how to create a business website

How to create a business website: 2024 step-by-step guide

Bryn Glover,

A strong online presence is crucial for almost any business. A well-designed, functional and accessible website can serve as the virtual storefront for your business, whether you want to showcase products or services, or simply advertise your brand to raise awareness. So, how do you create a business website?

Creating a business website for the first time might seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach and tools, it’s very possible. Even if you don’t have any experience working in the online space, there are platforms available that are designed to be simple.

In this article, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how you can create a professional website that can help you to achieve your business goals.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Define your goals and plan your website

Before you dive into developing or building a website, it’s important to outline your objectives and make sure you understand the purpose of your new site. 

Do you already have a real-world business or is this a brand new venture? Are you planning to sell products online, provide information about your services, or generate leads? Understanding the purpose of your website, alongside your target audience, is an important first step. 

Perhaps you know that you want to start a business, but don’t know what yet; take a look at our online business ideas page if you want some tips on what to get started with.

Based on the purpose of your site, the audience you’re expecting and the goals you set, you should consider the structure, layout and on-site content that will best convey your various messages and meet your goals. 

If you know, for example, that you want to sell products online, then you know straight away that you’ll need ecommerce functionality; this sort of understanding will dictate to some extent how you proceed with the creation of your business website.

If you want help defining your goals or plans, we recommend taking a look at our page on how to create a business plan to get some easy tips.

You can also take a look at the pages below for more industry-specific advice.

Step 2: Choose a domain name and hosting provider

Selecting a memorable and relevant domain name is essential. Ideally, it should reflect your business name or niche. For advice, you can visit our top tips for choosing a domain name page.

If you already have a business name, then you will likely want to purchase a domain name that matches that name, or matches it as closely as possible. It is worth remembering that the price of domain names varies considerably depending on several factors. A basic domain name can cost as little as £1, whereas Premium domain names can run into the thousands.

You should also look for a reputable domain registrar to register your chosen domain name with; GoDaddy is a popular option for many people in the UK. At the same time, you will want to choose the best web hosting provider based on your needs; this might include things like good uptime, security features, and customer support. Evaluate different hosting options based on your budget, website requirements, and scalability needs.

Step 3: Select a content management system (CMS) or website builder

One of the biggest decisions you’ll make while creating your business website is whether to use a CMS system that requires development, or a drag-and-drop style website builder that does not.

A CMS simplifies website creation and management. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are popular CMS options. WordPress, in particular, is widely used due to its user-friendly interface and extensive plugin ecosystem. Choose a CMS that aligns with your technical skills and customization needs. Most hosting providers offer easy installation of CMS platforms.

A website builder simplifies website creation even more than the CMS options mentioned above. The best website builders are simple and easy-to-use platforms that allow even complete beginners to build whole websites from scratch. Bear in mind that, while they are easy to use, website builders may not offer the same level of customisation as CMS platforms like WordPress.

Whether you choose a CMS or a website builder will depend on several factors; your technical ability is probably the most important though. If you have web experience, including knowledge of basic HTML, for example, then you might enjoy the freedom offered by a CMS. However, if you’re a beginner in the online world, or if you don’t feel confident in your technical abilities, then a website builder is probably the better choice for your business.

Best website builders for starting a business website

Take a look at some of the best website builders to get you started.

Wix

Best all-rounder
£ 9 Monthly
  • 800+ templates to choose from
  • Great value for money
Full Review

Squarespace

Best for creatives
£ 12 Monthly
  • 200+ templates to choose from
  • Excellent for creative industries
Full Review

Shopify

Best ecommerce
£ 25 Monthly
  • 70+ ecommerce templates to choose from
  • Excellent range of online selling tools
Read More

Step 4: Design and customise your website

As with the selection process above, how you go about designing and customising your website will depend on the type of website you’ve built. 

For more details on using a website builder, you can take a look at our page on how to build a site with a website builder.

Whichever method of building you use, selecting an appealing design that resonates with your brand is crucial. Most CMS platforms and website builders provide a range of themes and templates to choose from, and most also offer paid options that might be more suitable.

