Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you. Please read our disclosure for more info.
Last Updated on February 1, 2018 by Work In My Pajamas
The first step of starting a business from home these days is designing a website, right?
Wrong! You’ll need to do quite a bit of work before actually launching your own website and filling it with content. First, you have to decide on what kind of business you want to do, a blog, eCommerce, or some program, like Amazon Associates. Once that is settled, you should consider the technical details of launching a website.
In This Post:
4 Factors to Consider Before Launching a Website of Your Own
-
Content
The type of content you should fill your website with will depend on your target audience. Note that even if you don’t plan to make it the main focus of your business, having a blog on your website will be best. Check out these HubSpot statistics to see how much of a difference a good blog can make for any business.
People best respond to visual content, so you should consider how you’ll be able to produce it. Consider using free tools for making your own video clips (Magisto, Animoto) and infographics (Canva, Infogram).
Understanding the kind of content you will fill your website with will help you choose the right type of hosting service.
-
Web Hosting
Web hosting is one of the most important factors to consider when starting an online business as it determines the performance of your website. The majority of small businesses and at-home entrepreneurs or bloggers start with a shared hosting. From a reliable provider, it should be enough to support your website for a while.
If you are ambitious and sure that your business will take off, you’ll need a scalable hosting service that can provide VPS and dedicated servers, like JustHost. When choosing your host, consider the amount of storage space offered (unlimited is best), bandwidth, price, renewal fees, and the company’s reputation and customer service. Be sure to look up detailed reviews of different hosting services to find out their uptime and performance quality.
-
Website Design
In order to make your website and subsequently business, successful, you need to ensure it provides a top-quality user experience (UX). As advanced design from leading pros in the field might be out of your reach now, you need to use available website making tools wisely.
The best way to go is embracing a minimalist design with a very simple navigation. It’s stylish today and easy enough to make with basic website builders, like Wix, Squarespace, or Weebly. You can get design inspiration from the Awwwards or simply look up for the most popular websites in your chosen niche.
-
SEO
Even before you start filling your website with content, you need to think about how to make it rank high with Google. Everyone running an online business, no matter how small, should be a bit of a digital marketer. And, ensuring your website has a good search engine optimization before launch will give it a better start as well as save you the money and trouble for re-optimizing it later on.
Start with studying Google’s own SEO guide for beginners and research the subject in more detail from there. Create your first content, homepage, and even choose the domain name with this in mind.
