Small Business Website — How to Create One in 10 Steps?

Do you want to create a website for your small business and are wondering about the best approach to follow? This article details the essential steps for designing a website adapted to your needs and your budget. Whether to improve your visibility, ensure the quality of your online presence or effectively manage your expenses, follow this guide to plan and carry out your web project without errors.

1. Assess your needs and define your goals

First of all, it is crucial to clearly understand what you want from your website. Do you want to generate sales, improve communication with your customers, or simply present your services? Defining your goals will help guide all future decisions.

Assessing needs and setting goals for creating a small business website is crucial to the success of the project. Here are the key elements to consider during this first step:

1. Identifying the target audience

• Demographics and interests: who are your potential customers? What are their ages, their professions, their interests?
• Online behavior: how does your audience use the internet? On which devices? Do they prefer visual or textual content?

2. Website Objectives

• Sales and conversions: Is the site aimed at increasing direct sales, generating leads, or encouraging newsletter or event signups?
• Information and Awareness: Is it providing information about your products or services, or educating your market about your area of expertise?
• Engagement: Are you looking to improve customer interaction through forums, blogs, or FAQ sections?

3. Required Features

• E-commerce: Do you need online sales features like shopping carts, secure payment systems, or product customization options?
• Interactivity: What level of interaction should the site offer? This includes contact forms, booking tools, or commenting features.
• Accessibility: Should the site be accessible to people with different abilities, meeting standards like WCAG?

4. Resources available

• Budget: What is your total budget for the development, launch, and maintenance of the site?
• In-house skills: Do you have web design and development skills within your team, or will you need to outsource these tasks?
• Time: What is your timetable for putting the site online? Do you have specific deadlines for events or promotions?

5. Integration with existing tools

• Management software: Does the site need to integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) systems, content management systems (CMS), or other business tools?
• Social Media: How will the site integrate with your social media channels? Is social feed integration or sharing buttons necessary?

6. Measuring success

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): What KPIs will you use to measure the effectiveness of your site? This can include web traffic, conversion rate, time on site, etc.
• Analytics Tools: What tools will you use to track and analyze traffic and engagement on your site?

By taking the time to fully understand and define each of these elements, you will be able to plan better. This will allow you to create a website that not only meets the needs of your business, but is also perfectly aligned with the expectations of your customers.

2. Choose between homemade site, SaaS, or showcase site

Depending on your budget and technical skills, you can opt for a do-it-yourself website solution with tools like Wix or WordPress.com , or invest in a more personalized showcase site. Each option has its pros and cons, from cost to flexibility and customization.

Why can a SaaS be the solution?

Opting for SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions like Wix or WordPress.com has several advantages for small businesses, especially when it comes to creating and managing websites. Here are some of the main benefits:

1. Ease of use

• Intuitive user interface: These platforms offer drag-and-drop interfaces that make designing and updating your website accessible even to users without advanced technical skills.
• Pre-built templates and themes: You have access to a multitude of pre-designed templates that can be customized to match your company's branding without requiring coding skills.

2. Cost reduction

• No high upfront costs: Unlike a custom solution, SaaS platforms operate on a subscription model, eliminating the need for significant upfront investments for web development.
• Maintenance included: Security updates and functional enhancements are managed by the vendor, reducing ongoing maintenance costs.

3. Maintenance and support

• Technical support: These services often include customer support to help resolve technical issues or usage questions, which is especially valuable for businesses that don't have dedicated IT staff.
• Automatic updates: SaaS platforms are regularly updated to offer new features and to ensure security, without necessary intervention from the user.

4. Scalability

• Easy Scalability: As your business grows, these platforms make it easy to add features or expand the capacity of your site without having to rebuild the technology foundation.

5. Integrations

• Plugins and extensions: Solutions like Wix and WordPress.com offer a wide range of plugins and extensions that allow you to integrate additional features like online stores, SEO tools, social networks, etc.

