Some people believe that to make a website; you need to be some kind of expert or website developer.
Now while you can invest money in someone to build a website for you, it is something that anyone can do.
With current events going on right now, there has been a significant increase in not only online users but people wanting to make money online.
Using the internet to make money is arguably one of the best ways to bring in an income.
Not only can you make some extra cash, but you can scale and make thousands. There are so many people doing that right now.
So building a website is a great way to go about it.
Now since your here, your likely interested in making a website, and if so, you have to come to the right place.
It would be easy to say a typical story such as when I got started, it took me a while to get a website up and running, but honestly, it didn’t.
Its got easy to make one, but all in all, the process is really straightforward, and that is what I will take you through in this post.
Table of Contents
Why Should You Build A Website?
There are plenty of pros to building a website, and as I touched upon, one of them is to make money.
However, it shouldn’t be your main focus as you will enter that cycle of always chasing the money.
That is something I did early on, which caused me to burn out quite severely.
If you set yourself a plan along with some long term goals, then it will set you up for success, but you need to take it one step at a time.
That starts with the building of a website.
Another reason why you might be keen on building a website is you have a platform for yourself.
Where you can write content that attracts visitors, it’s like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or any other media platform.
You can attract an audience and engage them with your content.
So whether you are someone who is weighing up whether to create an online business or go Uni like me, like writing or just want to try it out, there are ultimately many reasons why you want to give it a go.
For you to get this far, it shows you definitely have an interest, so I would recommend reading till the end as this guide will go through all the steps you need to make a website in 2020.
1. What Is Your Niche?
One of the questions you should ask yourself before you go any further is what your niche is going to be.
Going into making a website without knowing what you’re actually going to write about is one of the worst strategies.
That is where you will want to get the pen and paper out as at this stage; you will want to think about what your brand is going to be.
You will also want to ask yourself these questions too:
- What audience do you want to attract?
- What content am I planning on writing?
- How will I design the site?
Some people like to go in headfirst and make it up as they go along. It sometimes works; however, when it comes to building a successful website, it rarely works.
While it’s not the sole reason but its part of the reason most bloggers do fail with there websites.
That is why you need a plan in place as not only does it make it easier, but having one set out means you more likely to follow it.
Now with the planning page, what I do want to reinforce is the importance of not getting it all perfect.
You want a borderline and something to refer too as you go forward with the building of the site.
As you start building content and continue with your online venture, you will get new ideas on where you want to take your site.
2. Think Of A Domain Name
Once you know what you want to do with your site, the next job is to find a domain name.
As of last year, there are between 1.6 and 1.9 million domains registered on the web.
But don’t let that stop you like that number as barely scratched the surface, and there is so much potential out there.
Let’s say you were thinking of doing site around gardening tools.
One site I like to use whenever I am researching ideas for a domain name is NameMesh.
What this site does is generate you many ideas, so if you put in a few words, it will come up with many domains that are available that you can go with.
Check this out below:
The domain Gardeningtools(com) was inevitably taken; however, as you can see, hundreds of ideas came up.
What you can do is add them to a miniature list of maybe 5 or 10, and then from there, choose the one you like the most.
Just remember, there is no rush with this step. You are building not only a website but a brand, so a domain name is going to be crucial.
As we will be getting onto later, you will be writing content under this name, and if its something you can’t get behind, you will find it demotivating.
3. Website Creation
Once you have your ideas in place, the next step is to go ahead and build the website.
There are several sites you can do this with. You can use Wix, Sharespace, WordPress, and many more.
If you have seen an advert for one of these companies at some point which most of us have, then you would have noticed how easy they make it look.
They often portray it as a few clicks, and your site is up and running, which is pretty much the case.
Now to take you through the site creation process, I am going to be using my #1 recommendation Wealthy Affiliate as an example.
That is mainly because I have used this platform to build the majority of my sites and have found it very easy each time.
So the below screenshot is of the building a site process at WA.
