You’re ready to take your business online – which means it’s time to build a website!
If you’re choosing the DIY route for your business website, there are a few must-have pages and elements that you need to make sure are available for your site visitors. But before we jump in that far, let’s first cover where you should be building your website to begin with.
Our Recommended Business Website Platforms
- ShowIt
ShowIt is our preferred platform. It provides you with the ease of drag and drop with the most creative freedom. ShowIt also works with WordPress for your blogging platform, and gives you the ability to easily determine how your site looks on both desktop and mobile. (Join the waitlist for a special early bird offer on ShowIt templates from The Brand Shop by KJ & Co) - Squarespace
Squarespace is usually our recommendation for those who are looking for something simple to use with a straightforward and easy to use user interface. If you plan to manage all of your own website updates and are looking for a clean, drag and drop editor, then Squarespace may be for you! When you purchase a business plan with Squarespace, they also offer a free domain name and a free year of Google Workspace. - WordPress
WordPress deserves an honorable mention. This platform is highly customizable, but the user interface isn’t quite as straightforward and simple as Squarespace. We highly recommend pairing WordPress with Elementor to provide the drag and drop ability. There are also a number of great themes available that are easy to use. - Shopify
Shopify is our top recommendation for those with e-commerce brands. Since Shopify was designed for e-commerce brands, you’ll find that it is easy to customize while keeping your product pages polished. It integrates with a variety of different apps and platforms making it seamless to use with all of your tech tools.
Once you’ve chosen a platform for your business website, it’s time to get building!
Once you start building out your business website, there are a few things you need to make sure are available to anyone who stops by. These pages are key to helping you turn website visitors into leads or sales!
- Homepage
Your homepage is the welcome mat to your website. It should provide a high level overview of everything that your visitor can find on your website with clear navigation to get to those places. Things to consider putting on your homepage include what you do or offer, a sentence or two about your company, and a way for your visitor to sign up for your email list or submit an inquiry as a lead. - Your Products or Services
You should have at least one page clearly dedicated to what it is that you offer. That might be your storefront, your services page or your sales page. This page should touch on the problem your customer is facing, how you can solve it, and the transformation they undergo from before working with you to after. - About Your Company
This page should not just be about your credentials and qualifications, but should offer relatability and how you are able to serve your client or customer. Share the story behind your company, show the faces of who your customer will be working with, and create a sense of connection using this page. - A Way to Contact You
This can be its own page (and should be if you are a physical location as it should also include your address) but can also be included in the footer or as a contact/inquiry form. - Bonus* A Simple Navigation Page
A navigation page is a page that can be used on social media, on business cards, etc. This page is laid out simply and includes easy navigation to your most popular pages or resources.
A Few Examples…
Below are a few examples that we have designed within ShowIt and Squarespace that represent the pages we listed above!
Download Our Free Branding Essentials Checklist
We have a totally free Branding Essentials Checklist that includes everything you should have for your Visual Branding, Brand Messaging, and your Website. As a bonus, we also included some of our favorite resources as well! Sign up through the form below and we’ll send it over ASAP!
