9 Things you need to know about starting a website

Planning a website can feel overwhelming, especially when you do it for the first time and don’t know what to expect. Here is a brief list of all the things that might come up when you want to start a website.

1. Branding

Branding is about who you want to be and who people perceive you to be. Do you want to appear elegant, serious or playful etc? Determining your look by the logo, colours, images and fonts you want to use on your website. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it is good if you can deliver a clear message to your customers.

2. Hosting and domain

This is the address and the place for your website. You can start your hosting and choose your domain at the same company, like Namecheap. Go and check them out. But if you want to start a Squarespace or Wix website the hosting is included.

3. Think about your delivery process

How do you sell your products and services or how do you wish to sell them?

4. Think about the functions you need for your website

The most typical functions on a website are blog, contact form, payment function, log in for members, newsletter subscription, social media sharing.

5. Collect Images

You can start looking for a good photographer if you want professional images about you or your product. You can also start looking around on free stock image sites, these are listed here.

6. Think about your sitemap and write content for the main pages

A sitemap is a list of the Titles of all the pages that are on the website. You can start writing content as simple as using any Word processor or the online Google Docs.

7. Check your Legal documents

Make sure you have a refund policy, privacy policy, and terms of service.

8. Collect testimonials

Testimonials are always an essential part of a website, so it is never too early to start collecting them.

9. Write 3 blog posts

Not every website needs a blog, but it is very useful to have one, as a blog is the most effective way to make sure people find your website. More on this here. So if you decide you will write a blog on topics related to your business, get started with at least 3 posts!