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Key Steps for Creating a Fantastic Small Business Website

A strong website is vital for the success of any small business, whether you are a freelance photographer, manage a hardware store, or run another form of small business. I know what it takes to produce amazing and engaging company websites as a webmaster who has worked on establishing or marketing over 100 small business websites.

1. Purchase a suitable domain name.

Your domain name, often known as your website address, is frequently the point of entry to your website. It is critical that it provides a strong first impression for both usability and search engine optimization (SEO).

Here are some suggestions for creating an ideal domain name:

Make it simple to spell. Avoid using slang, made-up, or excessively obscure terminology. Make it as brief as possible. The shorter it is, the easier it is to remember and accurately type. Make use of the appropriate domain extension. Unless it is more acceptable to use another extension, such as.gov,.edu, or.org, try to always use a.com domain name (rather than. net,.co, etc.).

Numbers and hyphens should be avoided. They are more difficult to recall, less beautiful and memorable than word-only domain names, and maybe misconstrued when spoken.

Make the address as broad as possible to allow for future development. For example, Amazon.com is a far larger internet address than BooksOnline.com, allowing Amazon to sell almost any form of consumer commodity rather than only books, which was its initial aim.

Make sure it’s memorable. Because there are so many websites on the internet, it is critical that your website name be memorable so that people remember how to access it in the future.

 

2. Invest in safe, scalable website hosting with excellent technical support.

A website host (also known as a website hosting provider) is a business that provides the technology and services required for a website to be seen on the internet. You link your domain name to your hosting provider so that when visitors visit your website address, they are sent to your website, which is stored on your hosting account.

Depending on the technology and support you select, hosting services can range from $2 to $100+ each month. You can generally obtain a discount if you buy an annual plan rather than a monthly one.

Although a “shared server” hosting package may be obtained for as little as $2 per month, I would generally advise against it. Shared hosting entails sharing a server and its resources with other customers, which might degrade your site’s speed. Furthermore, if one of the other websites on your shared server is hacked, your website may get affected as well.