Build a business website

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Image - Build a business website
Image – Build a business website

Build a business website for your clients and make money online. The essential tools for setting up a website include HTML & CSS. Create, edit, and publish your webpages using a WYSIWYG web editor. Upload your files to your website using free FTP software such as FileZilla. Familiarize with the visual aspects of your website by understanding images & videos, text & color, etc. Obtain PLR Content and create and publish your free eBook. Use Google Search Console to index your web pages. Build your business using Social Media Channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Set up Google Analytics and claim your Google My Business page. Use Autoresponders to generate leads and capture emails to build a mailing list. Generate traffic to your website. Monetize your websites using PPC Ads – Google Ads & Bing, YouTube, Affiliate Marketing.

Build a business website: Domain & Hosting

Your website can be accessed by its domain name IP address which is a series of numbers. A domain name is unique and has to be registered prior to use. Domain names were developed for internet users to recognize entities in place of number strings. A combination of numbers and addresses can be used as a domain name with their extensions such as .com, .in, .org, and so on. Domain names are used in URLs to identify webpages. Purchas of domain names is through a domain registrar or through your hosting provider eg SiteGround.

A web hosting provider makes it possible to post webpages or websites on the internet. A server is a special computer that hosts your webpage or site. Any internet users on typing your web address in the browser are able to view your site. The users’ computer will connect to your server and your web page or site is rendered on their browser. Hosting providers support technologies, services, and inhouse staff needed for a seamless 24/7 experience for business owners. Create a domain name email and use FTP to upload files from your computer to your server. Build your site by coding or a CMS tool. Most hosting providers plan support CMS eg WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. Read more by clicking on Website Development.

Web Pages

Web pages are coded in HTML and are rendered by your web browser. They can be either static or dynamic. A collection of such pages eg Home, Product, About, Contact, etc is what comprises a website. Get to know the basics of HTML & CSS to write your HTML document and use CSS to further style your HTML elements. Most dynamic and interactive websites are created using the functions of both PHP and JavaScript programming languages. Follow SEO best practices for organic ranking of your webpages.

WYSIWYG – Web Editor

Use a ‘what you see is what you get’ web editor eg Kompozer (free) or Dreamweaver (paid) to create your web pages.

Site Architecture

When you build a website they are nested inside directories on a web server. Each web page must be saved as a separate file. When a visitor visits your website without referring to any specific file in the URL eg https://www.sapcanvas.com, then a request is made to the server. There is no such page listed in the URL. But the webserver has to deliver a page in response to this request. The file that gets delivered is the default page eg index.html for that directory. In the directory, the other HTML files can be other web pages eg ‘About’ page – about.html or ‘Contact’ page – contact.html

Build a business website: Use Kompozer to create web pages.

Download Kompozer and open the application.

1- Build a business website: Kompozer Dashboard
1- Build a business website: Kompozer Dashboard

Kompozer Dashboard

The Kompozer dashboard fig1 is similar to that of MS Word.

2 - Composition Tool Bar
2 – Composition Tool Bar

The buttons from left to right fig2 represent New file | Open file | Save file | Publish | Browse | Undo | Redo | Insert or edit ~ named anchor | Insert ~ edit link | Insert ~ edit image | Insert ~ edit table | Insert ~ edit form | Open Current Document In An External Text Editor | CSS Editor.

3 – Format Tool Bar – A

The buttons from left to right fig3 represent Emphasise | Strong emphasis | Numbered list | Bulleted list | Indent text | Outdent text | Definition term | Definition description | Layer | Bring forward | Send back.

  4 - Format Tool Bar - B
4 – Format Tool Bar – B

The buttons from left to right fig4 represent Text & back-ground color | Highlight color | Maketextlarger | Maketextsmaller | Bold text | Italic text | Underline text | Align text to left | Align text to center | Align text to right | Justify text.

Kompozer – Make a basic webpage

5 - Project Folder on your desktop
5 – Project folder on your desktop

Create a folder on your desktop and name it as ‘Project’ fig5. Create web pages using Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac) eg Home, About, and Contact page. The Home page which is to be shown by default will be saved as index.html file. All images eg logo & cover image will be saved in the ‘Images’ folder located within the ‘Project’ folder.

