How to Build a Website in 2024: Complete Step-by-Step Guide

Getting your website online can seem like a daunting task – but if you follow the right steps, it can be easier than you might think.

I have extensive experience testing and reviewing website builders, as well as a bit of web design experience under my belt, and I can tell you that you don’t have to be a web design expert or even have a big budget to build a good-looking, functional website.

There are two ways you can build a website. The first option is to use a website builder – a platform that’s designed to make it easy for anyone to build a website, even with no previous experience or technical skills.

The second way is to use WordPress. This can take a little more work, but it’s still pretty easy if you are technically inclined, and it gives you more flexibility. Email marketing has the power to grow your business quickly. It has a high click-through rate (CTR), too – up to 100x better than social media channels like Twitter.

I’m going to be exploring both options in this guide, so keep reading to find out which is the right choice for you.

Option 1: Using a Website Builder

Website builders are online tools that allow you to build a website through an intuitive, visual interface, so you don’t require any coding or technical skills. Any worthwhile website builder will come with a user-friendly interface and flexible features that allow you to create a great-looking website in a matter of hours – or even minutes.

But looks aren’t everything, so a good website builder will also offer intuitive tools to expand your site’s functionality (for things like selling products, sharing a blog, or getting your site found on search engines).

Most website builders are budget-friendly, and many of them offer free plans or free trials, so you can get started without having to spend a dime.

To help streamline the process even further, website builders also come with pre-designed templates that you can use as a starting point. Depending on the builder, a template can be as simple as a premade layout for your site, or as rich as a complete style, layout, and color scheme to which you only have to add your own content and images, and personalize it with your own branding.

Depending on the builder, you’ll have access to different methods of building and editing your site. I personally prefer drag-and-drop editing, as it gives you more control over the layout while keeping the process pretty simple. You can position elements wherever you like, or add new elements by simply dragging them into place.

Some builders offer a selection of apps to choose from. This is an easy way to add functionality to your site or integrate it with another service. You can add a mailing list, an appointment booking system, a live chat box, or pretty much anything you can imagine, usually at no added cost.

Though there are plenty of website builders out there, their quality greatly varies. My personal favorite is Wix, as it offers hundreds of templates and great flexibility, with lots of free (and paid) apps. Check out our guide to the best website builders for some other excellent choices.

Using a Website Builder: Step-by-Step Guide

1. Decide what kind of website you want to build

With most website builders, you can create just about any type of website you can imagine. You may want to create a personal website, a blog, an online portfolio, or interactive a resumé/CV. If you’re an entrepreneur, you might need a website for your business, or an online store to sell your products or services.

You don’t even need to limit your site to a single purpose. For instance, you might want to create a website for your business that also has a portfolio of your work and an online store. With the right builder, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

2. Choose the right website builder for your needs

Builders will have different strengths and features, so you need to choose the right builder for your needs. For example, while most builders come with some sort of online store feature or add-on, if you need complete control over your online store’s settings, then an e-commerce platform like Shopify would be a better option than a regular builder with store features. But you’ll make the tradeoff with limited general-purpose features, like blogging or media sharing.

For my money, the most flexible website builder is Wix. It has excellent e-commerce features, tons of apps, and its drag-and-drop editor gives you complete control over how your website looks. Wix sits at the top spot of our best website builders list, and I’ll be using it to demonstrate the steps to building your website in this guide. That’s not to say that it’s your only option though – you should be able to follow these steps with most quality website builders.

Most website builders have a free plan, or at least a free trial period. If you’re just getting started with your website, or if your budget is tight, a free plan can be the best solution. Free plans give you the chance to try out a website builder without investing upfront.

The downside, however, is that free plans often come with a lot of restrictions. You’ll be limited to using your website builder’s URL (e.g., username.wixsite.com/yourcompany). That’s fine if you’re creating a website as a hobby, but if you’re using your website for business, you really need a custom domain name (yourcompany.com) that’s easy for your customers to remember.

Also, if you use a free plan your website will be full of the builder’s branding, which can look unprofessional.

Free plans also tend to restrict the amount of traffic you can get, and many useful features such as installing apps or accessing tools for e-commerce might be locked behind a paywall. If you’re serious about your website, you’ll likely need to upgrade to a paid plan.

