Building a Business Website in 10 Simple Steps

Although we recommend using a website builder to create your website, regardless of which option you choose, there are a few things you need to decide on before you start building. You might be excited to dive straight in and begin, but taking a moment to do some serious planning will save you a lot of trouble further down the line!

Peter Erlandsson, founder of allguitarstuff.com, highlights the benefits of getting your ducks in a row before you get started:

‘As boring as the planning phase might be, it will serve you well in the future. A well planned site has consistent branding, a setup that makes it easy and seamless to grow and develop, and lots of content that is optimized for SEO (search engine optimization) with the right keywords in mind.’

Below, we’ve listed a few key elements to consider before you let your creative juices flow – including defining your business website goals and target audience.

Determine the Main Purpose of Your Website

Why are you building a website? It might seem like an obvious question, but it’s the most important of them all.

Websites have the tools to accomplish a number of different goals, so knowing what you want yours to do is the best way to avoid confusion and provide a smooth customer experience. After all, no one wants to go to a Chinese restaurant expecting to eat Italian food – only to be served sushi!

It’s the same with websites. Your customers will have certain expectations, and it’s your website’s job to meet them. Whether you want to use it as a platform to sell goods, or simply provide information about your business, knowing this in advance will make it much easier to build a website that works for you and your customers.

Identify Your Target Audience

It’s rare for a company to target all kinds of users – for each business or industry, there’s a particular type of person they’ll be gearing their products, website, and marketing towards.

Figuring out your target audience early on in the game can be particularly helpful when it comes to making important design decisions later on. The demographic you’re aiming for can have an impact on the images and copy you use, and it might even influence smaller details like your font and color scheme, too.

Do Some Competitor Research

It’s pretty rare for any business to come up with a completely unique idea nowadays. That means one thing: there are going to be other companies out there offering the same thing as you!

Doing thorough competitor research, then, can give you a good idea of what you should and shouldn’t be including in your business website. You don’t have to limit your investigations only to websites in the same industry as you, either. Take a look at some of your personal favorites, and ask yourself what it is about them that you like. Is there anything you can incorporate into your own site to make your business stand out from the rest?

Catherine Cooke, founder and CEO of Upskillwise.com, had this to say about the importance of checking out the market before you get started:

“When building a business website, it’s important to look at what your competitors are doing. You want to stand out against your competition, but you also want to align yourself with industry standards. Find three or four elements of their web design that you can mimic, and find another three or four elements where you think you can do something completely different. This will tell users who visit your website what kind of service or product you offer and help you stand out and stick in their memory long after they’ve clicked away.”

Find Out More: Check out our shortlist of Corporate Website Design Examples for inspiration.

Set Clear Goals for Your Business Website

Before diving into the process of creating your business website, it’s vital to establish clear goals for your online presence.

That means determining what you aim to achieve with your website: whether it’s generating leads, increasing online sales, building brand awareness, or providing valuable information to your audience.

By defining your goals early on, you can align your website design, content, and functionality to effectively support and drive those objectives. This clarity will also guide your decision-making throughout the website creation process: ensuring that your business website serves its purpose – and contributes to your overall success. This is also a useful step in business design, which can be a good thing to think about in these early stages of setting up your brand.

Find Out More

Looking for inspiration? If your audience will be other businesses, check out our selection of the Best B2B Websites Examples to see how other top B2B brands designed their sites.

A domain name is your website’s unique address. It’s often the first thing that potential customers will see, so it’ll play a very important part in forming their first impressions.

Because of this, it’s a good idea for businesses to have domain names that are the same as, or similar to, their company name. For example, our domain name is websitebuilderexpert.com.

When choosing your domain name, make sure you do your research to check that there aren’t any similar ones floating around. You also want it to be fairly short and easy to spell. We’d recommend avoiding abbreviations or unnecessary hyphens, too. This will reduce the risk of errors and make it easier for customers to spell your domain name!

You’ll need to pay an initial cost to register your domain, and then pay a yearly fee to keep it registered going forwards. Doing this will secure your domain name and make sure that nobody else can take it.

A domain name typically costs around $10 to $12 per year. You can usually get your domain directly through your website builder, or via a separate domain registrar. Popular domain name providers include Domain.com and NameCheap.

