Guide to making a website

Websites are the cornerstone of modern business, as they provide the first impression of a company and the services or products it offers. This guide to creating a website will not only help you increase your company’ s visibility, but also enable you to have ongoing customer interaction and increase sales. A website is often the first point of contact a customer has with a business, and therefore its quality and functionality can have a direct impact on the reputation and credibility of a business.

A well-designed website can:

• Improve your corporate image: a professionally designed website creates a reliable and trustworthy image of your company.
• Reach a wider audience: the global reach of the Internet allows you to reach customers around the world.
• Increase sales: allows products and services to be presented and sold online, enabling customers to make purchasing decisions at any time.

When optimised correctly, websites not only attract visitors, but also convert them into customers, which is vital for business growth. This requires constant development and updating to keep up with technological developments and user expectations. By using clear call to action and contact details on your site, you can encourage visitors to get in touch and thus drive business.

Domain name and choice of web host

Choosing a domain name is the first step towards a professional website. A domain name is your digital address on the Internet and should be chosen carefully.

Why is choosing a domain name important?

• Branding: the domain name should reflect your company’s identity and be easy to remember.
• Search engine optimisation (SEO): a good domain can improve your site’s visibility in search engines.
• Marketing: a clear and descriptive domain name makes your marketing message more concise.

Important aspects of the choice:

• Brevity and simplicity: stick to short, concise names that are easy to spell and remember.
• Keywords: Include important keywords that describe your business and improve SEO.
• Scalability: avoid too specific names that will limit the future growth of your business.

You can check out the diaper domains at https://www.traficom.fi/fi/viestinta/fi-verkkotunnukset/fi-verkkotunnushaku

Choosing a web hotel

Your web hosting will affect the functionality and user experience of your website. A good hosting service ensures your site is up and running quickly and available, which is vital for the customer experience and search engine rankings.

Things to consider when choosing a hosting service:

• Speed: The server response time should be fast anywhere in the world.
• Reliability: look for service providers that offer high uptime guarantees.
• Support: make sure you get fast and knowledgeable customer support.
• Security: important security features such as SSL certificates and automatic backups are essential.
• Pricing: compare prices and service packages that match your business needs and budget.

Finally, a well-considered choice of domain name and web hosting will create a solid foundation for your business’s online presence. Not only will they improve your company’s visibility and user experience, but they will also ensure that your website serves your business objectives effectively. By choosing the right one, you can make a significant difference to the success of your website in the digital world.

Designing the site structure

When designing a website, it is vital to define clear objectives for the site. This will help you target the design and content to serve the needs of both your business and your customers. Understanding your goals is the basis for optimising the user experience and designing an effective navigation structure.

Defining the objectives of the site

• Business goals: what do you want to achieve with your website? Increase sales, better customer service, or maybe raise brand awareness?
• User needs: who is the site aimed at? What do users expect and need from your site?

User experience (UX) design is the process of understanding and meeting the needs of visitors as best as possible. This means not only visually appealing design, but also intuitive navigation and ease of use.

The cornerstones of UX design

• Clarity: information should be clearly presented and easy to find.
• Accessibility: the website must work on all devices and for all users, regardless of their technical ability or disability.
• Interactivity: interactive elements such as forms and search features enhance the user experience.

We recommend checking out popular websites such as HubSpot.com or even Moz.com to give you an idea of what your website could look like. You can also gather ideas from Pinterest , for example, or by Googling.

Building site navigation

This is one of the most important areas that directly affects the user experience. Well-designed navigation helps users find the information they are looking for quickly and easily, reducing the likelihood of leaving the site.

Principles of efficient navigation

• Hierarchy: a logical and simple structural order that guides the user naturally through the site.
• Clarity of the navigation bar: the main menu should be concise and consistent across all pages.
• Search function: allows users to search for information quickly, especially on large sites.

Good website design combines these elements in a way that supports your business goals and makes the site inviting and user-friendly. With these basics in place, your site is ready to attract and retain visitors who may become your customers.

Content design and writing

Content design is a key part of website development, as it determines how well a website can reach and engage its target audience. Properly targeted content, enriched with keywords and search engine optimised, can significantly increase the visibility and attractiveness of your site.

Use of keywords

Keywords are at the heart of search engine optimisation (SEO). They help search engines understand the content of your website and display it in relevant search results. Care must be taken when choosing and using keywords:

• Research keywords: find out what potential customers are most likely to search for to find your service or product.
• Natural placement: use keywords naturally within the text. Overuse can negatively affect both the reading experience and search engine rankings.
• In headings and subheadings: including keywords in headings and subheadings will improve SEO value.

Search engine optimisation

SEO is not limited to keywords; it also includes technical aspects such as site speed and mobile-friendliness. Search engine optimisation includes:

• Meta descriptions and titles: write clear and attractive meta descriptions and titles that include keywords.
• Alt texts in images: use keywords in the alt texts of images to describe the content of the image and improve its visibility in search engines.

We also offer a search engine optimisation service, which tells you more about what you need to consider in search engine optimisation.

Targeting the content to the audience

Effective content speaks directly to the target audience. Understand who your ideal customer is and what they are looking for online:

• Persona analysis: create fictional characters that represent your ideal type of customers. Think about the problems they face and how you can help solve them.
• Content customisation: tailor your content to meet the needs and wishes of your target audience. Use language and tone that resonates with them.

Use bullet points for clarity:

• Clear structure: divide the content into clear sections, covering one topic at a time.
• Calls to action: include clear calls to action that guide visitors to contact you or make a purchase decision.