As you can see, you have the options between a free domain, one you own, and register a domain directly. That is because, just like Godaddy, you can register and purchase a domain directly.
Now once you have chosen an option, you will want to select the domain name from the drop-down and then enter the name of the website.
That will show up on the dashboard so that you can change it later.
The final step is to choose a design for your site.
At Wealthy Affiliate, and as you can see from in the image, there are just under 4000 themes you can choose from.
Which means you can find something that works for you and your niche.
Once you have selected it, a button appears for you to start building the site. That is all done for you.
4. Implementing The Fundamentals
So now, you have the site running, and you can now access the dashboard of your website.
But while the site is technically built, there are few things you need to do.
In this section, let’s have a look at the things you need to set up next.
The Main Pages
The first thing you should do when you build a site is to figure out which pages you want on your website.
You will have the core of the site, so the essential pages, such as a homepage.
Plus, you will have the blog which you will be making content for viewers to engage with.
Starting with the main pages what you will need is:
- About Me Page – The idea of this page is to give your readers some info on who you are and what you have to offer/will be offering.
- Homepage – Without stating the obvious, a homepage is critical. That will be the first page that a user will see when they type in your site. They will have their first impression of your website from this page. If your visitor presses the back button, they likely won’t come back, so you need to grab their attention from the second they click on.
- Privacy Policy – Simply put, this page is essential as its a necessity for every business and website.
- Contact Me – This page will have the information needed for your audience to contact you.
- Affiliate Disclosure – This depends on your goals for the website, but if you are planning to make money through affiliate marketing, you will need some kind of disclosure on your site. That also lets your readers know that if they do buy something through your links, then the website owners might be compensated financially.
Google Analytics
If you want to start tracking your visitors from the get-go, then Google Analytics will help you keep track of that.
When you first start a site, you will likely not have many visitors, especially if you are targeting organic traffic.
It is typically slow to build up in the first few months.
But once you have people on your site, you will be able to see detailed data of your audience.
That includes:
- How long a visitor stays on your site for?
- How many page views/sessions a day?
- Which visitors are clicking on for the first time, and who are returning visitors?
- The sources of traffic
- How are they navigating around your website?
There is a lot more data you can get from analytics, and that is why it is so good. There are other alternatives, such as Clicky, which I used for a period a few years back.
But ultimately, Google Analytics is the best tool by far that I have used and will help you get the most out of your audience.
Google Search Console
There is some confusion with the Search Console, as some people can’t tell the difference between this tool and Google Analytics.
The difference is analytics shows you what people do on your site.
Whereas Google Search Console tells you what people do off-site.
Once you have made an account and linked your site you will be able to see:
- Clicks
- Impressions – How many times your site pages and posts were viewed in the search engine.
- CTR – The click-through rate of your posts, how many people are going past your site in google, and how many are actually clicking on.
- Average Rank – This is the average ranking of your posts within SERPs. When your site is new, it will likely be quite high. However, when you build up your authority and work on your website, this number will get lower.
5. Search Engine Optimization (a.k.a SEO)
No matter what source of traffic you aim to target one of your tasks as a website owner is to get the SEO knuckled down.
Without this, your site will look messy and not appropriately optimized for search engines.
There is a study
Without a fully optimized site, you may be working hard for no avail, as you won’t be reaching your full potential with traffic.
I have seen this happen numerous times with peoples sites that have been online for years.
So if you are making a website for the first time, this section will be vital to you as it will give you an outline of what you will need to do to get off on the right foot.
1. Yoast SEO
That is all on preference. Some people like to use All In One SEO, which is excellent in its own right.
However, the tool I use, which has done wonders for my sites over the past few years is Yoast SEO.
Yoast helps you optimize your content, so it’s like search engine friendly as it can be.
It tells you what search engines like and don’t like.
So if your writing content, will tell you what you need to do to get the most out of your content.
You could write the best post in the world, but if it’s not optimized correctly, it likely won’t hit a single eyeball.
Now, like I said while Yoast isn’t for everyone, website owners all seem to use different SEO plugins.
