In today’s digital world, brick and mortar establishments have given way to websites. An online presence has become the prime area of focus for businesses worldwide. Building a website for your business opens up a number of avenues – helping you reach out to people all around the world at the same time.
Businesses, independent consultants, freelancers, creative artists – literally everyone know the importance of a website. With the increasing transformation to all things digital, there is an urgent need for rapid website development.
What to Consider When Building a Website?
To make things easier, we have compiled a list of four essential elements to consider when you are creating a new website:
1. Define the objective of your website
Launch a website to create an online presence that helps improve your business, and plan its goals strategically. Look at the sites you visit regularly and analyze why you prefer them over their competitors. Focus on how the organization has translated their vision into the website.
Deploy the widely used S.M.A.R.T. methodology to create an objective.
– Specific: Answers “Who, what, where, when and why”
– Measurable: Quantifiable
– Actionable: Easy to execute upon
– Realistic: Reachable
– Time-bound: bound within a time frame
Once these objectives are laid down, you can create benchmarks and base your future analysis on them.
Defining your target audience should be an integral part of listing down the objectives of your website. The site should synergize with them and must be created taking their likes and dislikes into consideration. For example: If you own a grocery store, the primary objective of your website could be to sell online and increase your revenue by 10%
2. Select a relevant Domain name
A domain name reflects your brand, affects its recall ability and builds a unique identity for your brand. Take due care before finalizing the domain name. Brainstorm and come up with a few options before checking the availability of the same. Once the domain name is finalized, you need to register it before someone else does. HostGator India provides domain registration services at reasonable prices and offers premium domain names too.
3. Choose a Web-Platform
Are you familiar with website coding?
Do you have basic technical skills?
Or do you prefer the drag and drop functionality?
The answer to these questions will determine the platform apt for your website. You can choose between:
– DIY website builders
– CMS [Content Management Systems]
– Core development platforms (like ASP or PHP)
Content Management Systems like WordPress offer a high level of flexibility and customization, but it also requires a fair amount of technical skills on your part or employing the services of a developer. If you’re familiar with coding, you can write the whole code manually for your website. However, this is not always the best option because it takes a lot longer than modifying a WordPress theme.
4. Opt for a reliable Web-Host
A web host provides technologies and services needed to make your website available on the internet. It’s the ground below the feet of your site and needs to be sturdy and handle a lot of traffic at optimum speeds. Research thoroughly and evaluate the following attributes:
– Amount of Disk Space
– Bandwidth
– Ease of script installations
– Uptime reviews
– 24/7/365 Technical Support
– Money Back Guarantee
HostGator offers all this and more with their hosting plans to meet every need. A truly Host-In-India brand, HostGator provides:
– Localized geo-hosting (GPX) – We have tied with GPX, the only tier 4 Data center in India. Local hosting means up to 10x less latency than if hosted internationally. Hosting locally means minimal lag and quicker load times.
– Local Currency, local payment gateway – Transaction in Indian Rupees. Multiple modes of payments offer truly Indian purchase experience.
– 24/7/365 Support – We provide 24/7 Support in your language and time zones.
Once you’ve selected the domain name and web hosting, the next step is to develop your website. Depending on your technical proficiency, you may choose to do it yourself or employ a resource to take care of the day-to-day management of the website. If you have budgetary restraints, you can also employ the services of a freelance developer.
Remember, creating a new website is the onset of your journey in the digital world. All good things take time, so be patient and work towards the objectives.