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Your Guide to Building Your Own Website With Websites 360®

Gone are the days when you had to have a design degree to build a great website for your business. These days, there are plenty of DIY website builders out there that make it possible for anyone to build a website, but not all of them are made equal.

Websites 360® is your go-to website builder, and our easy-to-use platform is user friendly and designed to help anyone — no matter how much or how little design experience they have — be successful in building their own website. Here’s how!

Your Step-by-Step Guide to Building a DIY Website With Websites 360

Step #1. Sign up for Websites 360.

Before you can start building your own business website, you need to create your account with Websites 360. We have two affordable plans to choose from, including a DIY option for as little as $25 per month.

Here’s what you get when you build your own website with our one-of-a-kind website builder:

  • Advanced technology - Get full access to our robot toolset, unlimited pages and storage, SSL security, a mobile-friendly website, access to professional developer tools, unlimited bandwidth and accounts, the ability to integrate third-party apps, and a variety of beautiful design templates to choose from.
  • Live support - Have questions or need help building the perfect website for your business? Get the support you need when you need it with our expert team of designers, platform specialists, and customer service representatives, who are dedicated to helping you succeed.
  • Marketing tools - When you combine your Websites 360 website with Marketing 360®, you’ll have everything you need to not only build the perfect website for your brand, but also make that website visible and trackable online. From email and SMS marketing to CRM and social media, Marketing 360 makes it easy to manage your most important digital marketing efforts from one place.

Step #2. Choose a domain.

The domain, otherwise known as URL or address, is very important real estate for your website, and it’s critical to the success of your website that you choose your domain name wisely. Choosing the wrong domain could have all kinds of consequences for your website, including negatively impacting your traffic, bounce rate, click-through rate, and more.

Whenever possible, your best bet is to choose your brand name as your domain. If your brand name is already taken, you might be able to work out a deal with whoever owns it. If not, here are a few things to consider when choosing a domain name:

  • Keep it short - Try to keep your domain name under 10 characters. Remember that — in general — the longer your domain name is, the more difficult it will be for people to remember it.
  • Make it memorable - Try to choose a domain name that will be easy for people to remember. That way, they’ll be more likely to actually find you when they’re looking for you.
  • Make it descriptive - Your domain name should be descriptive of who you are or what you do. A domain name that isn’t relevant to your site might lead to people who are looking for something else to your website, which will only hurt your bounce rate.

Websites 360 makes it possible to set up as many custom domains as you would like. Plus, we’ll help you purchase your domain; although, we do prefer that you own your domain name.

Step #3. Pick your template.

Now that you’ve signed up for your account and chosen your domain, it’s time to start actually building your website! Woot! And, the first step to building your DIY website is to choose from our professionally designed website templates.

We’ve got a wide range of stunning templates to choose from, and we make it easy to find the right option for your needs by organizing templates into categories for specific industries. We’ve got design templates for restaurants, fitness centers, veterinary hospitals, and wellness clinics, home service providers, artists, real estate companies and agents, as well as a whole host of business options that are perfect for lawyers, recruitment firms, and so much more.

Although each and every one of our design templates is built to be fully customized, it’s still important to put a lot of thought into which template is right for you. Check out my previous blog for a few helpful tips on how to get it right.

Step #4. Customize it to reflect your brand.

One of the best parts about building a website with our website builder is that our templates are completely customizable, and customizing your template for your brand is a key part of making your website truly reflective of your business.

You can customize every aspect of our design templates. Here are a few aspects that you don’t want to forget about when customizing your design template:

  • Colors - Make the colors representative of your brand. You don’t necessarily have to use the color in your logo over and over and over again, but you should choose complementary colors. Choosing the right website colors can make your brand immediately recognizable.
  • Typography - Typography can be an important aspect of your branding, but it’s commonly overlooked. Make it a point to to make the front style, font size, and font color representative of your brand.
  • Images - Your website should have plenty of high-quality images. Use as many images of your products, team, storefront, or sign as you can, and make sure that any stock images you choose are reflective of your brand.

Check out my blog to learn more about how to make the most of the design template you choose.

Step #5. Build out your most important pages.

It’s important to make your website your own, but no matter what kind of business you have or what industry you’re in, there are a few key pages that every website needs to have.

Whether you sell flowers or specialize in kitchen remodeling, consumers need to know that they can trust you before they choose to work with you, and they’ll need to know who you are, what sets you apart, what you have to offer, and how to get ahold of you. In order to do that, there are several pages you’ll need to have on your website.

Here are a few must-have pages for your new website:

  • Homepage - This one if pretty obvious, but a homepage is a critical aspect of any website. Depending on how someone finds your site, the homepage is the first thing they’ll see, so you want to ensure that you’re making the right first impression.
  • About page - Your About page tells your visitors who you are and what makes your business unique from the many others like it online. It’s a great place to tell your story and establish a more personal connection with your visitors.
  • Services or Products pages - If you’re building an ecommerce site, you’ll need a page for each individual product you offer, and if you’re a service provider, you’ll need a page for each of your services. These pages allow you to get into the nitty gritty details of what you have to offer.
  • Blog page - Your Blog page is important for search engine optimization, and it’s the perfect place to share company news, industry advice and expertise, case studies about your services and products, answer frequently asked questions, and so much more.
  • Contact page - Your Contact page tells your visitors how to get a hold of you. This is important information for anyone interested in learning more about your products or services, asking questions, getting a free estimate, scheduling an appointment, etc.
  • Thank You page - This site won’t be visible to visitors on your website, but you still need it. When someone fills out a contact form, your Thank You page is what will confirm their submission.

Step #6. Publish your new website!

Last, but certainly not least, press that Publish button!

Start building your business website with Websites 360 today!