6. Security

• Secure Hosting: These platforms include secure hosting, minimizing cybersecurity risks for small businesses who might not have the expertise to secure a website on their own.

7. Accessibility

• Access from anywhere: Since SaaS platforms are cloud-based, site managers can access and edit it from any device with an internet connection.

These benefits make SaaS platforms particularly attractive to small businesses looking to establish an effective and professional online presence without the complications or costs associated with more traditional or custom web development solutions.

When is opting for an Open-source solution ideal for a small business website?

Opting for an open-source solution to create a small business website can be advantageous in several scenarios. These solutions, such as WordPress.org, Joomla , or Drupal, offer flexibility, customization, and control that SaaS solutions often cannot match. Here are the main cases:

1. Specific customization needs

• Tailored Features: If your business requires specific features that are not available with SaaS platforms. Or alternatively, requires extensive customization to align with unique business processes, an open-source solution is generally more adaptable.
• Custom design: For businesses that need a distinct and unique visual identity, open-source solutions allow for further design customization. Indeed, there are no limitations imposed by SaaS platform themes.

2. Full control over the site

• Access to source code : with an open-source solution, you have access to the complete source code, which allows you to modify, adapt and optimize the website endlessly.
• Vendor independence : You are not tied to a specific vendor for support and maintenance, which can be crucial if you are looking for long-term independence.

3. Scalability and flexibility

• Technical scalability: Open-source solutions can be more easily scaled in terms of traffic load and functional complexity, adapting to growing business needs.
• Adapt to changes: You can integrate and adapt emerging technologies, which is often more difficult with SaaS platforms which may be limited by their development framework.

4. Compliance with standards and compatibility

• Standards compliance: Companies that need to comply with specific industry or government standards may find it easier to do so with open-source solutions that can be customized to meet those requirements.
• Integration with existing systems: Companies that already use a particular technology stack or enterprise systems (CRM, ERP) may prefer an open-source solution that can be integrated more closely with those systems.

5. Community and support

• Community support: Open-source solutions typically benefit from a large community of developers who can offer support, plugins, and updates. This community can be a valuable resource for troubleshooting and continually improving your site.

6. Long-term costs

• Reduced licensing costs: Although open-source solutions may require a greater initial investment in time and resources for setup and customization, they can reduce or eliminate recurring licensing costs associated with SaaS platforms.

Choosing an open-source solution is therefore ideal for companies that need maximum flexibility. However, you need to invest in technology for full control. This allows you to implement specific needs that are not easily covered by standard solutions on the market.

3. Plan content

Content is king. Plan what type of content you want to present: texts, images, videos, blogs. This influences both visitor engagement and your site’s SEO.

4. Choose a domain and hosting

The choice of domain name is essential because it represents your online identity. Hosting must be reliable to ensure the availability and speed of your site.

5. Design the user interface

The interface design should reflect your brand and be intuitive for users. User experience (UX) plays a major role in the success of your site.

6. Develop the site

Whether you do it yourself or hire a developer, the development phase turns your ideas into a working reality.

7. Test the site

Before launching, test the site thoroughly on different devices to ensure it is responsive and bug-free.

8. Launch the site

Plan a launch, prepare the necessary marketing to announce your new site. Consider integrating analytics tools to track visits and engagement.

9. Maintain and update the site

A site is never truly “finished”. It will require regular updates, both content and technology, to remain secure and relevant.

10. Use open source resources

For those with technical skills, using open source resources can offer advanced customization and full control. Make a checklist for the essential elements to incorporate.

Conclusion Building a small business website takes time and planning, but by following these steps you can maximize your chances of success. Analyze your needs, evaluate available options, and seek assistance when necessary to fully realize the benefits of an effective online presence.

Do you have a project in mind? Contact us for a free assessment.

Gilblas Ngunte Possi

Founder and Full-Stack Developer at Prositeweb.

My proficiency with modern tools and a keen analytical sense regarding information technology enable me to provide superior guidance in the development and implementation of your web solutions.