How SMEs & Entrepreneurs in Tanzania Can Easily Own Websites
9 Things You Need To Build A Website & Related Cost
Is your business suffering from “Corporate Dinosaur Syndrome”?
Edward E. Lawler defines Corporate Dinosaur Syndrome as “(a company) becoming so big, cumbersome, and highly adapted to its historical environment that it cannot respond to today’s rapidly changing climate”.
Our world has evolved today, especially in the past decade, from brick and mortar corner stores to virtual platforms that are capitalising in modern advancements in technology. The fortunate — or unfortunate (depending on your flexibility) — thing about the whole situation is that you too can adopt to this growth.
Growing up we used to see businesses that sell shoes, food, clothes and the like being setup in streets. Today, with an Internet abled device, you can easily purchase literally anything from anywhere without being there physically.
The Internet As A Business Tool
The Internet is exploding with sales, 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information and 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else. If you don’t have a website already for your business be it large scale or small scale means you’re missing out on the Internet goodies.
Having a website is necessary for a thriving business, it will not only bring professionalism but also allow you to find new customers on the Internet.
As a business owner, you’ll want to easily share your product and services with the whole world. This can be done easily by creating a business website.
Having a website will easily spread the news about your brand and grow your business more quickly with the use of social media platforms and other strategies. Here are things you need to have a website for your business.
9 Things You Need To Build A Website For Your Business
1. Domain Name
The first step to start a website is to register your domain name. This is the address of your website. It is the name that people type into the “address/URL” bar of their browser to find your website.
For example, for the URL: https://yourbrandsname.com – the domain name is yourbrandsname.com and this can be anything unique and that identifies your business easily.
Domain names can be purchased through a domain registrar or through your hosting provider.
It’s always important to take time while choosing your domain name because it’s going to go a long way with the branding of your business.
I’ll recommend you to go for a catchy and easy to remember domain name that goes well with your business name.
Most importantly, keep it simple and easy to pronounce so that it can be easy for a user to type it into a Web browser or an e-mail address.
2. Website Hosting
Web hosting is your website home and where all your files are stored.
Think of it as the actual house while your domain name is the address to that house.
Whenever someone enters your domain name in a web browser, the browser will fetch your website content from your website host.
You’ll need a hosting platform to make your website visible on the internet.
Picking a good hosting provider depends on speed & performance, security, backup & reliability, features, customer support and pricing.
Teaming up with the right web hosting service provider is more important than you think. It’s a partnership.
Opting for the wrong one can be harmful to your business and this may lead to negative effects on your rankings, money and resources will go in vain and it will affect your business in the long run.
3. Website Building Platform
A website platform is essential — it is what your website is built on. The platform is the foundation of your website. It’s generally recommended to select a website platform with a CMS (Content Management System).
A CMS allows you to create and update website pages without having to know website coding language. Commonly used website platforms include WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, Weebly, and Squarespace.
Making a decision on the right platform is starting with what your company needs – whether it be a simple website to communicate information about what you do, or something far more complex, like a full eCommerce solution and think what features and functionality you might need in the future to help ensure your business’ long-term success.
You don’t want to start building your site on a CMS platform that might turn out to be wrong for you and your site. So, what you need to do is choose an appropriate website platform to build your website on.
Otherwise you can contact a company/someone with this knowledge to consult you and assist you on making this decision.
4. Business Email Address (optional)
It’s not easy to build trust and gain credibility on the Internet. Sometimes when people see a business using free email accounts for their businesses they will question how robust and trustworthy is the business. Sometimes they will not want to do business with such a company.
If you are serious about building a website that can help you attract new customers and grow your business, getting a business email address with your website domain name is very important.
Once you have a domain name, you can use it to create a business email like you@yourdomain.com). A custom domain email addresses the credibility and professionalism your website needs.
5. SSL Certificates
An SSL certificate encrypts your website and it makes it secure. When installed on a web server, it activates the HTTPS protocol in your browser URL bar and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser.
An organization needs to install the SSL Certificate onto its web server to initiate a secure session with browsers. Once a secure connection is established, all web traffic between the web server and the web browser will be secure.
SSL is now becoming a norm for most modern websites since Google has started heavily pushing it with its introduction as a ranking factor in Google’s search engine and by labelling non-SSL sites as “NOT SECURE” on their ‘Chrome’ browser.
Many web hosting companies now offer free SSL certificate for their website hosting plans.
6. Design
Website will be the face of your business on the online platform. Therefore if you want to have proper exposure, then you need to have an adequate website designing. This is one of the most important steps when you are looking forward to building a website for your business. The design of your website needs to be attractive.
Like the phrase ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, effective web design is judged by the users of the website and not the website owners. There are many factors that affect the usability of a website, and it is not just about form (how good it looks), but also function (how easy it is to use).
Websites that are not well designed tend to perform poorly and have sub-optimal Google Analytics metrics (e.g. high bounce rates, low time on site, low pages per visit and low conversions).
Good web design must solve the needs of the user, provide information quickly and make your information easy to read, use appropriate images, colours also must use mobile-friendly layouts with easy to use navigation and fast loading.
7. Visual elements: Logos and Images
Using visual elements is an effective way to enhance the user experience, increase conversion, help with branding and improve the visual appeal of your website. Using no imagery makes your website boring and dull. But like any other component of a website, using images should be done with careful thought and consideration.
The secret to creating a professional-looking website is using high quality, unique images. Fuzzy images and fake stock photos will cheapen even the most beautifully designed website and have a negative impact on how your viewers feel about your site and your business.
On the other hand, using a logo is a great way to help create a brand for your business and website. There are few ways you can create a logo for your business and/or website. You can hire a graphic designer or you can even design one yourself.
8. Content
Before the actual design of the website, you need to think long and hard about why you want to build the website. This will enable you to determine what you want to share with the world. The nature of your business will determine the type of content you have on your website.
The key to a successful website is having clear, relevant and keyword-rich content that delivers the right message with power and conviction. The content on your website should target your audience, engage them and persuade them to take action.
Because good content is so important to the success of your website, consider hiring a professional copywriter to help craft a compelling message.
Almost know that if you follow shortcuts and unprofessional routes, you might not get what you desire.
9. Analytics Software
For anyone who is serious about their business/website and has the ambition of growing the number of visitors year after year, you will need Analytics software.
Analytics software shows you the number of people who have visited your website , the pages they visited the most, where did they arrive from to your website, and much more.
All this data can then help you understand your visitors better and also know what area/pages of your website need to improve.
Read our article on how you can tell your existing website needs a redesign.
Google provides a 100% free tool to make all of this possible, called Google Analytics. There are other analytics providers, but Google Analytics is the most popular and most likely the only one you’ll need.
COST OF DEVELOPING A WEBSITE AT ELLIPSIS DIGITAL
NB: Terms and conditions apply to the above prices.
With the level of Internet usage among customers today, it is a well-known fact that every business needs a website to be successful in this day and age.
A website will allow you to establish a presence in a world where your target audience lives making it easier for more people to search, discover and contact you.
Bernard Mwakililo is an author at Ellipsis Digital. He writes tech related topics that explore better ways to use technology to improve businesses.
