If this is the first time you tried to create your own website then before you can actually start building your site there will be a few things that you need to complete. These include registering a domain name, setting up your web hosting, adding your nameservers, and deciding which site builder to use. Then when you’ve done all that you’ll be ready to start building your actual website.
Exactly what you do next will depend to some extent on the website building software you have chosen to use, but before we even get to that it is a good idea to have a think and decide on the structure of your website. You should decide on what sort of menu structure you are going to use as you add your content and also page layout schemes.
As far as the menu is concerned a lot will depend on how big you intend your website to be. If it’s only going to be a small niche site with 5-10 pages then probably just one or two categories will be enough, and it doesn’t need to be over complicated.
Whereas if you intend to build a large site over time with hundreds of pages, then you will need to put some serious thought into how many categories and sub-categories you want, and what form the structure of these will take.
If that’s the case you really do need to get it right from the start because it can save you a lot of time and headaches later on. You can change your site structure but it can cause problems with search engine rankings if not done correctly, and that could be disastrous for the performance of your website.
Your page layout will also probably benefit from some attention, and you don’t just have to go with your site builder’s standard layout. Think about what your website is about, the type of visitors you should attract, and what you want them to do when viewing the content of your pages.
Do you want a clean layout that makes your pages easy to read and help to keep your visitors on your site for longer, or perhaps you need them to find what they are looking for and click on your affiliate link as soon as possible, perhaps in an effort to help increase conversions?
The final thing you might want to deal with before you start adding your content is probably your graphics or theme. You may want to create a nice header graphic or install a certain type of theme, but one thing to remember is that these can always be changed and improved on at a later stage.
So don’t spend too much time agonizing over getting the look of your site absolutely perfect, just get it so you are fairly happy with it and then you can always improve on it later if you want to.