It’s important that you know the type of website you want to build before choosing a plan. That way, you can select a plan that’s better suited to both your budget and your needs. For example:

• If you want to sell online, you’ll probably want to go for a designated business plan (or, at the very least, a plan with the necessary tools for e-commerce). Most builders either offer e-commerce features as add-ons or as higher-tier plans. You’ll only be able to accept payments online or sell products with those upgrades.
• If you want to showcase your work by hosting a lot of videos or high-resolution images on your website, you’ll need a plan with a lot of storage and bandwidth. On some builders, the amount of “video hours” you get for each plan are separate from your storage space, so try to take that into consideration.

I recommend going for the lowest-priced plan that gives you all the features you need right now. If your needs change, you can always upgrade to a higher-priced plan in the future.

4. Get started: Choose a template

The first step in the process will always be choosing a template. All website builders use templates (some builders call them themes, but they mean the same thing) as the building blocks of your website. Templates are professionally designed to work on all types of devices, and they allow you to get your website online in a relatively short amount of time.

The template sets the style and general layout of your website (although you can customize it later), providing you with a framework that you can customize and use to add your own content.

Most website builders have template libraries that you can browse even before you sign up, as you can see in the screenshot of Squarespace’s template library below. Templates are categorized by their purpose or functionality. Categories aren’t meant to be restrictive (it’s not that you can’t use a portfolio template for your blog), but each category contains templates that are specifically designed for different types of websites.

Some builders also offer AI-generated templates as an alternative. Instead of choosing from one of the pre-designed options, you get a unique, auto-generated template based on your answers to a questionnaire. AI templates have the advantage of being uniquely-catered to you, but you miss out on the attention to detail and professionalism offered by premade templates, so the best choice will come down to personal preference.

The best templates look fantastic right out of the box. As far as I’m concerned, Squarespace has some of the most visually stunning templates out there.

5. Customize your template

Technically, you don’t have to make any customizations to your website template once you’ve chosen it – but regardless of how well-crafted a template is, customizing your website is what truly makes it your own and sets it apart from other websites (especially those using the exact same template). A good place to start would be changing your template’s colors and fonts to match your business branding.

Although different builders will give you varied levels of customization, one of the huge advantages of using a builder is that they make customization rather easy. While each website builder will have its own unique editor, everything I’m about to demonstrate in Wix can be accomplished through similar steps in other builders.

Changing fonts

Changing the fonts on Wix is simply a matter of clicking on the text you want to change and hitting the Edit Text button. You can edit each text box separately or use the Save Theme option to apply your font changes across your whole website.

With Wix, you can choose different fonts for different text types – for instance, you can choose one font for Heading 1 to use as your main heading (like in the template I’m demonstrating below), and another font for your sub-headings. You can even have a different font for paragraph styles, if you like.

Some website builders only allow you to change the font style for the whole website, rather than for individual headings and paragraphs. Though that limits your options somewhat, I’d recommend you keep a consistent style throughout your website anyway.

Changing colors

Depending on your builder, you might be able to change the color of each individual element, or you might be restricted to global “color styles,” where you can only change the color of a bunch of things at once. Wix is a very useful builder to demonstrate this step, since it allows you to change global color styles, edit your site’s color palette, as well as change the color of individual elements.

The more design-focused builders like Wix and Squarespace will also give you the option to change section backgrounds to gradients, images, and even videos.

Wix automatically creates complementary color palettes to match your theme, but you can change the palettes by using the “change your site colors” option. You can also add your own colors to match your branding.

Moving elements around on your pages

Drag-and-drop editors make rearranging your page’s content a simple matter of, well, dragging it from one place to another. Wix is unique in the amount of control it gives you over arranging your page’s layout, but other drag-and-drop editors will give you similar features.

Other editors may offer an up/down button method for moving sections around on your web page. Block editors work like a middle point between the two, with pre-made blocks (text, image, video, columns, etc.) that you can arrange in a grid, giving you more flexibility than just moving content up or down, but not as much room to play around with as a drag-and-drop editor.

One thing that I particularly like about Wix is the Zoom Out and Reorder function. This allows you to view your whole web page and easily move sections and/or elements around on the page. Below, you can see how easy it is to move content using this tool.

