To get your own custom micro business website, you don’t have to hire a designer or spend months learning how to do it. A simple tutotial as this one can explain you in 10 minutes how to make one yourself.
If you are looking to create a free business website, read the previous tutorial. But if you are also unfamiliar with WordPress and blogging platforms I suggest you start, too, by going through the previous tutorial because this one will make a lot more sense to you then.
You are in the right place if you are ready to learn how to easily create a business website on your own. All you need to do is follow this tutorial, research your options and choose the ones that suit you best.
Advantages over a free website
- you have more templates, free and premium (paid) to choose from
- you can create a completely new design on your own (Headway) or you can have someone create the design for you
- you can sell product and services through your website
- you can also put advertising on your site if it fits your needs and your business
- you can add a lot more elements to your website; sidebar widgets
- you can download and install plugins to improve your website (make it faster, add social links, change the type of comments, have maintenance mode and add all the other things that you can’t in basic (plugin free) WordPress system)
- you have your information and design hosted on your server
- your website is made on your domain name which is better because of branding, because you own it and because you can structure your website the way you want (important for users and optimization)
- you can get a better looking, branded, more functional and customized website for your business for very little money
Lets start…
:o1 Get a domain name for your business website
A domain name is a website address; what you write at the top of your browser when you want to go to a certain page. In this case it was “wearemicro.com”.
When choosing a domain name for a business make your first option your business name. That should take care of it for most businesses. Of course, depending on the type of business your have, it can happen that more businesses are called the same and that one of them already has a website.
What do you do then?
You have two options. First of all, your website address has something else that can distinguish it from others. If you take a look at my website address wearemicro.com, it has a .com at the end of it. When it comes to choosing the extention of your domain name, if you have a local business, go with that extention (UK – .co.uk, France – .fr, The Netherlands – .nl, The Czech Republic – .cz, Croatia – .hr). It will position you better in the search engines in your area and not confuse it with every other similar business. That means you will show up more in the local results which will result in more click for your website. More traffic to your website will also help you rank in other searches and areas on Google.
Even if you are not only restricted to your local area or country, but you do business locally, go with that extention.
In case the domain name you are searching for has already been taken, go with the .com extention. Also, if your website is only in English and you operate your business on an international level, then also go with the .com extention.
Those are the only two extentions I recommend. If both of those options are taken for your business name, the second thing you can do to make it work really well is to add a word at the end or at the beginning of your business name (depending what works better) that will make it clear for people who are searching for your business which one is you or how they can definitely find you.
This happens a lot with family names, so for example:
CafeBianchi.com
RussoConsulting.com
MorganMusicShop.com
WatsonUmbrellas.com
Hotel16.com
That way when your business name comes up in the search results, it will be clear it’s your business, but also, when there are a lot of results and people can’t find your business, they will probably write what your do with your name.
The other thing you can add to separate your business from the other that is called the same is to add the name of the town at the end of your business name. This works really well for local micro businesses. For example:
ChezMarianneParis.fr
MundialBarcelona.es
AmysCupcakesBrighton.co.uk
How do I get a domain name?
First what you will want to do is check business benefits in your country. Some laws allow businesses to get one domain for free for as long as the business exists. Of course the domain you can get for free is with your country’s extention, not the .com. Ask someone who knows or has done it before, search on Google, look for the academic and research network, organizations who manages domains, research the website of The Ministry of Technology or any local website that gives out information to entrepreneurs.
That is not an option and you need to buy a domain name, go to Godaddy. They have a simple website and great customer service. Plus, I have never had any problems with them, they are safe, secure and everything works without fail.
All you do is search for a domain name, when you find it you sign up with GoDaddy and pay with Paypal or your credit card through a secure system. The whole process takes a couple of minutes.
Price: .com domain name $12/year
:o2 Get a hosting account
You need hosting to put all of your information (your website) on a server (provided by a hosting company) so that anyone in the world who is searching for your business online can find and see your website.
Hosting is also charged on a recurring basis, but you can choose whether you want to pay for it every month, every 3 or 6 month or every year. The price also slightly varies depending on how you decide to pay for it.
I recommend HostGator as the best hosting company. Your website will never crach or slow down, they have an outstanding customer service and tons of videos that will help you set up your website. Step by step, go there and click here type of video, and best of all you can find them specially for people who have a domain on GoDaddy and want to install their website on WordPress which is what we are aiming for here.
If you go with HostGator, you have two options. The first is Baby Plan. That will be more then enough for your business and for everything that you want to put on your website, even if you want to be an avid blogger and do some of your business online (have an online shop, a membership site, etc.).
But you can also go with Hatchling Plan; the only significant difference between the two is that on this one you can install only one domain. If you plan to create only one website, your business website, which will be the case for most, you can definitely go with this one. But if you know you will need more domains for your business in the future, for whatever reason, then you need the Baby Plan.
However, nothing is stopping you to upgrade you hosting plan at the point when you find it necessary.
Price: starts at $4/month.
:o3 Download WordPress
To create an actual website, you need a software called WordPress. To download it, go to WordPress.org. It’s free, you only have to click a button to get it. If you don’t know what WordPress is or for it works, read the previous article in which I explain how to make a free website in WordPress(.com).
You will need an account in WordPress.com to make WordPress.org work, so no skipping steps. Besides, once you find your way around WordPress, you won’t have any problems in either of them.
:o4 Install WordPress – create a website
To create a website you need to install WordPress. Now it’s time to go back to HostGator and find videos that will help you install WordPress on your domain.
It’s a simple process and you really don’t need to know any of it since you will be guided through it in the 2-3 videos you need to watch to make it work.
To connect your domain name to your hosting account watch and follow this video called “Changing name servers via GoDaddy”.
To install WordPress, log into your cPanel and watch and follow this video called “Using Fantastico”.
In the video, you will have the option to fill out the field called “Install in directory”. Leave it blank! That way your website will be installed right on your domain name like this: yourbusinessname.com, but if you fill a directory name, your home page will show on this address: yourbusinessname.com/directoryname. You don’t want that to happen.
For all other tutorials just go to HostGator>Support>Tutorials and you will find the answer to anything you need.
:o5 Your micro business website design
a) You can pick an existing theme. A WordPress theme is a template for your business website. You can choose the look/design of your website, install in and just fill it with content. You can search for free and commercial themes on WordPress’ website or you can Google “WordPress (premium) themes” to find the combination of design and functions your want.
b) You can design your own website with Headway Themes. I used this system to design :we are micro and had a blast. Definitely the best system to create a website if you don’t know any code (even if you do) because it’s all drag and drop when arranging elements and styles and colours changing right there on the screen for you to see.
If you have an eye for esthetics and detail then you can create an amazing website for your micro business. Far better then with any template. Headway is the best when it comes to customization. Besides, they have great customer service and they are working hard to make it better all the time. I mean it, they make it happen.
c) You can work with a designer to create a WordPress based website. This is the ultimate level of customization and great if you really want some elements or looks that any of the existing systems can’t produce. Also, a designer is a great option when you want custom graphics and someone who will be able to brand everything you put on your website – videos, podcasts, downloads, etc. that you don’t want to do on your own.
Designing a website is really where you need to define it’s structure and the content you will put on it. After that, you are practically done. You can play with general settings and work on improving your content and design over time.
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Your turn.
Any questions, doubts, suggestions or thoughts about the tutorial? You can tell me what’s lacking better then anyone…
If you find it useful, don’t forget to bookmark it for future reference and share it online.
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photo courtesy (Paris Mercy) Jason Whittaker
*GoDaddy, HostGator and Headway Themes links are affiliate.
