Creating a website for your business is about more than putting your logo, photos and contact details online. A good website should help people understand what you offer, find your business, build confidence in your brand and take the next step.
Whether you're starting a new business, replacing an old website or creating your first website yourself, this guide brings together the key information you need to get started.
Start With a Plan
Before you start choosing designs or adding content, decide what you want your website to achieve.
Think about:
- Who you want to attract
- What your customers need to know
- Which products or services you offer
- What actions you want visitors to take
- Which pages your website needs
- What you want to achieve through Google and other search engines
- How much you want to spend
Having a plan makes the website-building process much easier and helps you avoid creating pages or features you don't really need.
Read our guide: How to Plan a Website for Your NZ Business
Decide What Your Website Needs
Every business website is different. A local service business may need a handful of carefully planned pages, while an online retailer may need hundreds of product pages and ecommerce features.
Most business websites will need some combination of:
- Home page
- About page
- Service or product pages
- Contact page
- Location pages
- FAQs
- Testimonials or reviews
- Portfolio or project pages
- Blog or resources
The important thing is to build your website around what your customers need, rather than adding pages simply because other websites have them.
Read: What Pages Should a Business Website Have?
Create Useful Website Content
Your website content should explain what you do, who you do it for and why someone should choose your business.
Good content also helps your website appear in relevant Google searches.
Each page should have a clear purpose and answer the questions your customers are likely to have. Keep your writing straightforward, make important information easy to find and give visitors a clear next step.
Read: How to Write Website Content for Your Business
Choose Your Website Design
Your website needs to look professional, but good website design is about more than appearance.
Your design should make your website easy to navigate, easy to read and simple to use on phones, tablets and computers.
Think about your branding, colours, images, navigation, page layouts and calls to action. Most importantly, make sure the design supports the information on the page rather than getting in the way of it.
Read: Website Design for Small Business
Choose How You Will Build Your Website
Once you know what your website needs, you can decide how you want to build it.
A website builder can provide the tools to create and manage your website without requiring you to handle the technical side of website development yourself.
When choosing a website builder, consider:
- Design flexibility
- Ease of use
- SEO features
- Mobile-friendly websites
- Contact and enquiry forms
- Ecommerce capabilities
- Hosting and security
- Ongoing costs
- Support
Explore: Website Builder
Understand Website Costs
The cost of creating a website depends on what you need.
A simple business website will have different requirements from a large ecommerce website, and the cost can vary depending on design, content, functionality and ongoing services.
Before you start, consider both the initial cost of creating your website and the ongoing costs of keeping it online and up to date.
Read: How Much Does a Website Cost?
Make Your Website Easy to Find
Creating a website is only the beginning. You also want potential customers to be able to find it.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) helps search engines understand your website and can help your pages appear when people search for the products and services you offer.
Good SEO starts with your website structure and content, so it's worth considering it before you build rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Learn more: Website SEO for Small Business
Get Your Website Ready to Launch
Before publishing your website, check that everything works as it should.
Make sure your:
- Pages are complete
- Contact details are correct
- Forms work
- Links work
- Images display correctly
- Website works on mobile devices
- Calls to action are clear
- Basic SEO information is in place
- Domain name is connected correctly
Use our: Website Launch Checklist
Create a Website That Works for Your Business
You don't need to make your website complicated. Start with a clear goal, understand what your customers need and create the pages and content that help them take the next step.
From planning your website and choosing a design to creating content, selecting a website builder and getting your site ready to launch, the guides in this section will help you work through the process.
Ready to start building? Explore Website Builder to see how you can create and manage your business website.
