Building a Small Business Website with WordPress: You are finding ways to launch your business to the web world? Building a website is the best way you can launch your small business. As digital media is so profound and crowded that every business is spreading its way. 

Well, this is the best way to attract customers and generate sales for your business. Let me tell you that it will require no developer skills if you follow the below content. 

Yes, the below content will perfectly guide you in Building a Small Business Website with WordPress. With this, you can design a beautiful and functional website in no time. Let us begin! 

Factors you must consider before designing a website

When building a website, you must ask yourself some questions that might help you in designing. As the website will not be the same for all niches or different industries you choose to have. There is checklist for creating your own website that you should follow before building a business website of your own

Your niche will decide what is the objective behind the website. So here are some questions you must ask while building a website: 

1. Which information you need to convey with your website? 
2. Think of the overview that how the visitors will react after visiting your website. 
3. How will you present your products on your website? 
4. Is there any need to showcase your past experiences or will it prove beneficial for your business? 
5. You must also think about some marketing strategies that will lighten your effort. 

Building a Small Business Website with WordPress

Step 1: Choose a perfect website-building platform

• The first and most vital step while heading for a business website is choosing a web design platform. While most users tend to pick the wrong platform for their small business website. But not to worry, as we are here to guide you in choosing a perfect platform. 
• You might find so many website builders with ready-to-access services on the web. But, you must choose the ideal one with a user-friendly solution that helps in creating a website without codes. 
• WordPress comes under top consideration for beginners and developers. As it holds 43% volume of building small business websites on the web. It is not just a website-building platform, but one the best CMS in the modern world. And the best thing is you get an endless number of components like themes, pre-built content, extensions, and more. And users with zero coding knowledge can easily build quality websites in no time. While you have to opt for a hosting provider when with WordPress. 
• You can also choose from other website builders having complete web design solutions. Including web hosting plans, drag-and-drop tools, and much more. You don’t need to rely on outsourcing plans but they hold certain limitations. They may be less flexible or lack a number of features while WordPress overcomes this. 
• The costs for complete website builders generally raises above $10 or $15. WordPress is an open-source place and does not cost any charges.

Step 2: Choose a Domain Name

• The next step comes is to choose the right domain name for your business website. A domain name is an address to which your website is recognized well in the market. Ideally, it should align with your business name or be based on it. 
• If you are confused while deciding on the domain name, you must take help from domain name generators. Like the Bluehost and Domain Wheel, you will be able to find the best domain plans for your site. Here are some recommendations you must use while deciding on a domain name for your website: 
• Your domain should match your business name. 
• It should be short and easy to read for new users. 
• Try to use the “.com” version as it sounds easier to remember. 
• Make sure your domain name is available. In case it is not available, add a geographical location beside it. This will intensify the visibility of local search results. 

Step 3: Find the right Hosting Provider

• Those who have chosen the all-in-one website builder can ignore this step. WordPress users must have a look at finding the best Hosting Provider. 
• You will find some brilliant user-friendly hosting providers but make sure you choose the best. For this guide, we are going to use the Bluehost provider and that is officially recommended by WordPress. 
• It provides 24/7 customer service and support. 
• Also, it provides a free domain name for the first year of the plan along with an SSL certificate. 
• Various built-in security features and access to the user-friendly dashboard. 
• Also, you get WordPress optimization features. 
• Its monthly plan starts from $2.75 and can be easily upgraded with further business growth.

Step 4: Install WordPress

• Again, this is obvious to ignore this step if you have chosen the all-in-one website builder. And WordPress users will need to follow this. 
• After getting your Domain by Bluehost, you will need to enter the details such as name, email, address, etc. 
• After this, you will be directed to the payment page to finish the purchase. 
• After this, you will receive an email with login details on how to log in to the web hosting control panel. Now, you can install WordPress easily. 
• Reach the Bluehost dashboard and tap the My Sites tab. 
• Select the Add Site and then the Create New Site button. 
• This will let you use Bluehost’s website builder along with the option to install WordPress. Tap the Get Started button in the WordPress Box.
• Next, you will get a prompt to enter the Website name and tagline then tap the Next button. 
• You can now enter the email address and set a password for your new website. This will download and install the WordPress Software. 
• Get back to the My Sites page again and then tap the Manage Site under the website name. And tap the Log into WordPress.