6 - Kompozer - write text and add a cover image
6 – Kompozer – write text and add a cover image

Write text and format it for bold, italic, underline, or color. Decrease or increase the size of the text. Add images to your web page by clicking the icon next to the Image Location box. From the dropdown select the images from the Images folder located in the Project folder. The path of the image for the logo is Image/sapCanvasLogo.png or cover picture is Image/coverImage.png The dimension tab fig6 at the top allows adding width or height in pixels or % of the cell. The appearance tab gives you options for spacing and aligning text to your image. Link the image by selecting a named anchor or email address or a URL. Add alternate text for the image and click the OK button.

7 - Kompozer - add table
7 – Kompozer – add table

Add a 1×3 table fig7 and insert logo in the first column and write text in the column eg Home, About, and Contact.

8 - Kompozer - add links to text
8 – Kompozer – add links to text

Link your Home tab fig8 to index.html file in the ‘project’ folder. Also, link the About and Contact tab to your web pages about.html and contact.html located in the ‘project’ folder.

9 - Kompozer - add background color
9 – Kompozer – add background color

Set background color fig9 to your web page by clicking the background tab located in the Format Tool Bar B.

10 - Kompozer - display of home page
10 – Kompozer – display of home page

In the above Kompozer display of the Home page click on the source tab fig10 at the bottom of the page. View the HTML code for this Home page.

11 - Filezilla
11 – Filezilla

Build a business website: FTP Filezilla

Upload your web pages to your domain using an FTP eg Filezilla fig11. Transfer all files from your project folder (located in the box below the Local site) including the images used for creating the web pages by dragging them into the public_html folder (located in the box below the Remote site). After successful uploading, type your domain name in the browser. By default, the Home page > index.html will get displayed.

Use Google Search Console to index your web pages and track visitors with Google Analytics

Visitors’ details such as Where they come from? How your visitors engage on your site along with the time spent? Know all about your visitors using Google Analytics tool.

Website owners must sign up for the free Google Search Console to get traffic from Google. Go to Google Search Console > Index > Coverage to view insights about the index status of your website. Alternatively, you can paste the URL of the page in the URL inspection tool to find whether that page has been indexed by Google.

Autoresponders and Email Marketing

A Squeeze Page is a landing page designed particularly to squeeze or capture an email address from prospect subscribers. An ebook, for example, can be a lead magnet for visitors wanting to subscribe to your website. Make sure your squeeze page offers value not found elsewhere to prospects that entice them to subscribe. A Squeeze Page that is focused gives only ONE option on the page and it can either be signup or download the ebook.

Video – SEO Optimized Landing Pages

Grow your email list by using a double opt-in form on your squeeze page. Read more about opt-in pages by clicking on MailChimp eMail Marketing. If your goal is to get more subscribers to your website, limit the fields of your form to include name and email. If you are offering an ebook for free your CTA could be ‘Get the ebook’. Add a CTA eg just a sign up or a newsletter sign up to your squeeze page. Use testimonials or social proof for eg the number of visitors that have downloaded your ebook.

12 - WordPress Elementor Plugin
12 – WordPress Elementor Plugin

To build your squeeze page choose options from either (1) using word press plugins (if on a wordpress.org website) eg Elementor Page Builder fig12 or (2) third party software eg click funnels or use templates eg WIX. The use of long-tail keywords in your title tag will help your squeeze page to convert well.

Find Private Label Rights (PLR) Content For Your Posts and eBooks.

Create a lot of content for your blog by buying a pack of PLR content. PLR rights allow modifying the contents and selling/ distributing it under your name. PLR licenses are available for articles, ebooks, video, audio, graphics, and software. Examples of a PLR Market Place are PLR Database, PLR Content Studio, Amazon PLR, etc.

WordPress plugins Designrr (Paid) and Anthologize (free) can convert your blog post content into an ebook. Give away the eBook for free to capture email addresses from your users.

Increase Website Traffic

Website traffic provides insights about your audience. It shows how your marketing is delivering. The strategies and channels that promote both free and paid traffic include Onpage and Offpage SEO, eMail Marketing, Guest Blogging & Online engagements such as leaving comments on other blog posts, SMM with Hashtag Marketing, Landing Pages for generating more leads and increasing conversion, Online Ads including Google Search Advertising, Social Media Advertising, Banner Advertisements and Retargeting Ads. Read more by clicking on Website Traffic.

Website Monetization

Website monetization is about making money from the website based on the traffic your site attracts. Some common methods are Google Adsense, Affiliate Marketing, Selling Ad Space, Paid Membership, Digital Products eg eBook sales, eCommerce websites, etc.