Why create a website?
There are many reasons you should have a website.
A) Start your own business It has never been easier to start your own business. Especially online businesses. Creating a website is much easier than you can imagine. 1) You can market your products and services even if you conduct the business offline. 2) You can also create an online business which allows you to work from any location. 3) You can even create a passive income which means that you make money when you are asleep.
B) Market your existing business “If you are not seen, you don’t exist”. There is a reason google rules the internet world. Everyone googles everything. That includes businesses as well. Having a website for your business is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Let’s assume that you are going to a dentist. You are given two choices, two different companies. Naturally, you want some more information. So what do you do? You google them. The first company has a website the other one doesn’t. Which one do you choose? The high probability is that you choose the former, isn’t it? This is true for the absolute majority of people making purchasing decisions. You are losing business every minute as long as you don’t have an internet presence.
C) Market yourself Websites are the business card of the 21st century. And since the majority of people don’t have their own websites you will stand out. Think about it. How does the most common job search go? 1) you find an open position (you choose what’s available, instead of what you really want) 2) you send a standard CV and a “customized” cover letter (You and the other 500 people) 3) Hope and pray to get called up for an interview (Hoping instead of doing something different) 4) Interview: You focus on answering the questions like everyone else (Instead of adding value) Why not turn the tables around? Why not stand out from the crowd and market yourself in an unique way? Can you imagine how hard it is to stand out on a piece of paper. Specially since the recruiter has to go through 500 applications. A website will give that very edge over the competition.
Hosting + Domain
Email marketing
Premium themes
Tools of the trade
Before you get started you need some tools. The tools I promote are only the ones I use myself. The day I stop using them I will take their promotion away from this site. So as long as you see these here you can safely use them.
Hosting/domain
Premium themes
Email marketing
Step 1: Buy hosting and domain All of my websites are hosted on Bluehost. Why? Because it’s easy to use and you can install WordPress in a few clicks. The best thing is their customer service – it’s just incredible. Since I’m based in Sweden, I was worried that I might have a hard time of getting help from Bluehost, but that was a wrong assumption. I’ve received perfect assistance every time. I highly recommend Bluehost if you are going to create your first site. They are just amazing.
Step 2: Buy premium theme There are loads of good free themes out there and you can safely use them. However I don’t recommend that. I did the mistake of trying to invest as little money as possible which has cost me a lot of hours. Hours that I could have used much better. I’m not even recommending you to buy one premium theme. With elegant themes subscription you pay a measly 89 USD per year and you get a whopping 87 themes. That also includes their 6 useful plugins. I have used their very popular drag-and-drop Divi theme on my own site and I just love it. Highly recommended!
Step 3: Buy Email marketing Aweber is a email opt-in service and email marketing and broadcasting tool. Why do you need this? The average visitor spends up to 20 seconds on your site. Even if they liked what they saw and bookmark your site, the likelihood of them revisiting is very small. That means that you will need to spend money on advertising to get them back to your site. However, if you have their email, you could contact them whenever you want. Offer a freebie (ethical bribe) as an incentive for your visitors to sign up.