6. Add your own content

When it comes to adding your own content, all you have to do is replace the “placeholder” text and images in your template with your own text and media. It might take some time if you have a lot of content, but the overall process is really simple.

If you don’t have your own images, most website builders offer some kind of image bank that allows you to instantly add free images to your site.

How to add text
You can add new text sections to your web pages in just a few clicks. In Wix, you use the Add tool in the toolbar on the left and then select Text in the pop-out menu.

I recommend setting up the main areas where you want to add text first and then going back to add your content. You can use our free Lorem Ipsum Generator to create placeholder text to use until you’re ready to add your own text.

How to add an image
Like adding text to your website, adding images is incredibly easy. In Wix, open the Add menu, select Image (directly below Text), and choose from the range of image sources. You can upload your own images, use free Wix images and illustrations, search the Unsplash images database, or choose premium stock images from Shutterstock (for an added fee). Then, all you have to do is place the image where you want it on your page.

You can also use the Add Image tool to add a logo to your website. I’ve got some advice about logos further on in this article.

If you’re using free Wix or Unsplash images, these may be already optimized – meaning that they’ve been compressed to smaller file size so that they won’t slow your website down. If you’re using your own high-resolution images, however, it’s a good idea to reduce the file sizes before you upload them. That’s easy to do with a free tool such as our Image Compressor.

How to add a page to your website
Most templates will come with several pre-designed pages, such as Home, About Us, and Contact. If you want to add or edit pages, the process is very similar for most builders. All you have to do is go to your menu setting or its equivalent, and search for the “add page” option. After that, you’ll be able to edit your page’s name, visibility, and other overall settings. The screenshot below shows this process on Wix.

When you add a new page to your site, it will automatically show up in your navigation menu, but you can change this if you wish by going to your menu settings.

7. Add apps

Apps are third-party or native integrations that help expand the functionality of your site. Although not all website builders have apps, some builders like Wix have hundreds of apps to choose from. Many of them are free, and even the paid apps often come with a free version or a free trial period.

You can use apps to add extra features to your website in a matter of minutes. For instance, Wix’s app market allows you to add features like online booking, live chat, newsletter signup, social media integration, and much more to your site.

To add apps to your Wix site just click the App Market icon (it should appear as four small squares on the left toolbar). From here, you can search for a specific app, or browse the categories to find new ideas.

Once you’ve found an app you like, just click on it, and then select Add to Site.

Once the app is installed, it’s immediately available on your web page. In my case, I added the Wix Groups app to my site and it was available within 30 seconds.

8. Choose a domain name

Before you publish your website, you’ll need to choose a domain name. If you’re on a free plan, you’ll have to use a sub-domain (e.g. yourusername.wixsites.com/yourwebsitename). If you sign up for an annual paid plan, most builders will include a free custom domain name for the first year.

Most website builders will give you the option of registering and setting up your domain name. That means that all you have to worry about is choosing the best domain name for your website. Having the right domain name is absolutely crucial though, so don’t rush this step! Even with the perfect name in mind, one of the biggest issues you’ll have to deal with is whether the domain name you want is actually available.

If you’re having trouble deciding, check out our complete guide to choosing your domain name!

9. Preview and publish your website

Now that you’ve added all your content and chosen your domain name, it’s time to get your website online. With most website builders, this is really just a matter of clicking a button (or two).

Don’t rush to hit the Publish button yet – it’s always a good idea to use the Preview option to make sure you’re happy with your site before going live. Previewing allows you to see your site the same way your visitors will, without the distractions of the editor. Besides, if there’s any spot where you forgot to add your content, or any blank pages you forgot to fill, previewing your site can help you catch those small details before anyone else does.

Most builders will also let you preview the mobile version of your site. Always make sure that your site works and looks good on mobile devices too. This is especially important for getting found on search engines. Many search engines analyze the mobile version of your site and give it priority over the desktop version.

Once you hit Publish, your website is live, and you can start promoting it!

Website Builder Comparison Table

Website Builder FAQ

Which website builder is the easiest to use?

There are several website builders that are very easy to use, such as Webador and SITE123. However, Wix is my top choice because it manages to give you a ton of design freedom while still being impressively easy to use. Not only is it incredibly intuitive, but it also has more features than almost any other builder.

Will my site appear on Google and other search engines?

