Building an Online Presence for Your Small Business

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Small business owners are always on the look-out for ways to build their business without spending a lot of money. While a Facebook business can help you to build your business, every business must have a professional website if they are going to build an online presence, the process of building the site may be overwhelming at first. However, there are so many free and low-cost tools available that by following a few simple steps it is possible to create a site that best represents your business.

Step 1: Purchase Your Domain

It does not cost a lot of money to purchase your own domain and the effect of having a domain name that connects your customer to your business can be phenomenal. Visit a site like GoDaddy and they will walk you through the process. You can search for available names and purchase your own in a matter of minutes.

Step 2: Choose a Host

There are numerous web hosting packages to choose from on the Internet with a range of features. HostGator is a popular host for people who are interested in building a WordPress site. The setup process is simple and you can develop the site through your HostGator dashboard.

Step 3: Choosing a Theme

WordPress is a free content management system. When WordPress entered the scene it became possible for anyone to easily create and maintain their own website.  You can you’re your own personality by switching themes instantly without affecting your content because content is kept separate from style.

There are thousands of free and paid themes to choose from. There is no limit to the amount of themes you can try out. Some business owners prefer to invest part of their budget in a paid theme but it is not necessary.

Step 4: Adding Punch

There are over 20,000 plugins that can be added to a WordPress site. You can add plugins for any need- social media plugins, contact forms, shopping carts, payment systems- anything you can think of to enhance the visitor’s experience. Most plugins are free and adding them is simple.

Step 5: Customer Service

There are so many people using WordPress that you can find a solution to any issue within minutes by doing a Google search. Chances are good that if you have an issue, someone else has already solved it and posted the results.

Go Live

There is a section on your WordPress dashboard for adding content. It is best to add content 3-5 days a week to improve your Google rank. You can add numerous types of content. For example, you can blog, write articles, create slideshows, and even add video with a vlog.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to have a website for your small business. Purchasing a domain and setting up your website will be the foundation of your strategy for building an online presence. Then you need to maintain the site and continue to provide quality content to increase your presence.

This post was by Jennifer who writes for JetRank.com – rank tracking, on site crawling and more SEO tools for marketers.