Most website builders (such as Wix) include a free domain name for the first year. For any subsequent years, you can pay for your domain name directly through your builder.

Further Reading:

• What is a Domain Name? – Take a look at our thorough guide to domain names. You’ll find everything you need to know right here!
• 5 Best Domain Name Registrars – We’ll take a look at some of the best domain name registrars on the market, so you’ll know where to go to pick yours out.
• How Much Does a Domain Name Cost – Get clued up on the ins and outs of domain name pricing so you can factor this in when setting your budget.

To make your business look more professional and established, you’ll need a custom email address. For example, yourname@yourbusiness.com instantly looks more credible than yourname@gmail.com.

The most common way to format business email addresses is to include the business’s domain name.

For example, our email address is info@websitebuilderexpert.com.

Getting a custom business email address is quick, cheap, and fairly easy. There are even ways to get a free business email if you know how!

We recommend using Google Workspace, which is powered by Google.

It’s basically Gmail for businesses, except you have a personalized email address. You get the user-friendly interface, reliability, and security of Gmail, with prices starting at $6 per month for each business email address.

Now, on to one of the most important steps: choosing your website builder!

It’s important to mention at this point that there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to choosing the right business website builder. Different businesses will have vastly different needs – a trendy new restaurant, for example, will require something totally different from a small law firm.

That said, having tested over 50 website builders, we can confidently say that Wix is our top choice for building a business website, with Squarespace also offering a great option. You can’t go far wrong if you pick any one of these platforms, but you can check out our best website builders for small business ranking to see even more options.

Below, we’ll give you a quick rundown of each of our top website builders, so you can judge the one that’s best for you.

1. Wix

Best All-Around Website Builder

4.8

out of 5

Top Choice

Template Design

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ease of Use

5 out of 5 stars

Features & Flexibility

4.5 out of 5 stars

Popularity

5 out of 5 stars

Pricing

5 out of 5 stars

Try For Free

Read Our Full Review

Best Overall Website Builder

Learning how to use Wix is really simple. That’s probably why Wix is the builder that users were most likely to recommend following our user testing. It comes with over 800 professionally designed templates covering a huge array of industries – including food service, which is partly why Wix also earns the title of  best restaurant website builder.

Wix at a glance:

• Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans start at $16/month (billed annually)
• Design: Extensive collection of over 800 templates, covering pretty much every industry you can think of
• Features: Massive app market with over 300+ apps for adding niche functionality to your site
• Support: Includes phone, email, forum, and help center

Who is Wix best for?

• Users that need a lot of design help and guidance. Wix offers pre-populated template designs, so you can easily swap in your own business images and content instead of starting from scratch. Alternatively, you can use Wix ADI – this is an artificial intelligence design software that simply asks you what you like, then takes your ideas and builds a custom website design for you.
• Users that need more flexible tools for a specialty business website. If you need apps – for example, an online booking/reservation app or a restaurant/order takeout app – Wix is a safe bet. Its app market is one of the most extensive in the industry.

Do You Like the Sound of Wix?

Wix is a strong all-around web builder that’s great for beginners, while still offering tons of creative control and cool features.

Yes! Show Me More of Wix

Further Reading:

• Wix Review – a full breakdown of its features, prices, and more
• Wix Pricing – take a closer look at how much Wix costs, and the additional charges you should be aware of

2. Squarespace

Best Design Oriented

4.6

out of 5

Ease of Use

4 out of 5 stars

Template Design

5 out of 5 stars

Features & Flexibility

5 out of 5 stars

Popularity

4.5 out of 5 stars

Pricing

4.5 out of 5 stars

Try For Free

Read Our Full Review

Beautiful Designs, and Ideal for Scaling Your Business

Squarespace is like the Apple of business website builders. It can help you create visually stunning, minimalist business websites that capture your visitors’ attention. Learning how to use Squarespace isn’t quite as straightforward as it is with Wix, but its award-winning templates are worth the slightly steeper learning curve.

