How to make your first website

You know that your business needs a website.

Not only does it help you keep up with your competitors who already have websites up and running, but it also helps people find you and builds credibility and trust before ever meeting you. If done right, it can also work as an extra sales person inviting your dream clients to work with you.

Creating a website from scratch isn’t as easy as it seems

Designing a beautiful website that attracts your dream clients is hard work – in fact, it’s my whole job!

Sure, there are lots of DIY tools that let you drag and drop your way to a basic website. But one of the biggest challenges for a first-time website builder, is knowing what to include on your website and where it should go!

Never fear, here are some tips to get you on the right path:

5 steps to create your first website

1. Pick your website builder

If you are going the DIY route, it’s always best to work with a platform you feel comfortable with. While there are tons of website builder platforms out there, I suggest working with Squarespace. I love Squarespace because it is fairly intuitive to use, has nice templates and works out to be an affordable way to get your business online.

It also gives you room to work with a designer - like myself ;) - down the line to customise it and create something really stunning and specific to your ideal clients when you are ready for that next step.

2. Plan out your content

I suggest writing out the text for every page you want to include in your website. Remember to keep things simple and to talk directly to your ideal client.

Bonus points if you can include some keywords in your headings and texts to help rank your website on google (this is the cornerstone of the mysterious SEO you’ll want to build up later on).

3. Pay special attention to your homepage

Most people who visit your website will spend less than 3 seconds looking around before deciding if you can help them or moving on. That’s not a lot of time to make a good first impression!

The key to keeping those potential clients on your website long enough to find out more about you is to nail your homepage “hero section” – the very top portion of your website that people see before scrolling down.

4. Choose compelling, relevant photos

Pictures say a thousand words, so make sure that you include several beautiful photos on your website that support your message and indicate to your clients that they are in the right place.

Make sure to include a nice, friendly photo of yourself as well so your potential clients know who they would be working with! 

5. Build your website

Take some time to add all of your text and photos to your new website. I suggest working on one page at a time, then doing a thorough editing pass through the whole website to make sure it all flows together properly.

Since more than half of website views usually come from mobiles, it is crucial that you spend some time looking at the mobile view of your website to make sure everything looks right on a smaller screen.

Bonus Step: SEO

If you’ve gotten through the above 5 steps and want to go a little further, you can add in a few simple pieces of information to improve your Search Engine Optimisation (i.e. help people find you on Google).

First, make sure that all of your pages have simple, clear titles and that you’ve added in the Meta Title and Meta Description in the page settings.

Next, add Alt Text descriptions to all of your photos. This helps Google understand what your photos are of, and helps people who can’t see your images as well.

Lastly, make sure that each page is focused on one keyword. For example, on this blog post I am talking about “how to make your first website” and you’ll notice that my headings and text mention the words “first website” quite frequently. You don’t want to over stuff your site with keywords, but mindfully adding them in when it makes sense is always a good idea.

Get started with optimizing your website with my SEO Quickstart course that walks through the essential elements your website needs to have set up in order to rank in Google.

Tips for designing your website

As a designer, I can’t help but include a few tips to help you design a website that looks pretty too :)

There are a million different ways of going about creating your design, but sticking to these simple web design rules will help your website look polished and professional.

 1. Pick just a few colours

Pick your main colour, then choose one or maybe two secondary colours to pair with it. Any more than this and your design can start to become messy and overwhelming if you aren’t versed in design.

2. Pick your fonts carefully

My first rule when picking fonts is to make sure they are readable. Even if that beautiful handwriting font looks pretty on your website, if your dream client can’t easily read if while scrolling on their phone then I say it shouldn’t make it to your website.

My second rule for fonts is to stick to one or two fonts, and to create a system for yourself for when to use which one. For example, use a more impactful font for only your headings and a nice, simple font for your main texts.

3. Less is more

When you are working on your website, I suggest you challenge yourself to keep things as simple as possible. It can be tempting to add all of the bells and whistles, but without a masterful hand these extra features can start to clutter up your website and make it harder for your dream clients to find what they are looking for.