Yes, your website will show up in search engine results. But it’s not enough to just show up – you also want your site to rank as highly as possible. All website builders offer SEO (search engine optimization) features to help improve your search result ranking.

In some cases, you’re limited to adding your own meta titles and descriptions. Other website builders, however, will give you more advanced SEO features. The amount of SEO features you get can also vary in the same builder, depending on which plan you choose.

Will my site look good on mobile devices?

The simple answer to this question is ‘yes.’ Most website builders either give you options for mobile-responsive templates (meaning your site will automatically adjust to the screen size of mobile devices) or have a mobile view editor so you can edit the mobile version of your website separately. If you want to check that your website is mobile-responsive, you can use our free Responsive Checker Tool.

Do I need a dedicated e-commerce builder?

It really depends on how many products you plan on selling and the main purpose of your website. For a regular blog that sells merchandise on the side, a regular website builder with e-commerce features is more than enough.

That’s because dedicated e-commerce platforms focus a lot more on the e-commerce aspect (as you might have guessed), often at the cost of other general features that standard website builders offer. So, the answer will depend on what you need from your website.

Can I hire someone to build my site for me?

Yes, you certainly can! If you don’t have the time to build your own website or you’d just rather have a professional take care of it for you, you can hire a web designer for as little as $5 on Fiverr, the best marketplace for finding low-cost freelancers.

Option 2: Using WordPress

Website builders are absolutely the easiest way to get your website online, but they can be a little more expensive than using WordPress with a web hosting plan. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option and you don’t mind a slightly more technical site-building process, then WordPress might be the choice for you.

Now, there are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.com, which is a simplified version, and self-hosted WordPress.org. In this section, I’ll be discussing self-hosted WordPress.

WordPress isn’t quite as simple to use as a website builder, but it’s still pretty easy to get started with – and its massive range of free templates and plugins give you almost limitless options for customizing your website. Though the process is a bit more technical, you don’t need to know how to code or have a lot of experience to build a great-looking website with WordPress.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Choose a hosting plan

Although WordPress itself is 100% free, you’ll have to sign up for web hosting to make your website available online (unlike with website builders that provide hosting with their plans). For a more in-depth look, you can check out our shortlist of the best web hosts in 2024.

There are lots of web hosting options available – but here are the ones that consistently top our recommendations.

When you’re choosing a host for your WordPress website, there are some features you should look for:

• SSL certificate. An SSL certificate makes your website secure, ensuring your site has the little padlock icon in the address bar of web browsers. Most web hosts will include one for free. Once your website is live, you can check that the SSL certificate on your website is working properly with the SSL Checker Tool.
• WordPress optimization. The best web hosts for WordPress have specially optimized servers to improve performance, so your web pages load faster.
• Security features. Some web hosts charge you extra for essential security, so you should try to find one that includes important features such as malware protection, firewalls, and automatic backups.

2. Choose a domain name

This process is pretty much the same for using WordPress as it is for website builders. Some web hosts include free domain names with annual plans, but not all do. If you choose a host that doesn’t offer a free domain name, it may be cheaper to buy your domain name from a third party rather than through your web host. You can pick up a domain name for as little as $1 on some domain marketplaces.

3. Use a one-click installer to install WordPress

Some hosting plans come with WordPress pre-installed. If your plan doesn’t, don’t panic – you can use the one-click installer provided by your host.

“One-click” might be a bit of a misnomer, but it’s not too far off – with just a few clicks, these tools set up all the scripts and databases needed to make WordPress work on your website. All you really have to do is come up with a username and password that you want to use to log in to WordPress once the installation is complete.

Different hosts may use different one-click installers, but essentially they’re all the same, and they’re all very easy to use.

4. Access WordPress through your hosting dashboard

The exact way you’ll access WordPress may vary depending on your web host. In most cases, however, you’ll find the option for managing your WordPress website in your hosting dashboard.

I’ll be using Hostinger to demonstrate the process, but it will look pretty similar regardless of which web host you choose. In Hostinger’s case, once you select “create a new WordPress site” you’ll automatically be taken to a window where you’ll have to input your admin login details.

Hostinger also includes a small questionnaire which it will use to pre-install plugins and populate your site with content. Though this isn’t as universal, more and more hosts are starting to implement similar features to help you get started.

