How to Set Up a Website Quickly
In today’s blog post, I want to talk about speed. More specifically, the speed at which you set up your new website.
Most of my clients that come to me asking for a full website haven’t been on much of a deadline. You would think this is great right? I don’t have to work hours every day to get the website finished on time. While it’s true that not having a tight deadline is less stressful, it’s also very frustrating. I take a genuine interest in my clients and their businesses, and I know stalling on finishing the website won’t help them.
The problem usually stems from them being too busy to get me the information I need or to review the website before I publish it. I’m going to give you a few tips on how to cut out the delay and quickly set up your website.
Why is Website Procrastination Bad?
Why is website procrastination bad? The short answer is money. When you start setting up your website you often have to start paying for the service immediately. Even if you’re given a free trial period, that can go by faster than you think. That means you’re paying the full cost for your website and not getting anything out of it because no one can access it. Depending on what your website needs, it can be $1000 or more every year. Even if your business is thriving, you shouldn't be okay with throwing that much money away.
There’s a second problem that can arise when you don’t finish your website on time. If people somehow find out your domain name and try to look at your website, all they’ll see is a “coming soon” page. That’s not good, your potential customer can easily lose interest when that happens. The best way to avoid this problem is to make sure you don’t show off your domain name before the website is published.
Now that I’ve (hopefully) convinced you of the importance of quickly setting up your website, I’ll show you how to do it.
Compile Your Information
The most important step to creating a website quickly is getting all your information ready. This might be a little challenging if you aren’t a well-organized person, but you can still do it. Every website is different, but here are some tips that will help you gather and organize your website’s information…
Make a website outline
Only use one email address
Get a business debit card
Keep all your website copy in one document
Create a list of your services/products
Write a brief summary of your business’ history and goals
Make sure you have all the pictures you’ll need
I’ll briefly explain all of these tips and then finish up with an example.
Make a Website Outline
Your website outline will help you determine what kind of information you’ll need. Creating your website outline shouldn’t take long. Here’s an example.
Home
Store
Shoes
Shirts
Pants
Swimsuits
About
Contact Us
As I said, it doesn’t take long to make this and it will help keep you on track while writing and designing your pages.
Only Use One Email Address
The first two tips go hand in hand. When you create an account with your hosting provider, domain provider, payment processing provider, shipping provider, etc. they'll need your email address. You should use the same email for all your accounts.
Your service providers will email you regarding updates or problems. If those updates and warnings don’t go to the same email address you might miss something important, especially if it has something to do with the website itself. One of the worst things you could do is sign up for a service using an old email account you rarely use anymore. Trust me, I’ve typed using old email accounts for things like this before and it doesn’t end well. You’ll go weeks before finally remembering to check all your emails.
Get a Business Debit Card
It’s best to have a separate card and bank account for your business. This is a lot safer, and it makes balancing a checkbook easier. When I started receiving work through Written With Design and online freelancing platforms like Fiverr and Legiit, I actually took it a step further and used a different bank. This lets me keep all my business expenses completely separate from my personal expenses.
Keep All Your Website Copy in One Document
If you’re writing your own copy I would suggest writing it in Word, Docs, etc. before beforehand. Then all you have to do is copy and paste it into your template. This is a lot easier, but you need to make sure that you keep everything in one file.
The first time I ever worked with a website was a bit of a mess because I had put the information and copy into several different files. I ended up wasting a lot of time switching back and forth trying to find what I needed. Take my advice and keep all your copies together.
The only exception I’d make is if you want a separate document/file for your blog posts or articles.
Create a List of Your Services and Products
If you’re planning to offer a lot of services or products on your website, it’s important to have all your product information organized. When I’m setting up an online store for one of my clients I have a section for the product name, price, variations, and product description. Here’s an example.
Name: Gotcha Shoes
Price: $24.00
Variations: Color - Blue, Pink, Purple. Size - 9, 10, 11, 12.
Product description: Gotcha shoes grab attention as well as the sidewalk. On top of that, they’re durable, stylish, and comfortable.
That product description wasn’t my best work by any means, but at least it gave you an example of what I’m talking about. This way you won’t have to hunt for your information. You can take it a step further and organize each of these product information sections alphabetically.
Write a Brief History of Your Business’ History and Goals
You’ll want a summary of your history and goals. This is very different from your About Page. This business summary is more like a list that will include the following…
Start date
Why you started the company
What your customers get out of your products/services
Any turning points in your business’ history
You need to have this list handy while writing your about page so you aren’t struggling to remember whether you started your business in 2001 or 2002.
Also, I would like to point out that this list will be very valuable if you decide to hire a freelancer like me to write your about page for you. I and my fellow copywriters aren’t mind readers, so lists like this help us create valuable page copy that will appeal to your customers.
Make Sure You Have All the Pictures You’ll Need
A good website needs pictures. The problem pops up when you don’t have the right amount or quality of pictures. This is where your website outline will come in handy. If you have a building then you should add a picture of it along with a picture of yourself or your team. Each product or service needs a picture, and if you have a blog you’ll probably want a thumbnail for each post.
The easiest way to ensure you have quality photos is hiring a photographer, but you can take the pictures with your own camera or even a smartphone if it can take good pictures.
These tips will help keep you on track so you can get your website up as quickly as possible. If you still need some help, contact me, I’d love to work with you.