For many customers, your website is one of the first places they encounter your business.
They may discover you through Google, click a link on social media, receive your website address from a friend, or see it on a business card.
They then arrive at your website and make a judgement.
Who are these people?
Can they provide what I need?
Do they look professional?
Can I trust them?
How do I contact them?
A good business website can answer these questions quickly and make it easy for a potential customer to take the next step.
A poor website can do the opposite.
It can make a perfectly good business look outdated, confusing or unreliable.
For an established small business, therefore, a website should not be treated simply as an online brochure. It is a business tool that can attract customers, explain your offering, establish credibility, generate enquiries, take bookings, sell products and support your wider marketing strategy.
The good news is that creating a professional website is much easier than it once was.
You have three broad choices:
- Build it yourself using a website builder
- Build it yourself using a platform such as WordPress
- Hire a professional to design and build it
There is no universally correct choice. The best option depends on your budget, technical ability, available time and what you need your website to accomplish. The U.S. Small Business Administration similarly notes that DIY and professional development each have advantages and disadvantages, and that the right choice depends on factors such as budget, needs, timing and internal capabilities.
Let’s look at how to approach the decision.
Start With the Purpose of Your Website
Before choosing a website builder, hosting company or web designer, decide what your website is supposed to accomplish.
This sounds obvious, but it is an easy step to skip.
You don’t want to begin by thinking:
“Which template looks nice?”
You want to begin with:
“What does my business need this website to do?”
A website might be designed to:
- Generate enquiries
- Sell products
- Take bookings
- Display your services
- Provide information
- Establish credibility
- Generate leads
- Showcase your portfolio
- Publish educational content
- Allow customers to contact you
- Support your sales process
- Build an email list
Some businesses need a relatively simple website.
A local electrician might primarily need:
- Home
- Services
- About
- Reviews
- Service areas
- Contact
An online retailer could require:
- Hundreds of product pages
- Shopping cart
- Online payments
- Customer accounts
- Inventory management
- Shipping integration
- Order management
These are very different projects.
Your website should be designed around your business requirements rather than the other way around.
What Does a Business Website Need?
Most small businesses should have a core set of information that visitors can find easily.
Homepage
The homepage is usually the first major introduction to your business.
It should quickly communicate:
- What you do
- Who you serve
- What makes you valuable
- What the visitor should do next
For example:
Professional Landscaping for Homeowners Across Denver
followed by:
Beautiful, low-maintenance outdoor spaces designed, installed and maintained by experienced local landscapers.
Then perhaps a button:
Request a Free Quote
This is much more useful than a homepage that simply says:
“Welcome to Smith Landscaping.”
The U.S. Small Business Administration describes the homepage as the virtual lobby of a business and recommends communicating the business’s value proposition clearly and concisely.
About Page
The About page gives customers an opportunity to learn more about the people behind the business.
It might explain:
- How the business started
- Your experience
- Your qualifications
- Your values
- Your approach
- Your team
- What makes you different
Don’t turn it into an autobiography unless your personal story is genuinely central to the business.
The customer is ultimately asking:
“Why should I trust you?”
Your About page should help answer that question.
Products or Services
Customers should be able to understand exactly what you offer.
Explain:
- What the product or service is
- Who it is for
- What it includes
- The main benefits
- Important features
- Pricing, where appropriate
- How to purchase or enquire
Avoid assuming that visitors understand your industry terminology.
If your business sells specialist services, explain them in plain English.
Contact Page
Make contacting your business easy.
Include appropriate options such as:
- Phone number
- Email address
- Contact form
- Physical address
- Opening hours
- Service area
- Booking system
- Links to relevant social media
Don’t make customers hunt for your contact details.
If someone wants to buy from you, the website should help them do it.
Reviews and Testimonials
Customer reviews can provide valuable social proof.
Consider including:
- Customer testimonials
- Ratings
- Case studies
- Before-and-after photographs
- Client logos, where appropriate
- Links to external review profiles
The objective is to demonstrate that real customers have had positive experiences with your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
A FAQ section can be surprisingly useful.
