Did you know that 28% of small businesses in the United States operate without a business website?

And among those with a business website, most of them (71%) have a hard time building and maintaining their website.

This is US statistics. You can imagine that this number is on the higher side for countries like India.

Running a business website is kind of a big deal these days, as almost 46% of all Google searches are about local business information. And 88% of consumers who do such searches visit the store or call them within a day.

Considering the growth rate of smartphone usage, this number is huge.

So if you don’t have an online presence in the form of a business website (also social media, but we can come to that later) you’re leaving a lot of business opportunities on the table.

I know this is kind of an unknown area even for new-age entrepreneurs. Because I’ve seen what happened in a startup with a multi-billion dollar valuation. The team was struggling for six months to build a blog platform.

You can imagine how struggling it is for small and medium businesses.

If you are one such business owner, let me show you how you can build a website within 24 hours.

This will be a basic website to start with. There are other aspects to it – keeping it fresh with new content, using the content to run social media platforms, and engaging with current and potential customers through email marketing.

So, let’s jump right in.

Registering a business website domain name and hosting

To build a website, you’ll need to buy a domain name and a hosting service. Both these are to be renewed yearly or as per the plan you choose (two or three years plans)

The domain name you register will represent your business.

So when you choose the domain name, keep it simple. For example, if your business name is HighTower Hotel Pvt Ltd, you better use hightower.com or (if this is not available) hightowerhotel.com. And not hightowerhotelpvtltd.com

Make it easy for consumers to remember and Google your brand name.

Secondly, always try to get a DOTCOM domain name. (.COM) is a popularly used top-level domain (TLD) and it provides you with a high search value.

For registering your website, I suggest you use the Chemicloud web hosting service.

Earlier I used Godaddy, which is good, but their customer care is slow. Also, their website is not so easy to use.

It’s a breeze with Chemicloud because they are quick to answer with their Live Chat. And their website where you maintain your hosting and domain is easy to use. (You can read more about why Chemicloud is an amazing host, here)

Now, let’s go to Chemicloud.com and register with your official email address.

Then hover over Domains on the top bar and then click on Register Domains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chemicloud is suggesting different names as thinqproduct.com is already registered 🙂

Now you need to choose a hosting plan.

Once you choose your hosting service and pay for it, you’re ready with your registration.

Now, the next step is:

How to build your business website on WordPress

Now that you are inside the client area of Chemicloud, you need to log in to cPanel. To do so, click on the cP button.

Once you are inside the cPanel, you’ll need to add the domain.

Click on the Domains button and then click on the Create a New Domain. 

Then as in the below image, enter the domain name you’ve registered and then submit.

Then go back to the cPanel main page and search for WordPress under Softaculous Apps Installer.

Click on WordPress and on the new page that opens, click on Install Now. (You have a host of other content management systems (CMS) to choose from. I use WordPress.)

On this page, you’ll need to enter your Site name, description, admin account details. After doing that, choose a theme and then click on Install.

After it’s installed, go to a new browser window and search for yourdomainname.com/wp-admin (your website address and /wp-admin). And then login to your website using the details you provided at the Admin Account.

Now your website is ready to add your business information.

How to design your business website

In the earlier step, you chose a free theme provided by WordPress to complete the setup process.

But if you want a customized design, you can get it designed or can simply buy one from ThemeForest.

Earlier, I wrote about a team struggling for six months to build a website. Do you remember? It took them so much time because they tried to design a website theme from scratch.

The best alternative is to buy a theme of your choice from ThemeForest. You can make a one-time purchase of a theme, which is available from $19-$59.

Once you purchase your theme, you will get a download link and documentation. Documentation helps you in designing and customizing your website.
Content for your business website

A business website typically has these 4 pages – a homepage, service, about and contact page.

The homepage is used to introduce your business to potential customers. Sometimes there’s a landing page featuring a product or service replacing a standard homepage.

You can get someone to write your homepage or landing page, service and about page content. Or you can write them yourself. Anyway, it can be written in a few hours.

Publish these pages and your website is up and running. You don’t need more than 24 hours to build this and make it live.

What next?

These days, web-space has a great potential be tremendously more valuable than real estate. If built well, websites can be turned into big business machines.

But most of the businesses keep their websites with just a few static pages. Just to represent their brand.

What is your idea about your website?

Do you want to keep it just to represent your business or use it to create numerous business opportunities? Let me know in the comment section below.