Squarespace at a glance:

• Monthly Plans: Paid plans start at $16/month (billed annually). There’s no free plan, but you can take a 14-day free trial
• Template Designs: Squarespace takes a ‘quality over quantity’ approach to template design, offering a curated selection of 60 templates across key industries
• Features: No app market, but good quality inbuilt features (although less choice than with Wix)
• Support: Includes 24/7 email, live chat, and help center

Who is Squarespace best for?

• Users who want to create a visually stunning website for businesses in more creative industries, such as photography or design. You can see some examples here.

Do You Want a Beautiful Website?

Squarespace is a design-focused builder that combines the best designs on the market with powerful tools. Take a closer look!

Yes! Show Me Squarespace

Find out more:

• Squarespace Review – learn more about what it’s got to offer
• Squarespace Pricing – an in-depth look at its pricing plans
• Wix vs Squarespace – see which platform wins in our comparison

When creating a business website with a website builder, it’s crucial to plan your website structure to ensure an organized and user-friendly experience for your visitors.

Here are some steps to help you define the main sections and pages of your business website and create a tailored navigation menu:

1. Identify Main Sections

Start by identifying the primary sections that make up your business website. Common sections include Home, About Us, Products/Services, Blog, Contact Us, and potentially others based on your specific business needs.

Consider the nature of your business and the information you want to convey to your visitors – and think about the essential components that best represent your business.

2. Organize Content

Next, break down each main section into subcategories or pages. For example, under the Products/Services section, you might have separate pages for each of the individual products or services you offer – or for their different categories.

While you’re at it, be sure to organize your content logically: keeping in mind the user’s journey, and the information they’re seeking when visiting each section. Ensure a clear and intuitive flow from one page to another.

3. Create a Navigation Menu

Design a navigation menu that reflects your website’s structure. Typically, the navigation menu is placed prominently at the top of the page or in a sidebar.

Use clear and concise labels for each menu item, reflecting the corresponding section or page’s content. But above all, keep it simple – and avoid overwhelming your website’s visitors with too many menu items!

4. Tailor Navigation for Your Business

Be sure to customize your navigation menu to align with your business needs. If you offer different services or have specific features, highlight them in the menu for easy access – and prioritize the most important sections or pages by placing them in the main menu, or using prominent visual cues.

5. Test and Refine

After planning your website structure and navigation, test it yourself – and seek feedback from your family and friends. Evaluate (honestly!) how easily you can navigate through the different sections and pages. Then, make any necessary adjustments to improve user experience.

Now that you’ve chosen your website builder, it’s time to pick your template, which will act as your design springboard. This is our favorite step, as it’s the first time you’ll be able to stretch your creative fingertips and get a real sense of how your business website could look.

If you build with Wix, you’ll have total freedom to customize your template however you want, which means – for better or worse – you could end up with something completely different from what you started with.

Squarespace isn’t so keen to hand over the creative reins – but that’s not a bad thing, given that Squarespace’s templates are award-winning.

Whichever builder you go with, you won’t be short of options:

• Wix: Over 800 templates, with 214 classed as ‘Business’
• Squarespace: Over 110 templates, with 27 classed as ‘Professional Services’ and 37 as ‘Local Business’

Wix and Squarespace's Templates: Take a Look!

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Wix has over 800 templates to choose from.

Wix's templates come with excellent features.

Squarespace's templates are visually stunning and cover a number of industries.

The versatility of Squarespace's templates are second-to-none. Add whatever features you like and the design will still be quality.

Before making your choice, you can preview each template. When you find the one for you, simply click and start editing! You can preview and try out as many templates as you like before publishing. Some website builders even lets you switch your template after your site has gone live, which can be handy for future redesigns.

Be warned though – this isn’t the case with all website builders. Wix, for example, doesn’t allow you to change your theme once you’ve published your site.

When settling on a template for your own website, try to look beyond the more superficial details, like font, colors, and images. Whichever builder you use, this stuff will be really easy to switch out.

Instead, focus on the structure of the site, the layout of the pages, and the general ‘feel’: does the template feel modern and ‘edgy,’ or more safe and traditional? Is it more ‘in your face’ or understated? Think about how this matches up with your brand identity.