Once you have selected a theme, you will usually be able to customise it. You can normally add your logo, modify the colours being used and adjust the overall layout of pages. When it comes to this part of the process, you can customise as much or as little as you like, though bear in mind that you’ll have to keep on top of the changes. It’s recommended that you begin keeping notes or guidance for yourself on what changes you make, to make sure that things don’t get missed.

Most website builders will be mobile-friendly by default now, so if you’re using Wix or any of its competitors, you probably don’t need to worry about responsive design. However, you might if you’re using a CMS. Whereas the majority of themes availble from WordPress now will be mobile friendly, you should double-check that is the case to avoid any problems in the future.

Step 5: Create engaging and relevant content

Good content is the backbone of any successful website, whatever form that might take. Crafting clear and concise copy that communicates your brand message effectively is crucial, whether you’re creating text-based articles, interactive on-site elements, or videos. 

Your aim should be to provide your audience with valuable information about your products, services or company. Bear in mind who your audience actually is, using language or types of content that you know will resonate with them best. You should also consider how well your content is optimised for search engines; choosing the right keywords and structuring your content in the right way is key to good SEO.

Bear in mind that, on most web builders and on most CMSs, you will have access to plugins and tools that can help you to optimise your site. These will sometimes give tips on the types of words you have used, the length of your sentences and paragraphs, the use of internal linking, and other important factors.

Beyond basic content, also consider what you can do to make it even more engaging for your audience. If you’re writing a text-based article, you should consider what images would work best alongside your content; if you are adding video content, you might want to consider how people might interact with that content if they’re hard of hearing, for example. In this case, adding a transcript could be a good way to improve your site’s accessibility.

business website content

Step 6: Integrate features and functionality

While you’re creating content, or after, you should consider what sorts of features and functionality you might want to add.

For example, you may decide that add contact forms, email subscription forms, social media integrations or live chat support. On many CMSs and website builders, you can add plugins or extensions that enable these sorts of functions, though bear in mind that these additional tools might also increase the cost of your website.

As well as all of these front-end tools, you should also consider the behind-the-scenes functionality that you might need to operate your site successfully. Google Analytics and Google Search Console, for example, are important tools for tracking how people arrive on and interact with your site. At the same time, tools like SEMRush and Moz can support your SEO efforts by providing information about how you rank for important keywords and how many sites link to your own domain.

Business website functionality: Top tip

Include the tools or functionality you need in your business website plan. Make sure you know the answer to these questions:

  • Is the tool or functionality useful to your business?
  • Is the tool or functionality useful to your users?
  • Is the tool or functionality essential? Or a nice to have?
Knowing the answers to these questions will help when it comes to planning how to enable functionality. It will help to inform who you need to consider when you’re creating your tool on-site, and will also help when it comes to prioritising that work against other tasks and projects.

Step 7: Optimise for search engines (SEO)

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about improving your website in the eyes of search engines. Optimising effectively can mean the difference between ranking on page one, or not ranking at all.

Research the relevant keywords for the pages you create and incorporate them naturally in your content; pay attention to things like page titles and section headings, image captions and metadata to make sure you’re signposting to users and search bots alike exactly what is to be found on a page.

As mentioned, there are a range of tools available to help with your SEO, including some paid options and free ones. Of course, you can also find a huge amount of information online that can teach you how to make your site run as effectively as possible.

The best thing you can do though, to get started, is create good and relevant content that you update and maintain as necessary. Write about things that you understand and can demonstrate authority in and you should perform well, even if it can take a while to get what you want to get.

You might also want to consider other ways to market your website. Take a look at the articles below for more specific advice.

Step 8: Test and launch your website

Before launching for real, it’s important that you check your site as thoroughly as possible. This means not only rereading content and rewatching videos but looking for broken links and inconsistencies in your URL structure too. Sometimes these things are easy to fix on a live site, but for some others, it’s easier if you don’t create the problem for yourself to begin with.

