How to Create Your Own Website?

Building a website may at first seem quite cumbersome. It requires developing an expertise in development to select and configure a hosting server, install and configure a database, or to master a computer language related to the creation of your website, for example, HTML, CSS ...

Website builder vs. web designer - which one is right for you?

Today there are many solutions and building a website is not as complicated as one might think. Here you will discover how to build a website.

In 90% of cases, to create a professional website, it is not necessary to solicit a web agency. Within a few years the available technologies have considerably improved, and today solutions like iPaoo allows you to be completely independent.

In the United States, this practice is common and millions of websites are developed on platforms like ours. Big companies choose this option to remain perfectly independent.

At iPaoo, we provide effective tools, accessible online simply from a browser (no need to download any software) to allow you to build your website easily. No need to configure a server or a database.

So, how do you build a website?

Intuitive user interface

100% identical to the normal view of the website, with iPaoo you add and edit content very easily and you can see the results of your work in real time. You can therefore add pages and content easily. You can organize your titles, text, images, buttons, galleries… and you can structure your pages thanks to the sections and grids and to the multiple options available. The only limit is your imagination. The features and elements are numerous! Your text’s layout is done in an editor similar to a standard text editor. That’s how building a website is a piece of cake!

Building a website is that simple.

What about design?

Consulting a web agency to develop your website can be useful if they bring you a real added value in terms of graphics, usability and referencing. However, once again, today with a platform like iPaoo, you have the choice among many graphic themes. Each theme is designed to create a professional website, thought through in terms of navigation, usability, to offer each visitor a unique user (UX) experience.

You can modify your design as often as you wish. We regularly offer new themes to stay in touch with trends and the market’s expectations. Each theme is responsive, meaning your website automatically adapts to different screens notably to smartphones and tablets. Once you have chosen your theme you can customize it by changing the colors, fonts, the colors of the hyperlinks, background image…

Once you have customized your website, and added your content, your website completely reflects your company’s image. And if you cannot find the right theme, our web designers can develop and add a graphic theme 100% custom made!

Are you still asking yourself how to build a website and which elements you need?

What do I need to create my own website?

Website name

The first recognizable aspect of your brand is the name of your company or the name of your website. It should be short, catchy and easy to remember.

Logo

If you do not have a logo you can create one thanks to free logo creating tools. If no logo is added, the website’s name, in letters, will be used as a logo.

Targeted audience

To whom is your website directed? This is a primordial question to define your website’s structure and even its Search Engine Optimization.

Competitor research and analysis

Visit your competitors’ websites in order to note the strengths and weaknesses. Check the design, usability, categories, overall message…

Design the website structure

Think about Search Engine Optimization before even starting to build your website… Take note of the keywords which reference your business. Imagine what searches an internet user could do using Google to find you. Use these keywords related to your business in your pages’ titles, your URLs and the content. It is this work that should allow you to organize the sectioning of your website. A well thoughout structure = an optimal user experience.

Content

Once again the information that you will enter in your website depends on your target audience (clients, partners, community members…) and your website’s goal (to sell services and products, to create a display website, a website for events…). Make sure your content is unique, simple and easy to understand.

See, it’s not rocket science! A little bit of time, a sheet of paper, a pencil, some common sense, a good cup of coffee and a little courage!

Announcing the Launch of your New Website

After having finalized and published your website, you can send an email with your new website URL to your contacts. Use the share function or email to send individual emails or the mailing list function. You can also add your website’s URL on free press communications websites, professional directories. Ask your partners to add a link to your URL on their website or to exchange links with websites which have the same domain name as yours.

Once your website is indexed by search engines, internet users will be able to find you in searches with keywords connected to your content. Of course, to have visibility and to be correctly positioned in the research engines requires a few additional actions.

Choose the perfect Domain Name

The domain name is the internet address or the URL of your website. All extensions are compatible with your website: .com, .fr, .net, etc. Publishing your website with your own domain name renders it easily identifiable by search engines and makes it easy for your clients to memorize and potential clients. If you do not have a domain name, here’s how to register one:

• First, choose a domain name. Try to make it short, easy to spell and memorize.
• Check if this domain name is available for the chosen internet address by plugging the name into the “Register a domain name” field. If it is available, you can reserve it on the same page, after having chosen your status (Company or Personal).

Attract visitors on your website

To attract visitors to your website, you must increase the Page Rank Google of your website. Good content, rich in key words and good inbound links will help augment your website popularity and therefore its position in search engines. Quite often, in order to obtain good results, it is necessary to restructure and optimize your content and analyze the traffic after each change.

You can use a statistical program like Google Analytics to analyze your website’s traffic, which pages have the most views, how long visitors stay, and the key words that bring people to your website. You can use this information to improve the pages on which your visitors spend the least time, to try to generate traffic towards the least visited pages, and to consider Google Adwords campaigns, etc. More information on optimizing your website for search engines.

Engage your audience & fidelize your visitors

Launching your website is just the beginning. Your visitors will only come back if they find interesting content and new information, events, promotional offers each time they visit. You can use the Emailing List function to send them new features. You can also create a blog and post important announcements. The subscription to your blog’s RSS flux will allow your visitors to be informed instantly from their RSS drive as from their email client.

To retain visitors on your website is far more complex than to get them to come the first time. However, your most loyal visitors and those who will spread the word will also mention you on their own blog and will bring qualified traffic to your website.

Security? Update? Maintenance?

No need to take care of your website’s maintenance, technical aspects, technological updates or security. We will take charge of all that, as well as adding functions to allow you to concentrate on your content, and customer service.

Creating a website with iPaoo is also being accompanied by a young and dynamic team. Each team member is an experienced user of the iPaoo platform, available and responsive. Support is also guaranteed everyday by Chat and email.

iPaoo is the ideal solution if you wish to:

• Have an elegant and professional website to showcase your business.
• Have access to certain functions in order to make your website a real communication tool.
• Be able to update your website any time without needing specific skills and without a hassle.
• Shorten the completion date which is often very long : evaluation of specifications, approval of the graphic design, compatibility between browsers…
• Create a website cheaply and without commitment.
• Allow the creation and administration of a website without in-house technical abilities.

Ready to start? Build your website in few clicks

• Select a design among the professional templates offered. You can use it as a base, it is completely customizable, and you can choose
your own colors, favorite fonts, images, content…
• Choose a title for your website and fill in your email address and a password to be able to access your website.
• Click on the button create a website and customize the chosen design (background colors, fonts…)
• Add your content : text, pictures, videos, files, etc.
• Organize your content : sections, grids, accordions…
• Add pages : contacts, legal mentions, services…
• Publish your website on the web.