Further Reading:

• How to Choose Your Perfect Website Template Design – a how-to guide that shares three simple rules to help you pick the right template design for your website.
• Collection of Free Website Templates – drag-and-drop web builders offer you a range of free templates to choose from. Check out some of the best here!
• The 10 Best Business Website Templates – our digest of the finest-looking, most functional business site themes on the market.

Once you’ve settled on your template, you’re ready to start customizing and swapping out all the placeholder content for your own. This is the point where you can also add extra pages or sections if you want to.

Generally, website builders make this part of the process dead easy, but their formats aren’t always identical. For example, Wix is a drag-and-drop builder, and has an extensive list of customization options. Squarespace, on the other hand, isn’t strictly drag-and-drop. Rather, the majority of changes are made in the sidebars, with limited customization happening on the actual page.

We recommend spending some time familiarizing yourself with your builder’s specific editor before you get going with serious personalization. 

Adding Your Content

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Even if your Squarespace comes with a number of set pages, you can add more to reflect the needs of your business.

Wix's traditional drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to add different elements to your chosen theme.

In terms of pages, all business websites will need:

1. A strong homepage – Visitors should be able to work out what you do quickly, and navigate to other sections smoothly.
2. An informative ‘About Us’ page – Tell people your story, and add pictures of your team.
3. A clear ‘Contact’ page – Customers need to know where they can find you, and how best to reach you.

Many businesses will also need:

1. A products/services page – Talk about what you do best, and add images if you have them.
2. A blog – This can help demonstrate your expertise, keep your site feeling fresh, and help your site perform well with search engines – but only if you can commit to posting to it fairly regularly.
3. High-quality images, videos, and other multimedia elements related to your business – to engage your audience in a way that’s immersive and interactive.

Heads up! We’ve got plenty of guides to help out with this:

• How to Design a Winning Homepage – what to include, and in what order.
• How to Write an About Us Page – expert tips and examples to help your business sparkle.
• Digital Skills to Learn at Home – how to make your business website stand out from the competition.
• 30 Factors That Influence Website Credibility – a helpful list of things to include on your website to boost trust in your business.
• How to Start a Business Blog – your guide to creating a beautiful blog to go with the website this guide’s going to help you complete!

If you haven’t already, now is a good time to check out the competition. What pages do you like on their website? Is there anything you’ve missed on yours? Any pitfalls you’re keen to avoid? Your website should look individual, yes – but it’s good to know what your customers will be expecting to find.

Some More Helpful Resources

• How to Make a Logo in One Minute – Without Any Design Skills: Learn how you can create professional logos without using fancy (and complicated) image editors like Photoshop.
• Where to Find High-Quality Images for Your Website on the Cheap: Discover the top five resources where you can find beautiful images to boost the professionalism of your website.
• How to Choose a Good Color Scheme for Your Website: Picking the right color scheme for your website can help brand your business, as well as influence your visitors’ psychology. Check out our guide on how to choose and use color.
• How to Pick the Perfect Font Style Design for Your Website: Choosing the right font style design can hugely improve your overall website design, as well as improve your visitors’ experiences. Find out how to pick the right font for your website here.
• How to Use Video Background on Your Website: Adding a video background to your website can make it look trendy and professional, and “wow” your visitors. Find out how to add one, and learn more about the dos and don’ts.
• How to Create a Membership Website: Do you want to make some content exclusive only to members? Our step-by-step guide shows you how to set up a membership model, then build and market your membership site!
• Interview with Lucas Crumb: Flying High with Lux Jets: Need some inspiration? We interviewed Lux Jets owner Lucas Crumb about how he built his private-jet chartering business from the ground up using Wix.

Now that you’ve sorted out your pages and populated them with your own content, it’s time to add in some extra features.

This is normally done through adding ‘apps’ from the builder’s own app market, although some only offer inbuilt features.

Using apps, or extensions, helps you to improve the functionality of your website by beefing it up with some additional features. This is particularly handy for small business owners because it gives you the freedom to pick and choose the apps that are most relevant to your brand.

