In today’s time, the online presence of your business is very important and a good website is the backbone of any online business.
so, if you are reading this article I assume you are also planning to get a website for your business, and if that is the case, then you are at right place because this post will guide you about the things to consider you build a website.
I know you must be thinking what’s the big deal in building a website?

I will hire a web developer or I will contact any agency they will do it all for me.
You’re right you can do that…..
BUT!!
There is a difference between building a website and building a ‘SUCCESSFUL’  website?
There are many beautiful websites but they are not converting or getting leads.
There is absolute:
No sale,
No traffic,
No business growth,
And No money!!!
Why??
The primary reason for the failure is PLANNING, there is a need to plan it before you do it…..
So let’s go through some basic steps of planning which can save your money, time and business.
There are 10 basic things you should consider before you build a website.

1. Analyse your requirements

Take out your pen and paper. Write the answers to the below questions.

1. What is your business type product/service/membership/courses?
2. List a few successful business websites which are selling the similar product to yours
3. Write down the features you loved in those websites.
4. How many pages or the sections you would love to have on your website (like Home, about, services etc.)

2. Mapping

Now when you have decided what all pages or sections you will need on your website.
It’s time to link or map them together put them in a flow.
Create a sketch of how each of the pages will look like and how to link them.
This will give you an idea that how your pages will look like.
Now you will be more confident about the look of your website.

3. Define Target Audience

Now, it’s time to research your target audience.
First step is to decide “Who is your ideal client?”
Ask yourself who needs your services or products in the market?.
It’s very important to know your audience so that you can plan your content and design targeting your ideal audience.

4. Content

The content of your website is one of the most important part of a website.
I have seen very basic design websites converting just because of their content and sometimes good-looking websites which don’t even get enough traffic.
The reason is same we are not able to attract our visitors to the website.
So, If you are not good at content writing to hire a content writer.

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5. Branding

Okay, so it’s time to design your brand for online identity. YES!! I am sure this one will be the most interesting part of the checklist for you but let me tell you it is diffilcult as well.
Why?
When I had to select my brand colors , logo and design I took 2 months to decide on it.
I felt that it was the most enthralling as well as demanding part because we want our brand to stand apart.
Following are the three steps  you should follow for branding.

1. First, decide on the color palette. Before selecting colors to understand the color theory and its impact on the viewers. Click here  to read an amazing blog post from neil patel
2. Once the colors are decided, get a Logo designed for your business. Try to get 3 types of Logo a) Light background b) dark Background c) favicon
3. Select the images which matched your brand theme colors. There are plenty of sites which offer free images like I use Pixabay.

6. System

Wow !! we have covered half of the points in the checklist. So, now it’s time to decide on the apps or the tools you are going to use in your business. (Blog link 10 must have tools)

1. On which platform you want to build your website – HTML or CMS (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix etc)
2. Email Marketing tool – Mailchimp/Mailerlite/Aweber/Convertkit etc
3. Scheduling tools or apps – Acuity, Calendly etc.
4. Payment gateways – Paypal, Stripe, Authorize.net etc

7. Domain and Hosting

This one is important as well. I have seen people generally struggling with the hosting issues like downtime, slow loading, not enough support.
Before you decide to choose a hosting and domain service provider do a proper research find out the pros and cons, ask in the Tech groups or your friends who are already using it.
I always recommend Siteground to all my client as it is the best web hosting.
I have my domain and web hosting both on Siteground and not a single day I faced any downtime issue.

8. SEO

What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, it is referred to the set of methods which increases the traffic towards the website by increasing its search engine page ranking.

Now, these set of methods can be like building a search engine optimized website, adding keywords, content quality, inbound and outbound links etc.

SEO plays a key role in getting you leads and traffic to your website. You need to have an SEO strategy in place. You can use Google Keyword Planner or SEMRUSH to see which keywords are at the top ranking and plan your content accordingly. This will help you rank your page in search results by search engines..

9. Analytics

We usually forget about this part which is very important.
Even after your website is done and it’s live your work is still not over.
It’s time to monitor the traffic and analyze the source, audience, CTR, bounce rates etc.
Find out the source of the traffic this will help you in targeting the exact audience while running Ads.
You can use Google Analytics to track your traffic, sales, bounce rates, Traffic source etc.

10. Hire a Developer

Okay, so the final step is hiring a developer to build your website.
Be careful while choosing a developer because they are the one going to bring your idea and business online.
Try to hire a developer through referral sources like ask your other business friends to whom they have hired to get their website done.
You can also try freelancing websites like upwork,freelancer.com etc.
Hey!! if you like my post do let me know by posting your comments below.