You have these alternatives to Yoast that you can give a try.
2. Keyword Research
Let’s say you wanted to write a post about ‘football boot.‘
I know it’s random, but let’s say in this post you wrote about what a football is and maybe some boots you recommend.
Now, what, though?
If you are attempting to rank that on Google, guess where you will rank.
Probably nowhere, especially if you’re new.
The problem with that example is that keyword is too broad, and if you want to be high up in the search rankings, you won’t get there.
You could eventually once you have some authority; however, it will be tough as it’s super competitive.
That is where the importance of keyword research comes in.
You can make the best content; you might even be the most prominent expert for that field in the world.
However, there is no way Google can know that.
That is why you need to take baby steps and do proper keyword research.
One common practice would be targeting Long-Tail keywords.
These are terms in google that have a low amount of competing sites looking to rank for it.
That makes it much easier for someone to create content and achieve a higher rank in Google.
That is why I recommend the long-tail keywords has its a good strategy that you can use to get consistent traffic.
Mobile Compatibility
In this day and age, mobile compatibility has become more critical than before.
According to a study, nearly 3.5 billion users currently use their mobile phones in 2020.
With the rapid acceleration of technology and access to it, you can understand why it’s becoming a bigger deal.
But because of this, more people are using their mobiles to find information.
That is why Google is turning their attention to the mobile side of things to make sure that everyone on those devices is getting a pleasant experience.
So as a website owner, you will need to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile and doesn’t take forever to load.
To this you want to be:
- Using a responsive theme
- Smushing images (reducing the size of any images on your site)
- Have a caching plugin in operation
- Make sure the mobile version of your site is verified.
- Install an AMP plugin
While it is so essential, the good news is that making your site optimized for mobile is reasonably straightforward.
7. Website Structure
The website structure is part of the SEO practices that you will need to follow as you build your site.
That was something I undermined years ago.
I would blog about whatever came to my mind at the time.
If I went to the shop, I would probably blog about that when I got home.
But seriously, I would end up posting about all types of things.
I just didn’t understand the importance of website structure.
That at the end of the day, I had no clue what the site was myself, and neither did Google.
So this is why you need to nail down your site structure from the get-go.
To go about this, you will need to look at your niche and think about the content you want to produce.
Think about what categories within your niche you would like to build content on.
From there, it’s all about building the site around your content.
Making sure that if someone came across your site, they would be able to navigate it without too much difficulty.
Over time you will write content and build out your site, which will lead to it getting a little messy.
So along this journey, you want to be keeping on top of everything, and for every piece of content, you write you also want to go back and update an old article.
That keeps your blog updated and is an excellent indicator to Google that you are keeping up to date with current times.
6. Plan Out The First 10 Pieces Of Content
Once you have the categories set out, it gets easy.
If you start with 3 or 4 categories, which I recommend at the start, you can then plan 1 or 2 pieces to write for each one.
When you have posts planned out, it makes it easier to get off the mark.
From experience creating a site is the natural part, but actually building out the content is the hard part.
Naturally, your going to want to start writing asap, but you don’t want to rush into it.
Just like you did with the planning of the site, you will want to think about what posts you want to start writing.
If you are a newbie, it will take you some time to adjust to writing content on a blog.
Blogging is more about conversing with your audience.
At the start, the blogs you produce likely won’t be perfect.
However, practice makes perfect, and you will soon get into the swing of things.
7. Making Money With A Website
When it comes to earning revenue with your website, there is a lot to cover.
That is because there are so many ways to monetize a site.
So here, I will go over some of the ways you can get paid from your website.
- Sponsored Posts – Get paid for promoting other brands on your site.
- Affiliate Marketing – Make a commission of products you talk about and recommend through the use of affiliate links.
- Sell A Course – If you can find something that will help your audience, then one way is to build a course. A few examples consist of Ian Priybl, who shared his expertise in internet marketing by creating the FIMP course and Jake Paul, who created a social media course designed around teaching others how to replicate his success.
