If you’ve got a small business and you don’t have a website – now’s your chance.
It’s never been easier to get set up with a great website. And you can do it yourself, from the backroom of your store or the comfort of your couch at home.
Let’s cover why you need a website:
- It gives your customers a place to go to find out the juicy information they NEED TO KNOW about you and your services.
- It makes you look like a business they can trust. A website is like a suit and tie for your business online – it’s gives you that extra inch of credibility.
- It’s an asset that’s owned by you. If you’ve ever been locked out of your own Facebook account, you know what I mean!
The best way to get set up with a website is to find yourself a content management system.
The one I recommend is Weebly, because it’s cheap to get started and easy to use.
Author Note: Since this article was originally published, Weebly was acquired by Square and is now part of the Square suite of business tools. There has been an active depreciation of the product, and I now no longer recommend Weebly.
You see, Weebly uses a drag and drop system. Let’s say you want to add some text. You click the text button, drag it to where you want it, and type away. This means you can get a great website without knowing how to write crazy-looking computer code or how to download Photoshop.
This is a step-by-step guide just for you. These are the steps to get your small business its own website using Weebly.
Step 1: Jump into your nearest browser and sign up to Weebly
Unless you’ve printed out this page, you’re already in your browser.
Click this link to Weebly and land on the homepage. There – smack that sign-up button and you’ll be taken to the Weebly sign-up page.
Now you’re here, entrust them with a few quick details like your name, email, and a password.
Click that Terms of Use checkbox (you can read them if you’re a stickler for detail like me, too!) and click continue to move on to the next step.
Step 2: Pick the type of website you want
Your first decision to make is right here. You get the choice of two different types of websites – one for selling online, one not. The two are:
- An ecommerce site: This is the sales one. If you plan on having an online shopping cart so customers can buy – pick this one.
- A standard site: If you just want to be giving info to customers, or need a way for them to shoot you a message, this is your go to.
This is not a Sophie’s Choice scenario. You can switch between the two at any point later down the line once you’ve set up your site.
If you’ve picked option one, eCommerce (and it’s a great choice), you’ll be directed through a special eCommerce sign-up process. In order to let you sell online, they need to collect a few extra bits of info from you (like your store name and products). Fill this out and keep pushing forward.
If you’ve picked option two, standard (also a great choice), continue now to step three.
Step 3: Lock in your website theme
This is the next step in building your dream home online. Your theme is the plans and building blocks you need to create a great website. It works like a template. It gives you not only the structure of your website, but also the basics in design, like colours, styles, and fonts.
Now this is where it gets interesting. You’re not locked into the exact style of your theme. You can customise it as much or as little as you want, like painting the walls of your living room – but nowhere near the hassle.
Click on a theme that you like the look of. Once you’ve clicked, you can see a preview of how it’s gonna look. If you like it, slap that Start Editing button, and we’ll get moving (and if you hate it, pick again!).
Step 4: Choose your domain name
Your domain name is the name of your business online. It’s what people will be typing into their address bar (or let’s face it, Google) to find your business. There are two choices you can pick from:
- Connect Weebly with an existing domain: Pick this if you’ve already bought a domain name – through a service like GoDaddy. e.g. bobsitalianrestaurant.com
- Create a new domain using the Weebly subdomain: Pick this if you haven’t got a domain name yet. It will be a domain attached to Weebly e.g. bobsitalianrestaurant.weebly.com
If this is your first time building a website – and you’ve done no other steps – pick option two.
Down the line, you can buy your own domain name (if you want!). It’s a good thing to do to make your business look even more trustworthy.
Step 5: Make some edits to your homepage
This is where the fun begins. When you use Weebly, you use a drag and drop editor. The drag and drop editor lets you pick up items on the sidebar (which you can now see on the left) and drag them onto your website (the big page in the middle).
At this stage, your homepage will look nothing like your website. It’s just the starting point. Add the important details, like your business name at the top, and your contact info.
Once you’ve placed some info, you can rearrange them however you want. You can always trial things and move them back if you don’t like them.
One bonus point: here’s how to add photos.
For photos, you’ll need to have them ready on your computer. To put it on your site, drag the IMAGE icon from the sidebar to wherever you want the photo. Then click it and upload your image.
Step 6: Build the rest of your site
Now, it’s important to say, your website isn’t just your homepage. It’s your whole damn site! So let’s add some more pages.
You can add more pages by picking the Pages tab at the top and clicking the plus symbol on the sidebar.
Boom, now you can make a new page. It might be for your products, your services, or even a contact form.
There’s a bunch of technical stuff you can do in the left sidebar. The important ones are to add a heading and a description (think – what are my customers looking for?). Make sure you’re answering your customer needs.
You can also adjust the defaults that come with your template, like the fonts and colours. You can do this by clicking Theme on the top bar and then adjusting your options on the sidebar.
Now go ahead and flesh out the rest of those pages with all your info.
Step 7: Publish your website to the internet
This is the last step and it’s the easiest.Now that you’ve got your website looking the way you want, you can publish it.
Hit the Publish button in the top right corner and you site will be published. You can then go to your domain and see it live on the internet.
Final thoughts on building your website
Once you’ve gone through these steps, you’ll have a great new website for your small business. Not a bad effort!
