orders and enquiries.
That is why every step of the process must be executed correctly and is crucial to creating a website that is a successful asset for a business. And while each stage can take at least two weeks to months due to the project’s complexity, the site’s maintenance must be continuous once it’s online. Regular updates to your chosen platform and extensions reduce security risks, protect against errors, and ensure satisfied users who visit your site.
Basic steps in creating a website by CreateX digital agency
We’ve told you about all the stages of creating a website. Each is of utmost importance, and often they intersect in the process. For example, it’s possible to have a copywriting expert at the design stage or a designer during the development work to solve a case most effectively.
Therefore, teamwork in website development brings many benefits to a business.
The website-building process of our team goes through three main steps.
Development of strategy
We start with a detailed study of your competitors, researching consumer journeys and creating a branding strategy. In-depth research into aspects such as age, gender and interests of your end user can be the key to success.
Presets
Here we will help you choose a platform for your website, hosting, and domain.
Creation
Your site is created in a test environment where our developer can implement the web design, content, and test. UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) tests are also performed.
User experience (UX) is essential for any website as it considers how the user interacts with the website, how they feel about it and how effective it is. It’s vital to have a well-designed UX to ensure the website is enjoyable, easy to use and intuitive. If they have a positive experience on the website, they are more likely to return and recommend it to others. UX design is essential as it helps create a better user experience and delivers better results for the business.
The user interface (UI) is essential because it sets the tone for the user experience. It should be designed to provide a pleasant, intuitive experience that allows users to find the information they need easily and quickly. It should also be adaptable to different devices and provide users with feedback when their actions are successful.
Next, the project is presented for feedback and approval. The final approved newly created website is transferred from a test environment to a real one. A test is done, setting up analytics tools and tracking essential metrics such as the number of visitors, number of subscribers, abandoned carts and other options. The website is launched, and the building process is completed successfully.
In conclusion, creating a website can be daunting, but with the right guidance and resources, it can be executed successfully and bring multiple benefits to your business.
Having a website is an essential part of a business’s online presence. It enables your business to communicate with its customers and receive feedback. It also allows you to sell products or provide services in a digital environment. It’s your business card that represents your business identity online.
If you need professional help and a team with experience in creating successful websites, CreateX is here to help.
