1. Choose a Website Domain: Important to stay branded, not the end of the world if your desired name is already taken.

2. Find Website Hosting: Sometimes the hosting will help determine the future steps below, good to get this one figured out.

3. Define the Purpose of Your Website: Is it just for information? Are you trying to blog? What about selling products, services, or courses?

4. Determine the Type of Website You Need: One page, ten pages, videos...

5. Gather Website Content: The meat of the website comes down to the content, this is the most important aspect and should be where most of the time is spent.

6. Build Your Pages: If you love design, this will be your favorite part, if you don't, maybe use some pre-templated designs to help the process move along.

01. Choose a Website Domain

First, you should have a basic understanding of what a website domain is. According to Godaddy.com which is a domain provider, "your domain name is the address that people enter into their web browser to find your home (website) on the internet"

Domains are what people type into a search platform like Google in order to find your website, without it, the outside world doesn't land on your site.

Choosing a domain can be tricky, specially when the name you want has already been taken. Don't be dismayed, this isn't the end of the world as there are plenty of methods to get around taken names.

Let us say you were hoping to get the domain name 'alissarealesate .com' but it was already taken, you have two options. #1. Add or subtract words 'allissadoesrealestate .com' or #2. Change the domain extensions such as 'allissarealestate .net' or 'allissarealestate .biz'

These two options may not be your first choice, but domains are a finite resource on the World Wide Web.

Now you are asking, "how do I search available domains?" Answer:

• Namecheap: Probably the best overall

• GoDaddy: Good option, good pricing

• Domain.com: Initial pricing is good, gets pricey upon renewal

• Google Domains: Easy to use, if you want .io extension don't buy it here

• Now take a moment to complete this step, once you are done you can click the check mark on the left and move to the next step.

02. Find Website Hosting

Once you have decided on your website domain, it's time to find website hosting. Website hosting is the service that allows your website to be visible on the internet. Think of it like the physical business storefront while the domain is your business' address for people to find you.

When it comes to website hosting, there are two main options: paid and free. Paid hosting offers more features and is more reliable, but it can be expensive. Free hosting is a great option if you are just starting out, but it can be unreliable and lack features.

WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace are three popular website hosting services while eGrowthLab is a hybrid offering that provides hosting, but adds other crucial business services.

• WordPress is great for more complex websites and offers a lot of features.

• Wix and Squarespace are great for simpler websites and are easier to use.

• eGrowthLab offers both hosting for complex sites and simpler sites, but provides all additional marketing and sales tools a business needs in one package.

• Once you've found the perfect hosting provider for your website, you can check the box on the left and move on to the next step of building your website.

03. Define the Purpose of Your Website

If you are law firm, the purpose of your website might be to educate visitors and get them to schedule a consultation with a partner. Local businesses may use their site solely for education and others as a place to shop for goods and services. Defining the purpose of your website is necessary to decide site structure, type, and content.

To help you decide the purpose of your website, try filling out the checkboxes below, based on your responses you'll start to see a direction for your website's purpose.

I need my website to:

• 1. Show visitors where my business is located

• 2. Allow visitors to purchase products/services

• 3. Allow visitors to book appointments

• 4. Educate visitors about my business

• 5. Build a newsletter list

• 6. Collect visitor's contact info for long term nurture campaigns

• 7. Collect payments

Great! Now that you have selected what you need your website to do, you can move to step 04.

04. Determine the Type of Website

There are 10 main website types you will find online:

1. Corporate Website

2. Blog Website

3. Portfolio Website

4. Personal Website

5. Course/Membership Website

6. Ecommerce Website

7. Information Website

8. Booking Website

9. School Website

10. Nonprofit Website

05. Gather Website Content

Arguably the most important part of the website building process, this is when you write your copy for individual pages based on their core purpose and add digital content such as images, videos, forms, surveys, and more to the site. This is what makes up the core of your website and what will make or break your site's effectiveness to educate and convert site visitors.

06. Build Your Pages

This is where it gets fun! Need help building, send us a chat using the chat widget on our website.