How to build a business website for beginners

Should you build your business website yourself or hire a pro? These 5 simple steps will help you decide.

Are you looking to create a website for your business, but don’t know where to start? Building a website can seem like a daunting task, but with the right guidance it’s easier than you think. As part of our digital advice for businesses, we’ve pulled together some of the basic principles of building a website for beginners, including how to set up hosting and choose a website builder. Read on to learn more…

Build Your Website in 5 Simple Steps

Regardless of the route you choose, there are some key steps you’ll need to complete. First, you'll need a domain and some hosting.

Step 1: Registering Your Domain & What Makes a Good Domain

There are a number of steps to registering your business website domain. A domain is the text that a user types into a browser window to reach a particular website, e.g. ‘google.com’.

a. Selecting your domain name

When choosing your domain name, it's important to select one that's easy to remember and relevant to your business. You should consider the type of website you're creating, and the keywords associated with your business.

b. Checking the availability of the domain name

Once you have a few ideas for domains, you’ll need to check the availability of those domains before you register. You can do this with a tool like Namecheap. This will tell you if it’s available or whether someone has already registered it. This is a free tool so you can keep checking names until you find one that works.

c. Considering which ‘top-level domain’ you need

Depending on the language of your website, you may want to consider using a ‘top-level domain’ or domain extension that’s related to the language you are using (e.g. .co.uk if your website is in English, or .it if Italian). Many businesses will try to find a ‘.com’ top-level domain as it’s the most universally recognised.

d. Comparing the cost of particular domains

Domain name prices can vary – a new domain can cost you anything from €1 to €30 per year, whereas buying an existing domain with a highly sought-after URL could stretch into the thousands. We would recommend new businesses purchase a domain that costs under €20 a year.

e. Selecting an appropriate period of time

When registering, make sure to select a suitable period of time (e.g., one or two years is plenty; you don’t need to pay for five or ten years – even if they offer you a tempting discount).

f. Having a secure payment method ready

Lastly, ensure you have a secure payment method to complete the registration process.

Step 2: Pick a Hosting Plan

Web hosting is a service that companies provide that allows you to make your website visible and accessible to your customers. This means that the provider ‘hosts’ all the files that make up your website on their network server, rather than you attempting to do this yourself – which ensures maximum speed, reliability, and security for your business website. So, what are your options?

If you're building a basic, small website with limited traffic, shared hosting is the most affordable type of plan. However, if you're creating a larger site, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or dedicated hosting plan may be a better choice. These plans provide more resources and can handle larger amounts of traffic.

When you select a hosting provider, make sure it comes with the necessary software or integrations to build and maintain your website. (For example, Webflow and Squarespace both provide their own hosting alongside the website builder.) Additionally, consider the amount of storage and bandwidth the plan offers to make sure it can accommodate your website.

Bandwidth – the amount of data that can be transferred between a website and its users in a given time period.

Storage – the amount of space required to store website files, databases, and other content.


To estimate your website’s bandwidth needs, consider the following:

1. How much website traffic are we likely to have?

2. How many pages do we need? Does the page structure need to be complex or simple?

3. How much multimedia content (e.g., video and audio) will be on the site (these take up a lot of storage).

Generally, it's a good idea to choose a hosting provider that offers scalable hosting plans, so that you can easily upgrade your hosting plan as your website needs grow, without experiencing downtime or other issues. Additionally, regularly monitoring website traffic and usage can help the business to adjust its hosting plan accordingly.

It's also important to make sure the hosting plan is within your budget and offers customer support and technical assistance. By taking the time to compare different hosting plans and find the best one for your website, you can ensure your website is successful.

Step 3: Point Your Domain to the Hosting Plan

The process of pointing your domain name to the hosting plan involves connecting your domain name to the hosting service provider where your website will be stored. This requires the use of DNS (Domain Name System) settings, which you can find in the control panel of your hosting service provider. Once you have the DNS settings, you must enter them into the control panel of your domain name registrar. This process is necessary in order to link your domain name to the hosting plan and make your website visible to the public.

Once you've pointed your domain name to the hosting plan, you're ready to start building your website – it won’t be live, however.

Step 4: How to choose a website builder

Some of the leading website builders that many web designers and businesses use are Webflow, WordPress, SquareSpace, Hostopia and Wix. Here's a quick rundown:

Wix

Best for: Absolute Beginners

Wix is a very popular choice for beginners. Its intuitive drag-and-drop editor (and more than 800 free templates) allows you to design and customise your website quickly and easily. Plus, Wix provides easy-to-follow training guides, automatic URL and meta title creation, as well as a range of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tools such as keyword research, page optimisation, and link building. Search Engine Optimisation is the practice of improving and optimising the written content on your website in order to not only appeal to your visitors, but also to rank highly on search engines like Google and Bing so that your site is seen by more visitors. With Wix, you can create a website that looks great and ranks well in search engine results.

Webflow

Best for: Any business

Webflow is an excellent platform for building professional-looking websites without any coding knowledge, as it has a simple user interface that allows you to preview how your website will look on mobile devices. Additionally, Webflow offers a variety of tools to help you create content that is SEO-friendly, including a keyword explorer, sitemap generator, and automated SEO checker. Finally, Webflow integrates easily with Google Analytics, which allows you to track your website's performance and make necessary changes to your website's SEO.

WordPress

Best for: Bloggers / web developers

WordPress is a great choice if you already have some technical knowledge. It also has many SEO plugins that can help you easily optimise your website. WordPress is the most customisable choice here, future-proofed for any changes you might want to make in future. Finally, WordPress is regularly updated, so your website should always be up to date and secure.

SquareSpace

Best for: Creative businesses

SquareSpace is a great option for those looking to build a website quickly and easily. It offers a wide range of templates, which can be customised to suit the needs of the website. Additionally, its drag-and-drop website editor makes it easy to create a beautiful website in minutes. It also has a range of SEO-friendly features, such as customisable meta tags, built-in analytics, and automated sitemaps. With its integrated tools, building a website with SquareSpace is a breeze, and its SEO-friendly features make it an ideal platform for any beginner looking to get their website up and running quickly.

Hostopia

Best for: Businesses who want a one-stop shop

Hostopia is a provider of web hosting and other digital services for small and medium-sized businesses. They offer a range of hosting options, as well as domain registration and website design services – so potentially a one-stop shop for all your website needs. The Hostopia ‘Online Presence Builder’ is a powerful and easy-to-use design tool that makes creating and maintaining a website simple. They have many responsive site templates to choose from, which are made easily customisable by Hostopia’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor. No technical expertise required.

Step 5: Analytics and Tracking

Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to measure the traffic to your website, track conversions, and monitor the performance of your campaigns. It's an excellent resource for beginners, providing insights that can help you optimise and improve your user experience. You can also use tracking software such as Hotjar to gain further insights into how users are engaging with your website.

…and remember to consider desktop and mobile

Most people in 2023 are shopping and doing business on their mobiles. This means that businesses should make sure their website is optimised for both desktop and mobile devices. This decision will depend on the type of website you're creating and your target audience. Additionally, it is important to ensure the website is accessible to users with disabilities and consider how the user will navigate with a screen reader.

Need more free digital advice for business?

If you need 1-2-1 advice about managing digital for your business, you can also speak to one of our V-Hub Digital Advisers by phone. Wondering what you can ask? Our team can help with a range of digital topics.