Think about the questions customers regularly ask you.
For example:
- How much does the service cost?
- How long does it take?
- Do you provide free quotes?
- What areas do you service?
- What payment methods do you accept?
- Do you offer warranties?
- How far in advance should I book?
Answering these questions online can save your staff time while helping potential customers make decisions.
It can also provide useful material for search engine optimisation.
Choosing a Domain Name
Your domain name is the address people use to reach your website.
For example:
yourbusiness.com
Ideally, your domain should be:
- Easy to remember
- Easy to spell
- Relevant to your business
- Professional
- Relatively short
If your business is called:
Smith Plumbing
a domain such as:
smithplumbing.com
would generally be easier to remember than:
smith-professional-plumbing-services-denver.com
You don’t need to create a clever domain.
You need one customers can remember.
Also remember that your domain and website hosting are separate concepts, even though many providers sell them together.
What Is Web Hosting?
This is where website terminology can initially become confusing.
Think of your website as a building.
Your domain name is the address.
Your website is the building.
Your web hosting is the physical infrastructure where the building exists.
A hosting company provides server resources that store your website’s files and make them available when someone visits your domain.
Without hosting, there is nowhere for the website to live.
Hosting can be purchased separately, or it can be bundled with a website-building platform. Many modern website builders combine hosting and other services into one subscription, which can make things considerably simpler for beginners.
Types of Web Hosting
You will encounter different types of hosting.
Don’t worry—you probably don’t need to understand every technical detail.
Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, multiple websites use resources on the same server.
It is generally inexpensive and can be perfectly suitable for a small business website with modest traffic.
Think of it as renting an apartment in a large building.
You share the building’s infrastructure with other occupants.
VPS Hosting
A Virtual Private Server, or VPS, provides more dedicated resources and control.
It can be useful for websites with greater performance requirements.
Think of it as having a more private section of the building.
Dedicated Hosting
With dedicated hosting, a server is dedicated to your website or organisation.
This can provide significant resources and control, but it is generally much more expensive and unnecessary for a typical small-business website.
Managed Hosting
With managed hosting, the hosting provider takes care of more of the technical administration for you.
This can be particularly attractive if you want to spend your time running your business rather than maintaining servers.
For most small businesses, you should choose hosting based on practical requirements such as performance, reliability, security, backups, support and the ability to grow—not simply by choosing the most expensive package available. Current small-business hosting guidance similarly recommends considering storage, bandwidth, uptime, support, security, backups and scalability.
What Is a Website Builder?
A website builder is software that allows you to create a website without having to write all the underlying code yourself.
Popular examples include platforms such as:
- Wix
- Squarespace
- GoDaddy Website Builder
- Shopify
- WordPress-based solutions
The exact features and pricing vary between providers.
The basic idea is similar.
You select a template or starting design and then customise it.
You might:
- Add text
- Upload photographs
- Add buttons
- Create pages
- Change colours
- Add forms
- Add products
- Connect payment systems
- Add booking functionality
Many modern builders use visual editors, meaning you can construct much of the website without traditional programming.
For someone creating their first website, this can dramatically reduce the technical barrier.
DIY Option 1: Website Builder
For many small businesses, the simplest approach is a hosted website builder.
The basic process might look something like:
Choose a platform
↓
Choose a template
↓
Register or connect your domain
↓
Create your pages
↓
Add your text and images
↓
Configure your contact forms and other features
↓
Test the website
↓
Publish
This can be a very practical approach for a small business.
Advantages of DIY Website Builders
Lower Initial Cost
You can often create a professional-looking website without paying a designer or developer to build every component.
Quick to Launch
A straightforward business website can potentially be created relatively quickly.
Easy to Update
If you want to change your opening hours or add a new service, you can generally make the change yourself.
No Coding Required
You can concentrate on the content and appearance without needing to become a programmer.
Hosting May Be Included
Many website builders bundle hosting into the subscription.
Professional Templates
Modern platforms generally provide professionally designed templates, making it much easier to achieve a respectable appearance than building a website completely from scratch.
