Build it, and they will come.
But we’re not talking baseball here: we’re talking about your company website.
Creating a website that clearly reflects who you are, what you do or offer, and who you help is not unlike building a house. You start with the foundation, then worry about paint colors and furniture.
So where do you start?
Domain name
Make sure your website’s domain name is available, first and foremost. There can be quite a few doctor’s offices out there called “Midtown Medicine,” for example. So if you have a company name that might be common, add something else distinct to the domain name, like your city or state. Once you find an available one, you’ll have to purchase that domain name to keep anyone else from taking it.
Hosting
Think of web hosting as renting space to build your house. A web host essentially makes sure your website will actually be available for people to access it on the internet. You’ll need to do some research on which web hosting provider you’ll want to pay “rent” to: some popular ones include SiteGround, GoDaddy, and Bluehost.
Site Plan + Wire Frame
Next come the bones of your “house.” You’ll want to create a site plan: a map for what pages you want to include on your website. Then, wire frame each page: build a skeleton of headlines, subheadlines, and spaces for buttons or calls to action that you’ll want on each page (no need to fill out content yet).
Design
Once you have an idea of the general outline of the site from the step above, now is the fun part: design. What kind of interaction will there be on each page? What will the top menu bar look like? Will there be big blocks for text, or lots of images?
Content + Imagery
Now it’s time to finally start filling in the good stuff. For each page, you’ll want to clearly, succinctly explain what you do, who you are, or whatever else goes with the theme of that page. Make sure you remember your audience as you write your copy, and include plenty of calls to action for them to work with you or contact you. When it comes to picking imagery, make sure you choose pictures that reflect your brand and dovetail with the written content on that particular page.
Your audience is out there — but your website is the door that leads them to you.