Step 5: Choose a Theme

Now, is the time you can give a pleasing design to your website by adding a theme to it. By default, there is a basic template when you install WordPress. If you wish to add modifications, then you can choose from thousands of available Gutenberg WordPress themes. 

More than that, it is recommended to choose the best theme that goes ideal for your business website. And here are some considerations you can apply while choosing a theme: 

• Go for a simple and minimal design. 
• It should be easy to customize. 
• It should be responsive and load well on all screen sizes. 
• It should be well-documented and updated with the latest versions. 
• Should be compatible with plugins. 
• Good ratings and reviews. 
• Proper customer support. 
• Should be optimized for search engines. 

Once you have decided on the theme, follow these steps to get it on your website: 

• On your WordPress Dashboard, tap the Appearance tab and then select Themes. 
• On the Themes page, tap the Add New button on the top. 
• Select your desired theme in the standard themes list else you can search for it. 
• After finding the theme, click to install and then activate it.

Step 6: Install Plugins and Extensions

• After successfully installing the theme, you can now add necessary extensions or Plugins to your website. Plugins are the software tools that raise functionality on the website. And there are so many plugins you will find on the WordPress page. But you don’t need to install every plugin on your site. 
• Here are some recommendations on which type of plugins to install: 
• Firstly, you must go for a plugin that helps in optimizing your website well. As performance and speed are vital factors. For this, we recommend the WP-Optimize plugin. 
• Security is a major concern for every website to hold and so the Sucuri Security plugin can be used. 
• Database backups are vital in case of any mishappening. The UpdraftPlus plugin is the best for this. 
• Search engine optimization is a vital consideration for a small business to have better growth. And so, the Yoast SEO plugin is the best. 
• Without E-commerce, no online business can run and for this, the Woocommerce plugin is suggested. 
• Page builder plugins are also a vital part to create intuitive pages for your website.

Step 7: Add the Content

Next up is to add desired content to your website and customize it. For this, you must know which vital content types are necessary for a small business website:

The Homepage.

This is the first look at the website when visitors enter your website. It should be compelling and have clear navigation to reach other parts of the website.

Products and Service Page

This is the internal section where you present all the products so that customers could purchase them.

About Page

This section involves the behind story of your company base and team.

Contact Page

This page will help users to contact the team. For this, you must include contact forms encouraging users to connect when in need.

Blog

This could be a marketing tool that almost every business is opting for good sales.

Step 8: Optimize your website for Search Engines

• Once you have added the content, make sure that people could easily find it. The only strategy is to apply SEO practices to your website. 
• SEO is the practice of optimizing your whole website to get better performance and rank well on search engines. And the below list will inform some best SEO practices to follow: 
• Use appropriate keywords on your website. 
• Optimize the website for faster loading of pages. 
• Optimize the metadata. 
• Make sure your website is responsive and works evenly on every screen. 
• Include external and internal links on your site.

Another way of getting the best SEO practices is to use SEO plugins. That is the best way to do it. 

Step 9: Publish your website

Websites built with other website builders keep it private until it is fully finished designing. While with WordPress, it goes live when you install WordPress. And before starting your marketing tactics, you must double-check some points: 

• Check how your website looks on mobile devices to check its readability. 
• Read your content thoroughly to check its accuracy. 
• Delete any unnecessary content from your theme or template.

Conclusion 

Building a small business website with WordPress is crucial for launching your business into the digital world. In today's crowded marketplace, having an online presence not only attracts customers but also boosts sales effectively.

This guide ensures you can create a beautiful and functional website without needing developer skills. By choosing WordPress, a leading CMS, you gain access to a versatile platform supported by a vast array of themes, plugins, and extensions. WordPress simplifies the website-building process, offering flexibility and customization options suitable for any business niche.

Key steps include selecting the right website-building platform, choosing a domain name aligned with your business, and finding a reliable hosting provider like Bluehost. Installing WordPress and selecting a theme that suits your brand's aesthetic is straightforward, followed by enhancing functionality with essential plugins like Yoast SEO for optimization and WooCommerce for e-commerce needs.

Content creation is vital, with pages like Homepage, Products & Services, About Us, Contact, and Blog enhancing user engagement and sales opportunities. Optimizing your site for search engines with SEO best practices ensures visibility and ranking improvement. Finally, after thorough review and testing, your website is ready to go live, marking a significant milestone in your business's digital journey.