Let’s get your business online with a website you can control!
The amazing thing about websites today is that you can make a pretty nice one without knowing anything about coding. It can take a bit of time to get it right, but the first step is finding the best host and builder for your site. There are TONS out there, so do your research, but my favorite are Squarespace, Notion(yes Notion!) and Carrd. Find one that fits your budget and your needs (blogging, ecommerce, etc).
To make sure that your site is recognizable and consistent with the rest of your brand, you need to follow the brand guidelines you have in place. If you don't have any, now's the time to make them! For your website this means figuring out color schemes, fonts, brand voice, and general themes. For me, my color scheme used to include greens, pinks, and neutrals, my fonts were Playfair Display and Montserrat, my voice was casual/friendly, and my themes were monstera plants and clean technology (lots of white and open spaces). That means that the stock photos and other content I used on my old site all fit those guidelines. If you haven’t finalized a brand yet, check out the Brand Guidelines Checklist template!
The phrase "above the scroll" refers to the portion of a web page visible without scrolling. You want your most important information right there to increase the chances of people seeing it. This means your business name, a short description of what you do, and a call to action of some sort. A clean navigation bar is also of crucial importance. Use clear terms such as "About Us", "Contact", and "Our Work" so that people will go to other pages of your site. This portion "above the scroll" is the most important part of your site, so make sure it's clear, concise, and clean. Don’t forget to check what your “above the scroll” looks like on mobile too! People often overlook that, and with how often we browse the web on our phones, it’s so important to make good use of that space.
Your website needs to include several key bits of information for your viewers. First, ways to contact you. You want to offer multiple channels (phone, email, social media, etc) that your customers can use to reach out to you with questions or concerns. Second, your brand story. Somewhere on your site you need to explain to your audience who you are and why you do what you do, allowing them to connect to your business on an emotional level. Third, your services or products. People need to be able to easily know what you do and if they want to purchase something from you. Lastly, relevant information about your location (address, hours, etc.).
This may seem contradictory to the list of information I just told you to include on your site, but I assure you it's not. You don't want to overwhelm people with huge chunks of information that they likely won't read all the way through. Keep it brief and stick to the things they NEED to know to purchase from you: your location, hours, what you do, who you are, why they should stop by. Any extra information can be included in a "FAQ" page. This keeps your site clean and easy to find the information they need.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important aspect of web building, but I promise it's not as difficult as it seems. The key ways to improve your SEO are using relevant keywords and internal linking on your site. This is why so many business also have blogs with posts on subjects in their niche. It lets them use keywords and link to other posts they've published. Internal links keep users on your site for longer and tell search engines that you're a reputable source for information on those topics that you reference through keywords. If your builder lets you change SEO metadata headings, use that to your advantage and make clear and concise descriptions using important keywords (all the hosts I listed in Step One let you customize your metadata).