Setting Up Your Business Website in Minutes
You’ve got your idea for a business …
And it has a big enough market and high enough profit potential to make for a great Carefree Business.
Looks like you’re ready to pull the trigger and move on to the next step …
Which means it’s time to put up your website.
(If you still need some help with an idea, check out my step-by-step instructions for choosing a profitable business that I wrote earlier this year: “Get Ready.”)
Think of your website as an online storefront. It’s the first interaction potential customers will often have with you and will be the main tool you’ll use to attract customers and sell your products.
It’s got a big job to do! And in future issues, we’ll tackle how to make sure it does the job right.
But first, you simply have to get it online. Because only then will your business be real.
Fortunately, setting up a small business website is actually quite simple. You don’t need to have any technical expertise or have any experience putting up a website.
These days, there are many resources, software, and programs that make it possible to put a website online in just a few minutes with a few clicks. If you can surf the web and use email, you can do this.
Today, I’m going to walk you through an easy-to-follow three-step process to getting your first website live.
Step 1: Get your website address (aka domain name)
Think of your domain name as your calling card. It needs to be direct and clear so that people surfing the web have an idea of what your website is about before even reading any copy. And it should be easy to remember so that they can quickly come back to it in the future and share it with their friends and colleagues.
For example, if your business is centered around yoga for pregnant women, it might be something like yogamoms.com or even pregnantwomenyoga.com. The key here is not to have a domain name that’s mysterious or “clever.” It should be descriptive of what the website is all about.
Here’s another reason you’ll want a domain name that’s descriptive: it will also help the search engines understand your website too. And being “search engine friendly” is key to your website’s success. That way, when people search Google or Yahoo for information in your niche, your website will appear in the results … which means free traffic for you!
Here are a couple of other tips when brainstorming your domain name …
- You must be able to get the “.com” version.
- Try to keep it to three words or less.
- Don’t use hyphens.
Once you’re done brainstorming, go back and list your possible names in order, with your favorite being first.
Now you’re actually going to buy your web address. There are many services you can use, but I recommend GoDaddy, as they have great customer service and technical support.
Go to GoDaddy.com. Once there, start entering your website addresses. Your first choice may already be taken. But hopefully, something on your list will be available. If not, GoDaddy will often give you ideas for other names that are available, and hopefully one of them will spark a new idea.
Buying a domain for one year will cost as low as $2. But the average is around $10. And once you’re done buying your domain name, you’ll be able to move on to the next step …
Step 2: Hosting
If you think of the URL for your website as the address, hosting is like the house, where all of the website’s content will live.
You can get hosting from many sources. But if you’ve bought your domain name from GoDaddy, it may be easiest to get your hosting from them as well.
Once you’ve purchased your domain, just click on the hosting tab on godaddy.com.
Hosting accounts start at just $3 a month. GoDaddy’s online system will help you “link up” your domain with your hosting account.
And it will also help you with the next step …
Step 3: Publishing Your Website
You have a domain and hosting. Now you need software that will allow you to easily publish articles, sales letters, photos, and other content to your website.
WordPress is a very easy to use platform and the one I recommend to you. No programming knowledge is needed. Posting content with WordPress is much like filling in a form on a website or sending an email.
You can download WordPress through GoDaddy as well. An option to download this software will pop up once you’ve secured your domain and hosting account.
WordPress is free. And there are thousands of free templates that you can download to customize the look and feel of your site, including the header (the image that runs across the top), the colors, the fonts, and more.
In three steps, your first Carefree Business website is live. In an upcoming issue, we’ll start filling it with useful content that will attract prospects and prime them to buy your products.
If you run into any stumbling blocks along the way, call GoDaddy customer support. They can help you with any step of the process.
But if you have any questions about picking a website address, shoot me an email at askjason@awaionline.com. I’m happy to assist you in choosing the best domain name for your Carefree Business.
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