The SBA notes that DIY builders can offer low costs, professional templates, relatively quick setup and platform-managed hosting and software maintenance.
Disadvantages of DIY Website Builders
DIY is not free.
You are exchanging money for your own time.
It Takes Time
You have to learn the platform, create the content, select images, adjust layouts and troubleshoot problems.
Your time has a value.
If you spend twenty hours building a website, those twenty hours could otherwise have been spent serving customers or developing the business.
Design Limitations
Templates are convenient, but they can limit how much you can customise the site.
You May Produce an Average Website
A website can be technically functional while still looking amateurish.
Professional web design involves much more than dragging boxes around a screen.
It involves:
- Layout
- Typography
- User experience
- Information hierarchy
- Conversion
- Branding
- Mobile design
- Accessibility
- Search optimisation
Platform Dependence
Some hosted website builders make it difficult to move your entire website to another platform later.
The SBA specifically identifies platform lock-in as one potential disadvantage of DIY website builders.
Technical Problems Still Happen
Even with an easy builder, you may eventually encounter something you don’t know how to fix.
DIY Option 2: WordPress
Another popular approach is WordPress.
WordPress is a content management system that can be used to create everything from simple business websites to complex online publications and ecommerce websites.
One important distinction is that WordPress can refer to different services and setups, so beginners should understand exactly what they are purchasing.
With a self-hosted WordPress installation, you typically arrange:
- A domain
- Web hosting
- WordPress
- A theme
- Plugins or additional functionality
Some hosting providers make installation relatively simple.
WordPress can offer considerably more flexibility than many closed website-builder platforms, but that flexibility also introduces more complexity.
You may need to manage:
- Updates
- Plugins
- Themes
- Security
- Backups
- Compatibility
- Performance
For someone comfortable learning technology, this can be a very good option.
For someone who wants the simplest possible experience, a hosted website builder may be more appropriate.
DIY vs Professional Website: The Big Decision
At this point you may be thinking:
“Should I build the website myself or pay someone else?”
There isn’t one answer.
Consider the following.
| Factor | DIY | Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Initial cost | Lower | Higher |
| Your time required | Higher | Lower |
| Customisation | Often limited | Usually much greater |
| Technical expertise | Basic to moderate | Professional |
| Speed | Potentially fast | Depends on project |
| Design expertise | Your responsibility | Included |
| Ongoing changes | You can make them | May require support |
| Complex functionality | Can be difficult | Easier to implement |
| Control | Depends on platform | Usually high |
| Support | Platform-dependent | Developer/agency support |
The SBA similarly highlights lower cost and ease of updates as advantages of DIY, while professional development can provide greater customisation, advanced functionality and ongoing professional support.
When DIY Makes Sense
DIY can be an excellent choice when:
- Your website is relatively simple
- Your budget is limited
- You are comfortable learning new software
- You have time available
- You enjoy technology
- You don’t need highly specialised functionality
- You are happy to maintain the website yourself
For example, a small consulting business with five or six pages may not need an expensive custom website.
A good website builder could be entirely adequate.
When Hiring a Professional Makes Sense
Professional development becomes increasingly attractive when:
- The website is central to your business
- You sell significant amounts online
- You need custom functionality
- You need advanced integrations
- Your website generates large numbers of leads
- You have a complex sales process
- You need sophisticated ecommerce
- You want a highly distinctive design
- You don’t have time to build and maintain the website
- You have the budget to invest in professional development
If your website is responsible for generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, spending a little extra on getting it right may be an excellent investment.
What Does a Professional Actually Do?
Hiring a professional does not simply mean paying someone to make the website look pretty.
A good web designer or developer can help with:
- Website architecture
- User experience
- Branding
- Design
- Mobile responsiveness
- Page structure
- Content management systems
- Search engine optimisation
- Website speed
- Security
- Forms
- Ecommerce
- Booking systems
- Analytics
- Integrations
- Testing
- Maintenance
Depending on the project, you might hire:
Web Designer
Primarily focused on appearance, layout, branding and user experience.