If this is your first time using WordPress, the dashboard may seem a little overwhelming, but don’t panic, it’s actually quite easy to navigate. Below is a screenshot of the dashboard with all the important elements labeled for you.

WordPress uses some jargon that’s different from website builders, so to make things easy, here’s a brief rundown of the different sections of the WordPress dashboard:

5. Choose a theme

Themes in WordPress are very similar to templates in website builders. The biggest difference is that in WordPress, themes control more than just the general style/layout of your website. A particular theme can often include certain plugins (or “required plugins”) and even offer different customization options.

My Hostinger install came with the Astra theme pre-installed for me. Another host will start you with WordPress’ default theme, which is pretty basic, so you’re probably going to want to look for a different one.

Thankfully, the WordPress theme installer makes this extremely easy. You can search the WordPress theme repository to find and install any of the thousands of free themes available in an instant. You can even install multiple themes and use the customizer to see how they will look on your website before activating them.

In addition to the free themes offered by WordPress, you can purchase thousands of premium third-party themes from marketplaces like TemplateMonster and ThemeForest.

6. Add plugins

Plugins are similar to the apps offered by website builders – they add extra features to your website that aren’t included in WordPress itself. For example, you can install a plugin to create a contact form (e.g., NinjaForms) or build an online store using WooCommerce. Chances are, if you can think of a feature, there’s a plugin for it, from SEO to creating an online portfolio.

Use the search box to help you find the plugins you need. There, you’ll also find information about each plugin, including whether it’s compatible with your version of WordPress, what features it has, and what other users think about it.

It only takes a single click to install a plugin, but your plugins will only work on your website when you have clicked the “activate” button in the plugins panel.

7. Create your first post

One of the most frequent questions I get asked about WordPress is regarding the difference between pages and posts. Essentially, pages are the static content – i.e., the content on your website that doesn’t change or doesn’t change very often, such as an About Us page. Posts are more dynamic – they show up on the ‘blog’ page or category pages of your website. The key difference between pages and posts is in the way WordPress displays them on your site.

The editor for creating posts and pages is exactly the same, so the process for creating pages and posts is identical. In the screenshot below, you can see that when you click on the “posts” panel of the dashboard, you’ll see a list of your existing posts (some themes come with “demo” content), with an Add New button at the top.

Clicking the Add New button will take you to the editor. Though WordPress’ default editor used to be very barebones, it has a newer block editor that is evolving to be more intuitive and provide more customization freedom. You use “blocks” to create both posts and pages, including the layout and section options. Depending on your theme, you can use the block editor to edit your overall site structure.

There are also plugins available that expand the functionality of the classic block editor. However, if you’re going down that route, I recommend going for a full page-builder plugin like Elementor or Divi instead. Instead of adding to the classic editor, the best page-builder plugins give you an entirely new dashboard and sets of options to edit your site visually.

Block types included in the standard editor include:

• Paragraph
• Heading
• Quote
• Image
• List
• Cover image
• Gallery
• Slideshow
• Table
• Buttons

To choose a block, you can click the “+” icon at the side of each paragraph area or type “/” into the free space labeled “start writing or type / to choose block.”

8. Publish your site

Unlike some website builders (such as Wix), WordPress doesn’t have a specific Publish button for your whole website. As soon as you create your WordPress website, it’s live on the internet. However, there are three separate places where you’ll find Publish buttons in WordPress.

These are:

• In the customizer, where you’ll see a button at the top of the panel which saves changes and makes your customizations live.
• At the top right of each new post you create, you will find the option to publish. Until you click publish, your post will remain a draft and won’t be visible to others. If you decide to make edits later on, simply click update to make your changes go live.
• At the top right of each new page you create. As with posts, your content is just a draft until you publish, and when you make edits you need to click update or your changes won’t be saved.

Consider Spending $5 on a Web Developer and Save Time and Frustration

If you’re short on time or just don’t want to deal with any problems that could occur when building a WordPress website, then hiring a professional to build (and, perhaps, maintain) your website could be a better choice.

Hiring a developer sure sounds expensive, but thanks to the rise of freelance platforms like Fiverr, you don’t have to spend a small fortune. The platform’s main appeal used to be that you could get a seasoned professional for just $5. That’s still true, but you can also get higher-quality, verified services for a slightly higher fee that’s still a fraction of what you’d expect to pay outside of Fiverr.

