4 Ways to Make the Process of Building a Website Much Easier

Having a website has become more important than having a brick and mortar location or office. Having a good website is critical to creating a good first impression with customers who do online research even if standing in the store in front of your product or checking out your site before walking in the door. Here are 4 ways to make the process of building a website much easier.

A Website Builder

One convenient solution for those with limited experience is working with a website builder. You could use a website builder even if you don’t have any knowledge of HTML or JavaScript.

Website builders tend to be very easy to use and have straightforward interfaces that make the website building process more intuitive. Often, all you’ll have to do is select the background you want from the catalogue of options, import your pictures, select the fonts you want to use and insert or enter your copy.

The best website builders are similar to modifying a PowerPoint presentation, but they create a working website once you’re done. A number of website builders are offered for free by internet service providers, while others are quite affordable and give you a website you can import as a package and set up on your selected domain.

Build Your Own

It is possible to build your own website. This option is ideal for those who want a minimalist site or want to learn website development on their own. If you go this route, go for a consistent look with no more than three fonts, a universal colour scheme, and a minimum of high quality and relevant graphics. Keep the content professional and of high quality and keep the site itself simple. This solution is best for those who want a blog to promote their expertise or who use the minimalist site to promote affiliate links, author pages and business pages.

One benefit of building your own website is that there are no limits on what you can do if you have the software licenses and technology to support it. You also have full control over the site.

Use WordPress

WordPress is a relatively low-cost method of building a website, though it typically ends up costing more than if you used a website builder. The quality is typically better than do it yourself web design. One of the benefits of WordPress is how common it is. Your website will be easy for users to use and equally simple for you to manage from any computer.

You’ll get a fully functional website unless you utilise too many plugins that compete with each other. WordPress stands out as a great solution for regularly updated blogs, especially sites that refer to small product catalogues to generate revenue or cross-link with other blogs you also run. The fact that WordPress was created to support bloggers makes it ideal for those who will regularly post new content on the site.

A side benefit is the search engine optimisation built into WordPress sites. If you want to create search engine optimised pages for each ecommerce page or blog post without having to hire SEO experts, WordPress is the best choice for you.

Hire a Website Developer

A website developer is more expensive than using website builders and creating the website yourself. Conversely, their skillset may be necessary to add the interactive features you want on the website. Developers are often necessary when you need to integrate a deep product catalogue with a website, connect databases to web interfaces, seamlessly connect ERP systems to secure user interfaces or maintain advanced IT security to protect customer data. A website developer should be seen as the best solution for complex projects and advanced functionality.

Note that you can always bring in a website developer to fix the bugs on a DIY website or enhance one that you created personally. Whether or not they have to maintain the site long term depends on your contract with them.

The right way to build your website depends on your budget, your skillset, the functions you need and how easy you want it to be. The price and effort involved goes up with the complexity and uniqueness of the project.