Starting a Website in 6 Easy Steps

With the prevalence of the Internet across the world, it makes sense for all business owners to have a website, whether to sell products or promote their brand. Regardless of what industry you are in, here is how to start your business’s own website in six simple steps:

1. Choose a Domain – Selecting a good domain is one of the most important steps of starting a website; doing so can be somewhat difficult, especially if the domain names you want are already taken. Be creative and start brainstorming domain names that reflect the nature of your site. The domain should be easy to remember and spell, which can help visitors more easily navigate to the site.
2. Find a Web Host – Just like you need space for a brick-and-mortar business location, you need to purchase space on the web where your site can reside. A web host provides just that and there are myriad companies that provide web hosting services. Expect to pay a flat monthly fee anywhere between $5 and $50, depending on the services and features you want.
3. Design a Website – Depending on your budget, there are a handful of ways to design a custom website. First, you can hire a freelance designer or web design company to build a completely custom site from scratch (this is typically the most costly option). Another option is to purchase a site template (like a Wordpress site); the framework – or pages – of the site are already built and you customize it with your own text and pictures.
4. Implement a Shopping Cart – If you are building an e-commerce website to sell merchandise, you will need to select a shopping cart program. An online shopping cart is a type of software that allows online shoppers to select items on a website and then purchase those items.
5. Select a Payment Processor – If you will be accepting payments, you will also need to choose a payment processor. This entails either finding a third-party payment processor (such as PayPal) or getting a merchant account and payment gateway, which allows you to accept credit cards and other payments directly on your site. If you will be accepting payments from international buyers, you need to select a payment processor that is experienced in global payments.
6. Launch the Site – Once the site is completed, you need to publish it or make it live; this means Internet users can now access and view your site in full. The site will need to be uploaded using an FTP client. If you hired a site designer, they will be able to do this for you.After your site is up and running, check out your competition as well as other sites to see how you should be further developing your website.