One of the great features of Fiverr is that it allows you to view samples of a designer’s work to see if they are a good match for the kind of website you need. Moreover, Fiverr ensures you’re completely safe because the platform holds back your payment to the freelancer until you’re pleased with their work.

WordPress FAQ

Is WordPress free?

Technically, yes. The platform itself is 100% free, but you will have to pay for web hosting and a domain name (click here for a list of the best web hosts in 2024). If you want a premium theme or plugin from a third-party marketplace, you’ll have to pay a fee for these, too.

Can I build a WordPress site on my own?

Yes, you can build a WordPress website without hiring a developer – but if you’re new to website building, you’ll probably find a website builder a lot easier (and faster) to use. WordPress is more complex and it’s easier to mess up your website when making changes to settings or by installing plugins that conflict with one another.

What’s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

The main difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is in the way they’re hosted. With WordPress.com, you don’t have to pay separately for hosting but you will need to upgrade to one of the highest-priced plans (Business or eCommerce) to use plugins and upload themes from third-party marketplaces.

WordPress.org is self-hosted, so you pay for hosting separately. You have complete control and freedom with this version and it can work out much cheaper than WordPress.com. Still, if you’re looking for a simple introduction to WordPress, or if you just want to run a blog, then WordPress.com could be a good place to start.

What is better, Wix, or WordPress?

There are pros and cons to both Wix and WordPress. Wix is more beginner-friendly but it can cost more than buying a hosting plan and building your site with WordPress.

WordPress gives you a lot of flexibility and gives you more options for growing your site over time, but it can be trickier to learn and there’s potentially more that can go wrong. For example, incompatible plugins can cause your website to stop working. If you like the idea of getting a WordPress site, but are intimidated by its complexity, consider hiring a professional designer on Fiverr.

Do I need a special WordPress hosting plan, or is a basic hosting plan enough?

You don’t need a special WordPress hosting plan, as WordPress will work on any shared hosting plan that has a one-click installer. However, there are definite benefits to choosing a WordPress-specific hosting plan.

WordPress-specific hosting plans can be managed or unmanaged. With unmanaged plans, your hosting is pretty much the same as basic hosting, but your website will be hosted on servers that are optimized for WordPress and you might get access to some optimization plugins.

Managed WordPress hosting is the hassle-free version, as your host takes care of things like updates, security patching (depending on the host), and backups, so you can just get on with building your website. See our list of the best managed WordPress hosting providers in 2024.

Taking Your Website to the Next Level

Now you’ve built your website, it’s time to get it noticed. In my experience, you’re never completely finished with building a website, since you can always keep updating it, changing things and making it better. You want people to start visiting your website as soon as possible. Luckily, there are a number of things that you can do to grow your audience and give your site visitors a better experience.

Designing a Logo

You don’t need to have a logo before you start building your website, but a logo makes your website look more professional and can help build your brand.

Your logo says a lot about you, so it’s important to take time to get it right. There are design trends to take into consideration – for instance, have you thought about the impact your color scheme can have on your target audience?

There are two ways to get yourself a logo – and both are affordable. My colleague actually tested all the major logo design services to find a new logo for Website Planet. To read all about his experiment and see who won, read our full comparison of the best online logo design services.

1. Do It Yourself with an Online Logo Maker

The DIY method may sound like the cheapest way to get a logo – but this isn’t always the case. Most online logo makers are free to try, but you will have to pay to download and use your logo. There are a few free logo makers out there, but they’re very basic and I don’t recommend using them.

My favorite of all DIY logo makers is Wix Logo Maker. This tool uses AI (artificial intelligence) to generate lots of logo ideas based on your own personal preferences. When you spot a design you like, you can customize everything from the fonts to the color scheme. You can even download a free low-res version of your logo so you can see how it might look on your website and social media before you make your final purchase.

2. Hire a Designer

Hiring a logo designer might sound expensive – but on Fiverr, you can get a professionally designed logo for as little as $5. Most Fiverr designers display examples of logos they’ve created, making it easier to find someone who offers the style you’re looking for. We tested Fiverr’s logo designers ourselves and were really impressed with the quality of the finished logos.

