With so many web technologies and ways to build a website, one can easily be confused. It especially applies to absolute beginners who have never built a website before. Where do you start? Do you develop from scratch or use website builders or content management systems? These are just some of the questions that are probably rushing through your head.
Building a new website is not hard when you know the rules, especially now that you don’t need to know anything about coding to it. Today we are going to share with you five tips to get you started and help you nail the new website game as an absolute beginner.
Domain Name Matters
Without diving into specifics, a domain name is the web address of your new website. It’s basically the name of your website – it has to be short, catchy, and easy to remember. Feel free to do some brainstorming with your friends to find a good name for your website. You should know that there are hundreds of millions of websites online, and most of the good names are taken.
You should run your ideas through popular name registrars to check whether the domain name is available or not. You can also turn to a domain broker, such as Saw, for help to find a premium domain for your website.
Take Time to Choose the Right Web Hosting
Next, you need to choose the right web hosting service for your website. Simply put, a web hosting service provider will host and store your entire website on its servers. A word of advice, if possible, try to stay away from free web hosting services as they often mean low storage and a lot of ads, which can potentially ruin the experience for your visitors.
Premium hosting service providers are affordable, with prices going up to $10 per month. Before you choose one, check whether they have around the clock customer support, good uptimes, and no traffic limitations.
You Need to Have a Plan
Building a new website without a plan can turn into a disaster and postpone your website launch. Before you get to the business, you will need to make a plan. Take a piece of paper and make your future site map. Decide how many pages you will have and the purpose of every page (e.g., Home page, Blog, About Us page, etc.)
Now you need to decide the page format for all your pages. For instance, where is the navigation bar going to be, how big the header and footer you want, how and where you want to place images, etc. While at it, you should also choose your website logo, color palette, and fonts.
To complete the planning phase, write the text you want to have on your website in advance and get the relevant images from the free photo stock websites.
Choose the Tech Stack Smartly
Since you are an absolute beginner, the chances are that you know nothing about coding HTML, CSS (News - Alert), or JavaScript. Don’t worry – there are tools you can use to create stunning websites without writing a single line of code.
There are website builders and content management systems you can use to build webpages and entire sites. Among the most popular website builders, you have Squarespace, Wix, Tilda, and Weebly. In the CMS niche, the most popular one by far is WordPress.
Research all your options to find the one that you feel most comfortable using. You’ll be able to find a lot of learning material online, whichever platform you choose.
Don’t Rush the Execution
That’s the last phase of your new website project. You have sorted out the domain name and web hosting, made a plan and chosen the tool to build your website with. The time has come to execute your plan. In this phase, it’s important not to rush it. Take all the time you need.
Create pages and preview them after even the subtlest of changes. Do it for every page and every piece of content you publish. Finally, once you’ve created the site navigation and all web pages, preview the entire website. Make sure everything is properly linked and working as intended. That’s the best way to ensure a premium browsing experience for your visitors.
There you have it, as promised – an easy way to nail the new website game as an absolute beginner. It all boils down to making informed choices and planning. Feel free to use the same milestones every time you work on a new website or website redesign project for consistent success.