It might be worth asking for feedback from the people you are targetting. If you already run a business then you might consider asking regular customers to check out your new online platform before launching, to see if they have any useful tips or advice.

Once you feel confident that you’ve done all the checking you could do, publish the site and get started!

Step 9: Maintain and update your website

Most successful sites will require regular, ongoing maintenance. Ensuring everything is up-to-date can be as simple as checking content whenever things change in your industry, but will also mean making sure that your tools and plugins are on the latest version to avoid any downtime.

You should also pay attention to how your site performs using tools like Google Analytics. This will help you understand if you’re getting traffic, how much of it you’re getting, and also how you’re getting it in the first place. You’ll also want to use whatever tools you have to monitor whether people engage with the features on your site; if you have an email signup form, for example, then you’ll want to regularly check how many people are providing you with their email addresses – this can be an amazing marketing tool when used correctly.

Beyond regular checks, it’s also worth growing your website over time. There’s no exact science to how big any site should be – and that size would vary by sector anyway – but it is worth adding content when it’s relevant to do so. This can be as fast or as slow as you’d like, but should always be done with the principles of good SEO in mind. You might be surprised by what sorts of pages and videos drive traffic to your domain.

Lastly, you’ll want to consider other ways of marketing your site. If you want it to be really successful, then you may want to consider investing more in the email marketing options you have, or in the social media tools at your disposal.

Starting a business website: Final thoughts

Creating a website for your business can appear to be a complex undertaking, but the steps above should help you to understand the process. It’s possible to build a professional online space that drives customer engagement without spending all of your time or money, though the more you invest, the better your results are likely to be.

Just remember that a well-built website with valuable content and features can be one of the most powerful tools at your business’s disposal. Stay focused on what matters, make sure you’re always thinking about your target audience, and adapt your site and content as much as you need to make sure everything works as well as possible.

Picture of Bryn Glover

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.
Website launch checklist
Running A Website

Website launch checklist: Download our guide

Launching a website is a process of several steps. If you want your website to run smoothly and look good, it’s important to complete those steps in the right way.   Our website launch checklist is here to help you with exactly that. Take a look at the sections and

Read More »
July 24, 2024 No Comments
How to start a hotel or B&B website
Running A Website

How to start a hotel booking website: Step-by-step guide

With traditional travel agencies increasingly falling behind more modern ways of planning holidays, having a well-designed hotel or B&B website is now essential for any business looking to attract guests and boost their bookings.   A hotel or B&B website is your digital storefront, providing potential guests with a glimpse

Read More »
February 7, 2024 No Comments
How to start a real estate website
Running A Website

How to start a real estate website: Step-by-step guide

The housing industry is an ever-evolving field that offers a huge range of opportunities for entrepreneurs, agents and everyday people.    If you’re looking to establish a presence in the real estate market, whether to share property listings, market insights or industry expertise, starting a real estate website could be

Read More »
February 6, 2024 No Comments
How to start a sports website
Running A Website

How to start a sports blog: Step-by-step guide

The world of sports offers an enormous number of opportunities for both enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. If you’re passionate about sports and want to share your knowledge, insight or commentary with a wider audience, starting a sports site could be an exciting venture for you.   Whether you want to create

Read More »
February 2, 2024 No Comments
how to start a fitness website
Running A Website

How to start a fitness website: Step-by-step guide

The fitness industry is booming, with people around the world striving for healthier lifestyles. Starting a fitness website could be an excellent way to tap into a market that isn’t going anywhere, while sharing your passion for wellness and health. You can provide valuable information and inspire others on their

Read More »
September 20, 2023 No Comments
how to start a travel website
Running A Website

How to start a travel website: Step-by-step guide

Starting a travel website can be an exciting venture that allows you to share your passion for exploration. You can provide fellow travellers with valuable information and might even start turning a profit if you follow the right steps. Whether you’re a seasoned globetrotter or an up-and-coming travel enthusiast, this

Read More »
September 19, 2023 No Comments