Web Developer
Focused more heavily on functionality, programming and technical implementation.
Digital Agency
A larger team that may provide design, development, SEO, content, advertising and ongoing marketing.
Freelancer
An independent professional who may offer a more personal and potentially lower-cost service.
The right choice depends on the complexity of your project.
How to Hire a Web Professional
If you decide to hire someone, don’t simply ask:
“How much do you charge for a website?”
First explain what you actually need.
Give them information such as:
- What your business does
- Who your customers are
- What the website needs to accomplish
- How many pages you expect
- Whether you need ecommerce
- Whether customers need to book appointments
- Whether you need customer accounts
- Whether you need integrations
- Whether you need ongoing maintenance
- Your approximate budget
Ask prospective providers:
- Can I see examples of your previous work?
- Have you worked with businesses like mine?
- Who owns the website and domain?
- Who owns the content?
- Where will the website be hosted?
- Will I receive administrator access?
- What happens if I want to change providers?
- Is maintenance included?
- How are future changes charged?
- How will the website be backed up?
- What happens if the website goes offline?
These questions can prevent unpleasant surprises later.
Be Careful About Ownership
This is particularly important.
If someone builds your website, make sure you understand who owns what.
Ideally, your business should have control of important assets such as:
- Domain name
- Website account
- Hosting account
- Website content
- Images you have paid for
- Business email accounts
- Analytics accounts
- Advertising accounts
- Customer data
You don’t want to discover five years later that your former web developer controls the domain name or that you cannot access your own website.
Ask about ownership before signing the agreement.
Website Content Matters More Than Many Businesses Realise
A professional-looking website with terrible content is still a terrible marketing tool.
Your website needs good:
Written Content
Clear, concise explanations of your products and services.
Photography
High-quality images that demonstrate your products, premises, team or work.
Video
Where appropriate, video can demonstrate expertise, products and customer experiences.
Testimonials
Real customer experiences can help establish trust.
Calls to Action
Tell customers what they should do next.
For example:
Request a Quote
Book an Appointment
Shop Now
Call Us
Download the Guide
Contact Our Team
Don’t make the visitor guess.
Design for Mobile First
Your website should work well on smartphones and tablets as well as desktop computers.
Check:
- Text size
- Button size
- Navigation
- Images
- Forms
- Page loading speed
- Checkout
- Contact information
A website that looks beautiful on your large desktop monitor but is frustrating on a phone is not a successful business website.
Think About Search Engines From the Beginning
Your website should also be created with search engines in mind.
This doesn’t mean stuffing every page with keywords.
Basic SEO considerations include:
- Clear page titles
- Useful headings
- Helpful content
- Descriptive URLs
- Relevant keywords
- Fast loading pages
- Mobile-friendly design
- Internal links
- Accurate business information
- Quality external links where appropriate
Search engine optimisation is a large subject in its own right, so we will explore it separately.
For now, simply understand that your website and SEO strategy should be designed together rather than treating SEO as something to bolt on at the end.
Connect Your Website to Your Marketing
Your website should be part of your wider digital marketing system.
For example:
Social media
↓
Customer discovers your business
↓
Website
Customer learns more
↓
Email signup
Customer joins your audience
↓
Email marketing
You maintain the relationship
↓
Product/service page
Customer becomes interested
↓
Enquiry or purchase
Customer takes action
This is why building a website should not be an isolated technical project.
It should support the marketing plan you created earlier.
Track What Your Website Is Doing
Once your website is live, you should measure its performance.
Depending on your business, useful measurements might include:
- Number of visitors
- Where visitors come from
- Most popular pages
- Enquiries
- Phone calls
- Form submissions
- Bookings
- Purchases
- Conversion rate
- Revenue generated
Suppose 5,000 people visit your website each month but only five contact you.
That might indicate a problem.
Perhaps the wrong people are visiting.
Perhaps your website isn’t convincing them.
Perhaps your offer is unclear.
Perhaps your contact process is difficult.
Website analytics can help you investigate.
Don’t Forget Maintenance
Launching a website is not the end.
