3 Things to Consider Before Building Your Next Website
Looking at the internet today, it’s easy to think that every person and business in the world today already has a website. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. And more people are getting online for the first time daily than ever before — many of whom are starting new websites and businesses for the very first time.
With each new individual and business that wants to start a new website for themselves or their brand, also comes a lot of basic questions. Usually these questions consist of what’s required to start a new site, what the process looks like, and the associated costs involved.
When it comes time to actually create your site, it’s often recommended that you go with a solution that makes it easy for you to start and manage your site, while also not requiring you to become a designer or programmer. This is something you will commonly see with any of these website creator platforms on the internet today.
The good news is, starting a new website or blog for yourself or your business is now easier than ever, and there are little-to-no programming and design skills required.
To help with this process, we highly recommend reading through each of the three important considerations below before getting started on your site owner journey.
1 – Platform, Hosting and Website Needs
Before you even start writing the content for your site or promoting it to friends and family on social media, you need to first think about why you are creating a website, who it’s for and the service you are going to be providing.
The reason why you need to know all of this beforehand, is that it will play a pivotal role in the content management solution and hosting that you end up going with.
A perfect example of this would be if you were interested in creating a content site, then you would likely go with a solution like WordPress. On the flip side, if you wanted to create an online store, then a solution like Shopify might serve best.
No matter what you plan on doing with your site, it’s always important to make sure you have the right foundation in place before moving forward.
2 – Type of Content You Will Be Creating
Just as important as the type of website you want to have, is the type of content you will be creating for your audience. Text content still works great today, but focusing all your efforts on this one static form of content might be holding your site back from its full potential.
In the early days of the internet, it was a very static and one-sided conversation. You went to a web site, read the content and then left to the next one. Now, it’s all about visitor engagement and is heavily fueled through the use of social media and interactive content.
Such unique forms of content include video, infographics, interviews, podcasts, audio and much more. And with mobile usage on the rise, video and interactive content is now in demand more than ever before.
These forms of content can also be useful for lead generation and marketing. This is especially true if you were to start utilizing call-to-actions within your content and adding lead generation forms on your site. Should this be the case, you might want to read through this article to learn more about the different options and site plugins available.
With each of these non-traditional forms of content, it’s important to make sure you have the necessary means in place in order to provide the best user experience for your audience, while also making sure your content is delivered at the fastest speed and in the highest of quality at all times.
3 – Consider Your Pricing Options Before Going Live
The last important thing you will want to spend some time on before going live with your site, is knowing the associated costs with going live. When creating a site of your own, the costs are quite minimal and this will usually consist of your domain name, web hosting and if you will select a premium WordPress or site theme.
Of the items mentioned, the web hosting is likely going to be your biggest up-front cost and commitment. However, this is also where the deep discounts can apply as well.
Most web hosting solutions will charge a few dollars per month to host your site on a shared server. This price is usually quite low, as they are requesting new users sign up for 12, 24 or 36 months in advance. Then, when that initial paid plan expires, the billing goes back to their usual monthly rates.
This is why it’s important to compare the different hosting options around, and then signing up for the best discount possible. Your web host decision is important, as it’s going to be something you are stuck with for quite a while.
Your New Website Journey
Starting a new website is one of the most fun and exciting things you can do online. And while it might seem a little complicated in the beginning, you will likely get a hang of it in no time. And as a matter of fact, most people will keep creating new websites and blogs after their first one goes live, as it’s quite a fun and easy process.
Once your site is up and running, be sure to put in the time and effort to make sure it looks great and that your content is written in proper English and provides real value to your audience. It’s also a good idea to read up on SEO and how to start ranking your site in the search results. This will automatically happen over time as you add new content to your site, but it’s also something every site owner should have some basic knowledge on as well.
And last but not least, always share your latest content with friends, family and on social media to get more users visiting your site.
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