Your website is your business autobiography so it should tell the story of you, your business, how you got started and your goals and vision for the future. The online landscape is overcrowded with websites and ecommerce stores that are cold and uninviting and the only way for you to stand out is to be yourself and to be original. The more of a human connection that you can build between you and your audience the better position you will be to maintain a great relationship with your customer.

A niche is a term that we use when we refer to the subject matter of a website idea. A niche is the specific service or product arena that you plan to offer on your website. For instance if you have an existing landscaping business you may want to look into the niche that includes something that has to do with your business as well as offering your business services. In the case of a landscaping business your niche would consist of anything that has to do with keeping the environment clean and in good condition. If you do not have an existing business you or do not know what you should choose as a niche there are many online tools that you can use to check for profitable niche’s. Always make sure that your niche has something to do with something that you have a passion for because the passion is necessary for you to excel. There are several tools and resources that you can use to reseach and check for profitable niche’s.

1.  Google Trends – An excellent way to find out what is trending online.
2. HIX.AI – niche generator will help you find a niche quickly and easily.
3. AI Idea Generator – AI that will give you ideas based on your interests.

The next step is to plan your website content and how you are going to approach your customers.  Once you get your website domain name and you determine your niche you can start building your website. If you have an existing website you may find that you can use the information for your new website. However if you are not satisfied with your existing website or this is a new website you will have to plan your written content, images, or video. We recommend that you start with the basic web pages and then scale your content as your website grows.

The Basic Website Pages consist of the following:

1. Home Page – The home page is the first page that the customer sees after they type in your website address. It should give the visitor a clear picture of you, your business its benefits and links to relevant pages.
2. About Page – Provides you the ability to tell your story about you and your business. This page will help you to build a relationship with your customer.
3. Contact Page – The contact page can be as simple as just requesting a name and email address to a full scale form getting detailed information from your customer. Your contact page will give the customer the ability to contact you directly to your email address
4. Services Page – The services page provides a detailed description of your business and its services in detail. You will have the opportunity to advise the customer of the features and benefits of your services. The goal of this page is to get the customer to contact you about what you provide.
5. Products Page – If your business has products you can create a products page that provides a way for customers to view your products and learn more about what you have to offer.

These are the basic 5 pages that every website should have updated. There are also pages that should be included as a best practice. Additional legal pages include privacy policy, terms and conditions and cookie policies.

Now that you have completed the initial stages of your website planning the next step is to gather all of the tools and resources that you will need to build your website. You will need several things in place as you start the building process.
Framework or Layout – There are many different ways that you can haste your website launched. one of the simplest would be with a service such as Wix or Shopify. These platforms serve their purpose but have their pros and cons which in the end do not serve as effective tools in hosting a flexible website. We recommend WordPress as a platform that will be able to scale your business as it grows and expands. WordPress incorporates all that the web has to offer in a flexible, scalable way that is simple to use and to maintain. This is why WordPress is the most utilized platform in their world for building and maintaining websites and blogs. It is used by over 44% of the Internet and used by companies such as Walt Disney, Coke a Cola and At&t.
WordPress Theme/ Layout – As a developer I thought that building everything from scratch was noble and original. However I soon discovered that many times I was just reinventing the wheel at the expense of time and efficiently. A good developer starts with a good template. A phenomenal developer already has a customized template that will fit your business model. Many times developers Stuart out with a theme and end up with something that is totally different. It all depends on your needs and the capabilities of the theme.
Collecting Images – Every time someone comes to your website they are looking at the images before they read a word. So your images have to be amazing.You can get stock images, take your own pictures or you can create images with AI. Whatever method you choose, make sure that your images tell the store of your business.
Collecting Video Clips – Nowadays video is important for people that want a quick overview of your business without having to read. Videos are very important and you can make your own, get stock video clips or have AI create a video campaign for you. As your audience grows you will be able to create videos that cater to your audience by educating, entertaining and informing them of the benefits of your product or service.
E-mail service – Email is just as important as your website because there will be potential customers that want to get in touch with you by email so being able to be reached is critical. You have the option of setting up an autoresponder that will automatically respond to your customers initial email with answers to general information. By setting up a strategy to obtain, secure and incorporate an email marketing system will help you to create loyal customers and a strong relationship with your clients.