Here are some examples of apps and features that we think can work well for business websites:

1. Forms – this gives your customers an alternative way to contact you, and helps you organize your enquiries. You can also encourage people to sign up for email communication.
2. Social media integration – whether it’s in the form of buttons linking to your social accounts, an embedded Instagram gallery, or a live Twitter feed, there’s an app for that.
3. Cookie alerts – be transparent with your visitors about how you’re using their data, and give them the option to change this.
4. Live chat – another useful (and increasingly popular) way to connect with your customers in real time.
5. Google Maps – an interactive map to help your customers find you.
6. Customer testimonials – show customer comments and testimonials on your site. Adding social proof to your website will boost trust and conversions.

But this is really just the tip of the iceberg! All the examples we’ve listed above are from Wix, simply because it has one of the biggest app markets (with over 300 apps).

This selection works across many different business types, but there’s also a bunch of industry-specific apps for more niche functionality – check out Wix Stores, Wix Bookings, Wix Restaurants, Wix Hotels, and Wix Video as examples.

Squarespace offers something slightly different. Because Squarespace’s plans have quite a variety of features already built-in, users have the option of downloading a limited number of ‘extensions.’ Don’t worry – these are exactly the same as apps – it’s just the terminology that’s different! They’re particularly handy if you want your website to have ecommerce functionality attached.

More Information

• How to Make a Booking Website: Thinking about setting up a booking website? Our step-by-step guide walks you through the process

It’s all very well and good having a beautiful website, and adding that all-important contact page to encourage your customers to connect with you. But if they never see your website because it doesn’t make it to the first page of the search engine results, then all your hard work will be in vain.

When you type a search term like ‘best brunch in Chicago’ into Google’s search bar, a complex algorithm analyzes over 200 factors to decide on the results you’re presented with, and their order.

Mastering this algorithm and using it to your own advantage is a fine art, so we’ve put together three simple steps you can take to help optimize your business site.

Make Sure Your Site Loads Quickly

Users don’t like slow websites – the majority will abandon your site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to fully render – and therefore neither does Google.

There are a few ways to improve your site speed, one of which is making sure you aren’t packing it full of heavy images. Compressing these using a tool such as Kraken.io is a quick and easy way of reducing your file size in a few seconds, but without compromising the quality of your visuals. This way, you can keep your website image-rich without bloating your pages.

On the topic of images, we also recommend that you give all of your files keyword-based names, and provide clear and relevant alt text when uploading them to your website. Not only does this have clear SEO benefits, but it also makes your site more inclusive, helping those with visual disabilities access your images.

In addition to this, avoiding stock photos is also a good way of building a reputable brand presence. Using your own images means that you can select graphics that are specifically related to your brand and won’t be found on any other site. You can also employ User-Generated Content (UGC) by repurposing posts from your customers – with permission of course! Given that consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view UGC as authentic, this is great for boosting your standing in the eyes of Google.

If you’re not sure whether your site speed is up to scratch, you can run your page through a free page load speed tool (we like PageSpeed Insights by Google) to identify any problem areas. It’s a good idea to do this regularly – especially when you’ve uploaded new content!

Don’t Forget About Mobile

More Google searches are now carried out via mobile than via desktop, so it’s crucial that your site reformats well for smaller screens. All the website builders we’ve included on this list have fully mobile-responsive templates, so should reformat automatically – just be sure to test this out before you hit publish.

Use Keywords (Sparingly)

Take advantage of a free keyword finder like Google Ads Keyword Planner to identify particularly popular searches. Once you know what key terms people are searching for, you can then integrate them naturally into your content. These keywords act a bit like signposts, signaling to Google who you are and what you’re doing. Using them strategically will make your site more likely to reach the first page of search engine results.

Going back to our brunch example, you might find that ‘best breakfast in Chicago’ has a measly search volume of 10 users per month, but ‘best brunch in Chicago’ is way more popular, with hundreds of monthly searches. As a result, you’d want to update your content to advertise ‘brunch’ rather than ‘breakfast’ so you can scoop up all those extra searches.

Once you’ve found a few popular (and relevant) key terms, it’s time to start including them in your content. Make sure to use these terms naturally in your copy – Google can tell if you’re simply ‘keyword stuffing’ for rankings. Keep creating good content, and trust Google to join the dots!

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list. There are plenty of other ways to up your SEO health – such as securing high-quality backlinks, as well as including internal links to keep your visitors clicking. Connecting your site up with your social media is also a great way of fleshing out your brand and making it feel more three-dimensional, too.