- Ad Revenue – One of the most popular ways but also the simplest is through putting ads on. You can join ad networks such as Google Adsense and Ezoic.
These are just a few ways that you get the most out of your website.
However, one thing to remember, and that is making money, isn’t instant.
It’s not a get rich quick scheme where you can set up a website, write a few pieces of content, and make money.
Instead, its a long term project wherein months time as long as your consistent, you will be enjoying the fruits of your labor.
So you need to invest both your time and in some cases your money, to see progress.
It’s tough at first, and believe me when I saw I struggled with this when I started my first few sites.
I would say to my self that in a month I wanted to make ‘x’ amount of money.
I chased the money instead of concentrating on being consistent and providing value with my content.
So unlike I did, if you can nail down the correct mindset from the get-go, you are going to find the journey much more relaxed.
And months from now, you may even have a full-time earning website.
Where To Build Your Website?
The process of building your website isn’t laborious; however, the choice can be.
There are many top website builders out there that you can choose from.
So before you choose the first one that comes in front of you.
I recommend checking out different ones.
Each one brings something else to the table, so its best to try a few to get a sense of what works best for you.
If you want the ease of dragging and dropping, then maybe Wix is one to look into.
However, if you want to keep things simple and make a WordPress site, you can do that at WordPress.org or better still with Wealthy Affiliate.
So let’s have a look at some of the options you have in front of you.
1. Wealthy Affiliate
Now to clarify, Wealthy Affiliate is more than just a site for building a website.
It’s a platform that will teach you how to do business, offer quality hosting for your sites, and provide support from top marketers within the internet marketing field.
If you are looking for the overall package, then this is one to suggest.
You have over 300+ free website themes you can get started with, and the fact you have one website absolutely free, which is a no brainer.
Pricing: $49/month ($19 for your first month)
- Free website for new members and ten free sites if you upgrade to premium
- Top hosting which offers both security and fast loading times for your website
- Training and weekly webinars from internet marketers who know their craft
- Instant support and time of the day
2. WordPress
Now just like Wealthy Affiliate offer, you can go straight to the WordPress site itself and create your own website.
Out of the 1.3 billion websites that are active online, over 450 million are managed using WordPress.
That just shows how established and trusted this website builder is, and considering it been around for over 17 years, it’s no surprise to see so many websites surfacing the internet.
Now while I use WA, all my websites have been created using WordPress; however, I use Wealthy Affiliate to host and manage them. So its ultimately your choice where you choose to host yours.
Pricing: $5-$60 a month
- Thousands of plugins that you can integrate into your site
- Known for the simple coding which in turn leads to fast loading times
- Host your website anywhere
- Highlights the importance of SEO with plugins such as Yoast SEO and All In One SEO
3. Wix
The chances are that before you even started researching the process of creating a website that you and Wix have exchanged paths.
Wix has become a viable option for building a website and has been increasing in popularity ever since there launch in 2006.
Now I will be honest. I am yet to make a website with Wix.
But I have heard nothing but great things from them, and from checking them out, they offer everything you need to have a successful website.
It is easy to use with its drag and drop and is flexible design-wise.
To put it short, the fact they have 180 million users is by no means a coincidence.
Pricing: $3-$18 a month
- Flawless Templates
- Cheap to get started
- Need no experience with websites to get started
- Flexible and fast loading times
Conclusion
With the world becoming increasingly more reliant on technology and with more people using the internet than ever, making a website is one of the smartest decisions you can make nowadays.
It allows you to not only build something around a passion of yours but also make a brand for yourself, which you can then, in time, grow.
Now while making a website is the done thing nowadays, its a process you can’t rush into.
Its simple to set up but, at the same time, requires careful planning.
So if you are thinking of making a website, take it all one by one and make sure to have your visions set up before you jump right into it.
These steps, though, will help you get on your way, and if you want to get started with the same site I use to build all my websites, you can do that with my #1 recommendation here.
If you want me to help you out and be your mentor, feel free to reach out to me at my contact me page.
