One of the very first steps to creating a successful online business is learning how to create a website.
This can often seem daunting for beginners, but it doesn’t have to be. All you have to do is take it one step at a time, then before you know it you have a website up and running so you can get started with your online business.
1. Register a domain name
You can use a well-known registrar like Go Daddy, and the price will be pretty inexpensive when you consider that you’re paying for an entire year.
You can try to find a domain with the exact keyword phrase to improve your rankings in the search engines, but this is not necessary. For a long-term website, it may be better to choose a good “brand” domain name anyway.
2. Choose a web hosting company
Just like you store files on your local hard drive, your website will have to be stored on a web server somewhere in cyberspace.
The good news is that hosting is inexpensive these days, and you can usually get started for somewhere around $5 – $20 a month. The big companies like Hostgator provide 24-hour support which comes in handy if you ever get stuck on something.
3. Create your website
Once you have your web hosting space, upload your website to the server. You can choose a WYSIWYG editor to help you create HTML files quickly and then upload these files to your server.
On the other hand, you can use your web hosting account to install WordPress software instead. Even though there is a slight learning curve here, you’ll soon be able to focus 100% on adding content to your website without having to learn HTML or CSS. WordPress is an option to consider as a content management system.
4. Create your content
Once your website is up and running, you merely add articles that are relevant to your niche.
Ideally, you would perform keyword research so you can know precisely what phrases you want to rank for in the search engines. You would then write some interesting and helpful articles related to these keyword phrases.
Nowadays, more extended, higher quality content has a better chance to rank in Google over the long-term.
5. Build traffic to your website
You can get traffic to your website in a variety of ways, including both paid and “free” advertising methods.
For most people on a tight budget, you want to focus on search engine optimization and content marketing. In other words, you’ll build links to your website to help it rank better in Google and other search engines. You’ll also submit content like articles and videos to many different external websites and social media networks to drive traffic back to your website.
6. Make sales
Once you have traffic coming to your website, you can then try to make money in different ways including selling your information products, promoting affiliate products, or selling physical products related to your niche.
There are lots of ways to monetize your website as long as you did your research in the beginning and picked a profitable market.