Building a website from scratch can seem like a daunting task. You might be overwhelmed by all the tasks and considerations involved. You might even still be wondering where to start in the first place. And we all know that’s even harder when your clients are not sure what they want to begin with. Yet, this intimidating task can become straightforward with a well-planned process in place.
Our goal by the end of this article is to help you answer this burning question:
How to build a website from scratch for your clients if I don’t have an in-house web designer and web developer team?
Here’s our step-by-step guide you need to build a website from scratch process and taking your agency offering to the next level.
Before building your client’s website, there are many aspects to consider and establish to offer them a complete website build and design. Let’s explore them.
First and foremost, you need to understand the key goals of your client. Websites are there for a reason, and that main reason should be the core focus of every element of every page. If the goals are not clear, then the website will ultimately fail.
Then there are the websites that are monetized, like eCommerce. The most prominent elements on the site should be focused on sales, sign-ups or enquiries. The reasons can vary from client to client, from simply raising awareness of a particular issue to growing their profile and portfolio.
Once that core focus is established, you can then have a much clearer idea of the layout and shape of the website, allowing you to determine things such as:
It’s the first step for any agency looking to bring website design and development into their offering. It will make the entire process run smoothly, from the build itself to client management and communications.
One thing that can often slow down the process of building a website is getting information from the client. An excellent way to get around that is by being proactive. Rather than waiting for the client to send details that are integral to a brand’s website, send over what you need in an easy form for them to fill in.
There are several ways you can do this. Firstly, you could create a universal form that can be sent out time and time again to clients and be part of the initial briefing process. Alternatively, you could set up a call with the client and just run through it, ensuring you get.
Understanding what the competition is doing in terms of design and development is important. Just as doing competitor research to understand, are the other players in your fields are structured and working.
When researching the competition, it’s essential to analyze it from two different points of view:
Firstly, you’ll understand what the target audience wants to see on the pages you are building. Long-established competitors are beneficial for gathering this information as they have had the years to craft their output.
It’s important to take note of any common trends. Those can range from the type of pages of the competition, the type of CTA (call to action) used on the homepage, or the page structure and widgets featured on various pages.
When exploring the competitors’ sites, consider:
You’ll understand how customers in your industry interact with websites and build your site accordingly.
Google is where most end-users will do their research that will eventually bring them to the website. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the exercise of making your site perform better on search engine result pages.
Google’s ranking structure which decides which pages are shown on top of a certain research page, is built with the users in mind–What the customer wants is what Google wants. Nevertheless, it’s also important not to overlook what search engines are looking for.
The better a site performs on search engine result pages (SERP), the better the chance it will attract clients. Good SEO is even more critical for highly competitive industries involving
eCommerce websites. According high importance to the factors noted above will help you identify what are the elements making businesses rank for specific search keywords.
The best way to build your website with the search engines in mind is by Googling the keyword you want to target and working your way down the top pages on the search result page. You’ll be able to establish the user intent of the search term and critical features and topics of the page ranking, allowing you to craft pages around that on your client’s website.
Most people don’t actually build a site from scratch — neither should you! Unless you want to learn how to code, that is!
People use simple yet powerful website builders to get started. Let’s look at how you should choose yours.
The main functionalities and aspects to consider when finding the right website builders for you and your clients are:
Designing and building a website from scratch is great, but you’re going to need to host it yourself or a hosting company to do it for you to make it accessible to the customers.
Choosing the right hosting provider for your site can positively impact your performance. The wrong hosting provider can:
Some research needs to go into finding the right host for your needs. However, some website builders, like Duda, will offer to host your site, saving you time and money.
It also means that unlike using a content management system like WordPress, everything can be managed in one place. With its hosting solution, Duda makes the whole process with the client much smoother than juggling your website design and development with multiple businesses.
Choosing a domain name is a critical part of building a website. Naturally, your client should have a large say in this, but that doesn’t mean you can’t offer your expertise and guidance. You’ll have the opportunity to pick up a free domain name or register one, but when building a website for a business or client, it’s almost always better to register one.
A registered domain will make the domain more memorable and professional, improving any marketing campaigns or activity you are running.
For example, top-level domains would look like www.adidas.com, rather than www.adidas.wordpress.com if you were to create a site using WordPress.
Purchasing a domain name is a relatively simple process, and there are many domain name registrars on the web today. GoDaddy and Google Domain are some of the most prominent. The process is fairly simple, go to their site, type in the domain name you want and make the purchase if it’s available. You’ll usually find multiple suggestions, so it’s just a case of finding the right one for you.
One of the great things about using website builders to start a website from scratch is that many great templates are available, all with specific purposes in mind. So, whether you’re looking to build an eCommerce website for your client or a travel blog, you’ll likely have a start point.
For example, Duda offers a wide range of
templates available, all with the ability to customize layouts, change colors & fonts and embed widgets to transform the template in line with your client’s expectations.
It’s also possible to start entirely from scratch, with the ability to drag and drop and integrate everything you need quickly and easily.
When it comes to using a template, you’ll need to think about:
Ultimately, you’ll want potential customers to find your client’s site. To do that organically, you need to ensure that your site is optimized for the search engines. We’ve touched on this several times, and we can’t stress the importance enough.
Firstly, a starting point is to integrate third-party tools such as Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel so you can manage and monitor the client’s site's performance. From there, it’s all about ensuring the website has the right content in the right areas and is performing well.
You need to ensure your
website structure is in good working order, while improving
on-page search engine optimization is also a must. This means:
Going through an
SEO checklist before launching the website is critical to ensure the new website will perform well when offering a good user experience and ranking well on the SERP.
The great part of building websites with Duda is that everything can be scaled up easily. Once you’ve handled building one website, you can move on to build more, all while maintaining and managing them efficiently. This translates to happy clients and your business growing.
You can save and reuse parts of the website and streamline your approach, ultimately adding a string to your agency’s bow and helping you establish an honest reputation within the website design and development industry.
Gone are the days when website design, development and hosting were expensive and tricky offerings to integrate into your services. It’s easier than ever before, more lucrative than ever before and can be scaled to a level that suits your business.
If your business offers to build websites from scratch, why not go to our
website builder page to find out more. You could be creating sites for your clients in no time at all!
