Guide to Building a Small Business Website from Scratch

Step 1: Planning Your Website

Before you start building, it’s essential to do a little planning. This step helps you clarify your business goals and define what you want your website to accomplish. Think of it as laying the foundation—you can’t build a sturdy structure without it.

What’s the Purpose of Your Website? The first question to ask yourself is: What’s the main purpose of your website? Are you selling products, showcasing your services, or simply providing information? Once you know what you need, the rest will fall into place.

Who is Your Target Audience? Knowing who you’re designing for will help you make key decisions. Think about your ideal customer: What are their needs? How do they prefer to interact with businesses online? Are they mostly using their phones, or are they browsing on desktops?

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Planning Your Website’s Content Next, think about the type of content your website will feature. Will you need a blog, a portfolio section, or e-commerce pages? Jot down the must-have pages for your website. Most small business websites include:

• A homepage

• An about page

• A services or products page

• A contact page

• Possibly a blog

Pro Tip: Keep your site simple. It’s tempting to add everything, but visitors appreciate a clean, easy-to-navigate site that gets to the point.

Step 2: Designing Your Website

Here’s where the fun begins! Designing your website lets you bring your brand to life online. You could tackle this yourself, but a designer will help deliver high quality results. The key to a great design is keeping it user-friendly and reflective of your brand.

Start with Wireframes Think of wireframes as the blueprint of your website. They outline the structure and layout without diving into design details yet. This step ensures everything is organized and functional before getting into fonts and colors.

Focus on Branding Your website should immediately tell visitors who you are. Use your brand’s colours, fonts, and tone consistently across your website to create a cohesive look.

Navigation Should Be Simple Keep your navigation menu clear and intuitive. Most small businesses get by with 4–5 main pages (Home, About, Services, Contact). If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for in a few clicks, they might just leave your site altogether.

Design Tips for a Professional Look:

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• Use High-Quality Images: Invest in professional photography or high-quality stock photos. Blurry images can make even the best website look amateur.

• Typography Matters: Stick to clean, readable fonts. Fancy scripts can look nice, but they’re hard to read—especially on mobile devices.

• Calls-to-Action: Every page should have a clear goal—whether it’s to get people to contact you, buy a product, or read more content. Make your calls-to-action (CTAs) stand out by using contrasting colors and direct language like “Get a Free Quote” or “Shop Now.”

For example, a local bakery, you might feature a beautiful homepage with mouth watering images of your baked goods and a prominent "Order Now" button.

Step 3: Securing Your Website

Security isn’t the most glamorous part of building a website, but it’s one of the most important. Small businesses are often targets for cyber-attacks, so keeping your website secure is crucial.

Set Up SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) An SSL certificate encrypts information between your website and your visitors, protecting sensitive data like credit card numbers or personal information. Plus, Google ranks websites with SSL higher in search results—win-win!

Choose Secure Hosting Your hosting provider should offer security features like daily backups, malware scanning, and strong server protection. If you’re not sure where to start, look for popular hosting providers like Bluehost, SiteGround, or GoDaddy.

Update Regularly If you’re using a platform like WordPress, you’ll need to regularly update your themes, plugins, and core files. Most updates include security patches that protect your site from vulnerabilities.

Pro Tip: Always back up your website before making updates. This way, if something goes wrong, you can restore your site to an earlier version.

Step 4: Launching and Testing

Before you go live, it’s time to put your website through its paces. Testing your site ensures that everything works as it should, and visitors will have a smooth experience.

Check Your Website on Different Devices Your website needs to look great and function well on every device—desktop, tablet, and mobile. Make sure images scale correctly and text is easy to read no matter the screen size.

Run Speed Tests Nobody likes a slow website. Use tools like Google PageSpeed

Insights or GTmetrix to check your site’s loading times. If it’s sluggish, compress your images and limit the number of plugins or animations you’re using.

Test Forms and Links Double-check that all your forms (like your contact form) are working properly. Ensure all internal and external links are correct and don’t lead to broken pages.

Soft Launch vs. Hard Launch Consider doing a “soft launch” first by sharing the site with a small group (friends, family, loyal customers) to get feedback before launching publicly. A soft launch allows you to catch any last-minute bugs or tweaks.

A website can be a lot of work, but is worth it

Building a small business website from scratch may seem daunting. With the right plan, platform, design, and testing, you’ll have a website that showcases your brand, attracts customers, and drives sales.

Remember, your website is a living entity - it’s okay to update it regularly and make adjustments as your business grows. And, if you’re not ready to tackle it alone, we can help with every stage check out how we work, or contact us now. Our prices to deliver all of this for your business start at just £400.