CREATING A WEBSITE : 6 IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER.

So you know how essential it is to have a website for those that don’t know check it out here –  and you‘ve decided to create one for your brand or a client or someone else. The foundation for creating a website is very important because it can make or break your entire project.

I don’t know how a house is built, but I do know that creating a website is like building a house –  once the foundation is not properly done the house might collapse in the future. In this context, your website might collapse, lack visitors, not indexed by google, slow and so much more 

So even if you are hiring a web developer, you still have to know the foundation and the basics to make sure your website’s foundation is unshakable and you would relate better with the developer and it will make the projects go smoothly. After all, It’s your website and anything that’s worth doing is worth doing well.

So in this article we are going to learn 6 important things to consider before creating a website to make the website stand out from others and to also make it user- friendly because the website is for people to visit. 

1. Your Goal : 

Before starting anything in life, I believe it’s essential to have a goal – a purpose – before embarking on the journey. The goal is like a compass or a guide that will help you navigate your journey easily without drifting apart. 

  Your goal of creating a website will make it easier to know what tools to use, the platform to use, how the website will look like, your audience, and the contents. For example, if you are creating a website for a school, the website will require different user interface and functionalities from a website for a hospital. That means the theme and plugins will probably be different(in WordPress).

Your goal makes it clear on what path to take in your creation process. It will guide you throughout your creative process even if it is not in creating a website. I’ve learnt this lesson from my mistake and I hope you learn from it.

2. Domain Name 

     Once the purpose of the website has been established the next thing is to get the domain name based on the purpose of the site. 

 your domain name is like your address on the internet. it’s what you type in the URL spot 

Ideally, your domain name should be that of your company name or a name that represents what your brand is about or based on your goal. you might not get the exact domain you want or it must have been taken. In this case, you can choose a domain name that reflects your business line.

Try to make the domain name catchy and distinctive. The domain name is a powerful marketing tool that you should fully utilize. you can get your domain name cheap here. There are a lot of domain name registrars out there but I recommend NameCheap.

3. Web Hosting

  If the domain name is like your address, then web hosting is the space where your site resides on the internet. The money you pay to web hosting service is like the rental fee you pay for them to make sure your site is live on the internet.

There are lots of companies that offer these services. Most companies offer the services of both purchasing domain name and web hosting.

I use Namecheap because it’s cheap and they have effective customer service. Their services are more than what you pay for. You can get both domain name and web hosting for a discounted price here. If you would build your site with WordPress just like me. it’s just a click of a button.

4. Content Management System(CMS)

A content management system is an application that will give you the platform to create and manage your website and its content. It is always installed in your control panel when you purchase a web hosting service.

 While there are hundreds of CMS platforms, some of the more popular ones are listed below:

• WordPress
• Joomla
• Magento
• Drupal
• Squarespace
• Wix
• Weebly
• ModX

According to usage statistics of content management systems now report that WordPress powers over 60 million websites, or 36% of all websites on the internet and over 60%   of all websites whose content management systems are known.

This makes it easy for you because there are a lot of resources  – plugins, templates and themes – out there for you to utilize(even for free) for your project and there is a huge community that is willing to help. There is a lot of popular website done with WordPress

 But it does not have to be WordPress, if the purpose of the website requires another content management system (CMS) or you already know how to use another platform, then go ahead.

5. Security (SSL)

Nobody will visit a website that is not secured. So it’s essential to take into consideration the security before creating a website. And if you hire a web developer make sure the site is secured before the developer hands it over to you.

Most hosting companies have the tools that provide this service and there are plugins in WordPress that provide these functionalities.

6. Design(UI/UX)

UI means user-interface. It is basically how the website or application looks. Different elements and items come together to form the user-interface, such as 

• Colour
• Fonts
• Logo
• Layout
• Buttons
• icons
• Background images, etc.

Most of those above factors should be considered before creating a website – especially the colour, it should be consistent with the brand’s color. The design has to be clean, the fonts also  have to be consistent.

UX is the experience that encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products. What it means is that the ease and the effectiveness a user experiences when navigating your digital product or services.

You have to make your User-experience(Ux) as simple and effective as possible so that users can get the most of it and it will help your brand to grow because it is usable. Some attribute of Ux are 

• The speed of the site 
• Easy navigation of the pages
• The responsiveness of the site(half of the internet traffic are from mobile phones)
• The compatibility of the site with different browser

Pro tips: 

You can check the responsiveness of your website at responsinator and you can check the speed ,load time and more at Gtmetrix.

  With all these factors taken into consideration, creating a website – whether it’s yours or for a client – will not be as hard as you think and it covers the best practises.

     

   Conclusion on creating a website

There are tons of websites out there but websites that utilizes the best practices will stand the test of time while Fulfilling the purpose it was created. A website is for others to visit so it must be user-friendly and also responsive. The responsiveness is important because the rise of mobile phones has skyrocketed.

With those basics met, you can create a website that is awesome – regardless of the Content Management system(CMS).