In addition to your logo, you’ll also need to generate a favicon – this is the small image that you usually see in browser tabs next to the website name and in your bookmarks. You can create a favicon in seconds with our nifty favicon generator tool.

Optimizing Your Site

Even if you build a fabulous website, it’s not going to show up on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs) without some optimization. Optimizing your website involves search engine optimization (SEO), analyzing your traffic, and understanding what your audience is looking for.

For SEO, there are some great tools that you can use to make optimization easier. One of the best tools available is SEMrush (check out our Guide to SEMrush to find out more), but there are other options if SEMrush is out of your budget. We’ve reviewed some of the best SEO Tools to help you choose the right one.

Creating the right content for your website might seem like a challenge, but by using analytics tools to find out more about your audience (where they live, their age, their gender, and so on), you can tailor your content better. Read our Guide to Google Analytics to see how to get the most out of analytics tools. You can also use tools like Answer the Public to find out what people are searching for. Check out our Guide to Answer the Public for more about this.

Grow Your Audience with Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the best ways to grow your audience – and there are lots of tools to help you succeed with your marketing efforts.

Email marketing possesses the ability to rapidly expand your business. Additionally, it exhibits a high click-through rate (CTR), surpassing social media channels like Twitter by up to 100 times. Through email marketing, you can provide customers with enticing discounts and promotions, encourage them to share your business with others, and offer valuable free resources to entice visitors into signing up for your mailing list.

To get the most out of email marketing, you’ll need to think about the frequency of your emails, using automated emails, and what to put in your email newsletters. For more tips, check out our collection of the most important email marketing stats.

We have tested and reviewed the best email marketing platforms. No time to read a bunch of reviews? No worries, here’s a quick overview of our favorite email marketing solutions.

• ActiveCampaign – This is, hands down, the most feature-packed email marketing service on the market. It’s the industry-leader for automation, there are 880+ integrations, and it has the best drag-and-drop editor we’ve tested. With so many features, there is a bit of a learning curve but with a huge knowledge base and support team, it’s definitely worth your time.
• Sendinblue – Offering SMS marketing as well as email marketing tools, Sendinblue has an affordable solution that’s easy to use. It even has a generous free plan. You can create automated emails, add workflows, and use the option to “send it at the best time.”
• AWeber – Offering a unique drag-and-drop campaign builder, AWeber gives you everything you need for successful email marketing. It’s very beginner-friendly but still has more complex features, such as split-test functions and it can connect to more than 5000 apps with Zapier.
• Constant Contact – With hundreds of email templates to choose from and a 30-day free trial (60-day if you’re in the US), Constant Contact is an excellent choice. It’s great for creating automated emails, and it’s really easy to use, meaning you can get started right away.
• Benchmark Email – Supporting multiple languages, Benchmark Email is a top choice if your native language isn’t English. It has a free plan, too, that lets you send up to 3,500 emails per month. It’s great for beginners but has more advanced tools that you can use as you grow more familiar with the platform.
• GetResponse – More than just an email marketing platform, GetResponse is a multi-functional platform that incorporates marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), and webinar features. There’s a 30-day free trial, too.

Don’t Forget About Social Media

Email marketing can help you a lot if you’re trying to grow your audience, but a good social media presence can also do wonders for your site’s traffic. While they generally have lower click-through rates, social media campaigns can have a lasting effect on your audience and help you gain more visitors in the long run.

Of course, creating an impactful social media campaign isn’t easy, and though there’s no accounting for creativity, there are tools that can help you coordinate a multi-channel approach.
If you want to learn more, head over to our expert guide to the best social media management tools.

Final Words

Phew! That’s a lot of information we’ve covered. To sum up, here are a few key takeaways from this guide to building your own website:

• Website builders are a great place to start when you’re a beginner. Wix is one of the most flexible of them all, allowing you to start with the basics and add more advanced apps later.
• WordPress is often regarded as more difficult than website builders, but it offers much more freedom. It’s also a cheaper way of getting your website online, with lots of low-cost website hosting plans available.
• If you don’t have the time to build your website yourself, you can hire a developer on Fiverr for as little as $5. Who said working with a web developer had to break your budget?
• Publishing your website isn’t the end of the process. You can keep optimizing and promoting your website with tools for SEO, analytics, and marketing.

Anyone can build a website and it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or only have a tiny budget to spend. Have fun creating your website!