Overall, however, it’s important to know that all of Google’s ranking factors hinge on quality and user experience – so if you prioritize that, you can’t go too far wrong.

Optimize your page titles and meta tags

Make your page titles concise – yet descriptive – and keep them between 50-60 characters to ensure they’re displayed in their entirety in search engine results.

Some other best practices for page titles are:

• Including relevant keywords that accurately represent the content of the page. This helps search engines understand the topic and improves the chances of ranking for those keywords.
• Ensuring each page on your website has a unique page title to avoid confusion and provide distinct information about the content.
• Creating compelling page titles that entice users to click through by incorporating persuasive language or indicating the value they can expect from the page.

As for meta descriptions, here’s our best-practice advice for putting them together:

• Summarize the page content with meta descriptions that provide a concise summary of the page’s content in 150-160 characters. This is the snippet that appears below the page title in search results.
• Include keywords naturally within the meta description to signal to search engines the relevance of the page to users’ queries.
• Craft meta descriptions that grab attention and entice users to click by highlighting unique selling points, benefits, or a compelling call-to-action.
• Ensure that the meta description accurately represents the content on the page to maintain consistency and credibility.

Once you’ve followed these steps to build a beautiful business website, there’s only one thing left to do: hit that publish button!

Before you send your creation out into the world, though, we recommend giving it a final once-over. This includes checking how it renders on different screen sizes, and on different internet browsers, too.

After your site has been published, it’s always good to get another pair of eyes on it to make sure everything works properly, and to check you haven’t missed anything. Recruit your family and friends for some urgent user testing. This way, any issues can be ironed out as soon as possible.

Once you’re confident that everything’s working well and your traffic is on its way from a slow trickle to a steady stream, it’s time to sit back, relax, and bask in your success…

…but not for long! Like every great masterpiece, there’s no such thing as a ‘finished’ website.

Not only do you need to keep on top of updates – uploading new blog posts, adding new projects or services, and updating your ‘About Us’ page with new team members or achievements – but you also need to monitor how people are using your site, and take steps to improve their experience.

There are three tools we’d recommend for this – click on each one below to read more about Google Analytics, Hotjar, and Optimizely.

Google Analytics

Firstly, be sure to link your site up with Google Analytics. This is a free tool, and the website builder you use will offer a guide to adding what’s known as a tracking ID to your site, so Google Analytics can start collecting data on how your site is being used.

You can use Google Analytics to find out: 

• Who your audience is, i.e. their age, gender, and location
• Your most popular pages
• Which pages people spend a long time on, and which pages people ‘bounce’ straight off

You can use insights like these to make adjustments to your site, and to inform how you make content in the future.

Hotjar

This is a great tool for showing you how people are interacting with your site in a much more visual way. You can add Hotjar to specific pages to measure where people are clicking, and how far down they are scrolling.

We’d especially recommend using Hotjar to test your homepage. It’s a great way to identify points where the user is struggling. It might be that they’re expecting something to be clickable that isn’t, or are spending too long trying to navigate through an overly-complicated menu. You may find that your key content is buried too far down the page, and only a tiny percentage are scrolling far enough to interact with it.

Hotjar is free up to 2,000 page views per day, and then costs $29+ per month (with a free trial).

Optimizely

Once you’re getting a significant amount of traffic, think about signing up to Optimizely. This is a way to test the impact of changes to your site under ‘perfect test conditions’. You can use Optimizely to run what’s known as an ‘A/B test’, where half your audience is shown the original version of the page, and half are shown the updated one. You can then check which performs better against your chosen metric.

Before we leave you with our FAQs – and, hopefully, everything you need to create your own business website with a website builder – let’s quickly recap each step of the business website creation process:

1.  Define your business website goals and target audience
2. Get a domain name
3. Create an email address
4. Choose a website builder
5. Plan your website structure
6. Pick a template
7. Create engaging and relevant content
8. Integrate essential features for your business
9. Optimize your business website for search engines
10. Publish, monitor and update

That’s (pretty much) all from us! So good luck, enjoy, and let us know how you get on building your own business website in the comments.