When content is carefully designed and optimised for both users and search engines, it will not only improve the SEO value of your website, but also increase visitor engagement and conversion.

Integration of images and videos

Visual content, such as images and videos, is an essential part of building a modern website. They not only enrich the user experience, but also improve the site’s search engine visibility and engage visitors more effectively.

The importance of visual content

Visual content makes a website more attractive and helps to present information in an understandable and appealing way. This is particularly important because:

• Capturing attention: images and videos quickly grab the visitor’s attention and can explain complex concepts faster than text alone.
• Creating a mood: visual content helps to create the desired mood and reinforce brand identity.
• Increasing interaction: videos, infographics and interactive images encourage visitors to spend more time on the site.

SEO of images

Optimised images can significantly improve your website’ s search engine optimisation (SEO). Important aspects of image SEO include:

• Alt texts: use clear and descriptive alt texts to help search engines understand the content of the image.
• File name: Name your image files clearly using keywords.
• Image size: an optimised file size speeds up loading times and improves the user experience, which is important for both users and search engines.

Adding multimedia elements to your pages

The addition of multimedia elements, such as images and videos, should be done carefully. Here are some tips:

• Relevant content: choose images and videos that are relevant to the content of the page.
• High-quality materials: use high-resolution and professionally produced images and videos.
• Download speeds: make sure that the media does not slow down the site’s download speeds, use lazy loading techniques for images and videos if necessary.

By integrating high-quality visual content into your website, you can improve its aesthetics, user experience and SEO performance. This increases the attractiveness of your website and encourages visitors to engage with your business, which can lead to increased leads and sales.

Technical implementation and CMS platforms

When creating websites, content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, are key. They provide a user-friendly environment without the need to manage complex lines of code. A CMS allows you to quickly update, edit and manage your website.

We recommend WordPress itself for its scalability and ease of use. Below is an image of the WordPress DashBoard view.

Selection and deployment of CMS platforms

When choosing a CMS, consider the following factors:

• User-friendliness: how easy the platform is to use for day-to-day operations.
• Flexibility: the platform’s ability to adapt to different needs, such as blogging, e-commerce or portfolio.
• Community support: whether the platform has an active community of developers and users who provide support and resources.

WordPress is one of the most popular CMS platforms in the world due to its versatility and wide range of plugins. A WordPress implementation includes:

• Installation: most web hotels offer an easy, one-click WordPress installation.
• Theme selection: you can choose from thousands of free and paid themes that define the look and feel of your website.
• Installing add-ons: add-ons add functionality such as contact forms, SEO tools and security features.

WordPress customization and personalization

• Visual editing: tools like the Gutenberg editor allow block-based page building.
• Code editing: for more advanced users, WordPress offers the ability to edit PHP, CSS and HTML code directly.

Tips on how to use WordPress effectively:

• Regular updates: keep WordPress, themes and plugins up to date for security reasons.
• Backups: take regular backups to avoid data loss.
• SEO optimisation: Take advantage of SEO plug-ins to improve your site’s visibility in search engines.

A CMS like WordPress allows you to build and manage professional websites without in-depth technical knowledge. This allows you to focus on what matters most – creating content and improving the customer experience.

Maintenance and monitoring

Website maintenance and updates

Website maintenance is critical to the longevity and functionality of a website. Effective maintenance includes regular updates and backups to ensure that the site remains up-to-date and secure.

• Site security: active protection, such as firewalls and anti-malware, is essential.
• Update management: regular software and security updates keep your site protected against new threats.
• Backup: automated backups ensure that you can restore your site data quickly in case of problems.

These measures minimise the risks that could lead to data loss or site crashes, and help keep the site running smoothly.

Analytics and performance monitoring

Google Analytics is a vital part of monitoring the success of your website. It provides comprehensive information on how visitors find and use your website and helps you understand visitor traffic patterns.

• Data interpretation: analyses site user data such as visitor numbers, dwell time, and conversion rates.
• Traffic analysis: track where visitors come from and which pages attract the most traffic.
• Performance optimisation: use analytics data to improve the technical performance and user experience of your website.

By using these tools, you can optimise your site, improve the user experience and increase engagement. Monitoring and analytics give you the information you need to make informed decisions to improve and grow your site.

Frequently Asked Questions: website creation

How do I choose the right domain?

Choosing a domain is the first step in setting up a website. Here are some tips to help you choose:

• Simplicity: choose an easy and memorable name.
• Branding: make sure the domain matches your company name or industry.
• Scalability: avoid overly specific names that limit future expansion.
• TLD: Go for .com, .net or country code extensions such as .fi, depending on your target market.

What is SEO and why is it important?

SEO, or search engine optimisation, refers to the techniques that improve your website’s visibility in search engines. SEO is important because:

• Visibility: improve the discoverability of your website for potential customers.
• Traffic: increase organic traffic without advertising costs.
• Credibility: high rankings in search engines increase your credibility.

What SEO basics should a website administrator know?

Here are some basics:

• Keywords: Research and use relevant keywords that describe your business.
• Content quality: produce valuable and timely content that answers users’ questions.
• Mobile-friendliness: make sure your website runs smoothly on all devices.
• Speed: Optimise the speed of your site, as slow pages will reduce the user experience and SEO value.

How should content be updated?

Regular updating of content is important because it:

• Keep your website up to date: Customers receive correct information about your services or products.
• Improve SEO value: Search engines prefer regularly updated websites.
• Increase engagement: up-to-date and useful content attracts visitors to return to your site.

Tips for effective updating:

• Schedule: set up a plan for regular updates.
• User feedback: use customer feedback to improve your content.
• Analytics: monitor which content is performing best and actively develop it.