It is the beginning.
A business website may require:
- Software updates
- Security monitoring
- Backups
- Content updates
- New products
- New services
- Pricing changes
- New photographs
- Broken-link checks
- Performance improvements
- SEO improvements
A website that hasn’t been updated for five years can make a business look as though it hasn’t changed in five years.
Your website should evolve alongside your business.
How Much Should You Spend?
There is no single correct website price.
A simple DIY website could require relatively modest ongoing costs.
A professionally designed business website could cost considerably more.
A complex ecommerce or custom application could cost much more again.
Your budget should therefore be determined by what the website needs to accomplish.
Think about the website as an investment rather than simply an expense.
If a $500 website generates no customers, it may be expensive.
If a $10,000 website consistently generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales, it may be inexpensive.
The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends including website creation among business expenses when planning your finances, and considering both one-time and ongoing costs.
The key question is:
What return can this website realistically generate for my business?
A Sensible Approach for an Established Small Business
If you already operate a successful small business, you don’t necessarily need to jump straight into a huge website project.
A sensible process could be:
Step 1: Define the purpose
Determine exactly what you want the website to accomplish.
Step 2: Study competitors
Look at businesses competing for your customers.
Step 3: Plan the structure
Determine which pages you need.
Step 4: Decide DIY or professional
Consider your budget, skills, time and requirements.
Step 5: Secure your domain
Choose a professional domain name.
Step 6: Select your platform and hosting
Choose a website builder, WordPress setup or professional development arrangement.
Step 7: Create your content
Write the copy, prepare photographs and gather testimonials.
Step 8: Build the website
Create the pages and functionality.
Step 9: Test everything
Check desktop, mobile, forms, links, checkout and contact methods.
Step 10: Launch
Make the website publicly available.
Step 11: Connect your marketing
Link your SEO, social media, email and advertising activities.
Step 12: Measure and improve
Monitor performance and continually make improvements.
DIY or Professional? A Simple Decision
If you’re still unsure, consider these questions.
Choose DIY if:
“I have a relatively simple website, limited budget, enough time to learn, and I’m comfortable maintaining it.”
Consider professional help if:
“My website is important to generating revenue, I need specialised functionality, or my time is more valuable spent running the business.”
There is also a third option.
Do Some Yourself and Outsource the Rest
You don’t necessarily have to choose one extreme.
You could:
- Choose the domain yourself
- Write the initial content yourself
- Select the photographs
- Choose the platform
- Have a professional build the site
- Maintain simple content yourself
- Hire a specialist for technical work
This hybrid approach can provide a useful balance between cost, control and professional quality.
Your Website Should Make Your Business Look Like the Business It Is
One of the biggest mistakes established businesses make is allowing their website to fall behind the quality of the actual business.
Perhaps you have:
- Excellent products
- Professional staff
- Happy customers
- Years of experience
- Strong systems
- A respected reputation
But your website still looks as though it was created ten years ago.
That creates a mismatch.
Your website should accurately represent the quality of your business.
If you have built a professional company, your digital presence should communicate that professionalism.
Final Thoughts
A business website is no longer simply a digital business card.
It can become one of the most important assets in your marketing system.
It can introduce your business to potential customers, demonstrate your expertise, answer questions, establish trust, generate enquiries, process sales and maintain relationships.
Fortunately, you have more choices than ever before.
A DIY website builder can provide an inexpensive and relatively straightforward way to establish a professional online presence.
WordPress can provide greater flexibility for businesses willing to accept a little more complexity.
A professional designer or developer can provide expertise, customisation and functionality when the website is important enough to justify the investment.
The important thing is not to choose the most expensive option.
It is to choose the option that is appropriate for your business.
Before spending money, understand what you need the website to accomplish.
Before building it, understand your customer.
Before launching it, test it thoroughly.
And once it is live, don’t forget about it.
Your website should be a living part of your business—updated, measured and improved as your company grows.
A good business website doesn’t simply tell people that your business exists. It gives them a reason to trust you, a reason to choose you and an easy way to take the next step.