So, you are done with purchasing your domain, along with the much-needed extensions to go along for your business website…
But comes next?
Let us help you with some important steps you need to take after landing your dream domain that is your website-to-be! But first, our heartiest congratulations to you for having laid the cornerstone to your virtual estate!
Now, getting back to the matter at hand;
Also Read: Website Development Checklist To Help Create Your First Website
What to do after buying a domain?
Register your business if you haven’t already
We know you have a lot on your plate right now, and perhaps you think that this can wait, but we strongly advise you to register your business right away. You should do it right after you’re done deciding on the name.
Not is it only required by the Local/State/Federal Law, business name registration is important to protect your brand identity.
It is imperative to get your business registered. So get on with it if you haven’t done it yet!
Start Designing of website
A good web design will be much needed if you want to keep your website visitors on your website longer and even show up for reruns…
But what is a “good” website design?
There are a few traits that make a website good, here they are:
➢ SPEED
The time your pages take to load is the most important of all traits. How is it the most important trait? A survey carried out by Amazon showed that for each second of extra load time, they lost 1% of the revenue!
With an entire generation raised on endless options and instant gratification, the average attention span of the featherless biped is 3 seconds! The majority of human population will leave your site if your website takes any longer than 3 seconds to load. And that number is Ever-receding!
Design your website for Speed.
Also Read: Ways To Optimize Your WordPress Website For Speed
➢ REAPONSIVENESS
Whatever you’re offering, your website will have more cell phone visits than any other device. So mobile-friendliness is important.
But your website needs to respond to all screens. And the response does not merely mean “fits the screen”, it means layout – how things are arranged for taps or clicks, and it means ergonomics – how simple and accessible the functions and the buttons to touch.
Design your website to be Responsive.
Note: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to help you out
➢ ACCESSIBILITY
Remember how you first learnt that clicking on the “Facebook” logo took you back to the news-feed or refreshed it? Well, every website has to have that feature now, because people expect the logo to take them back to the homepage.
Accessibility includes making clickable links and buttons visible. Button colours should be contrasting with the background. Make your contact information super accessible! Add a map if you’re a physical store.
➢ SIMPLICITY
Simple is Super. Minimum will give you Maximum.
Minimalism is not just a trend; it is THE truth. Keep your web design Simple, Clean, and Minimum. Have only what the audience would truly need and organize it well.
Start your Website Development
Pick a good domain host if you haven’t already. It is always better to have the same provider host all your domains as that makes it easy for you to manage all your domains and renewals.
Also Read: How To Set A Budget For Your Business Website Development
Choose your Backend Services carefully. There are many Content Management Systems out there, but they all are good at certain somethings. WordPress, although customizable is better suited for informational websites; Shopify and Magento on the Another hand, are more appropriate for e-commerce.
Quality content rules all, but whether or not that content will be impactfully consumed by your audience depends upon Content Delivery. Pick wisely!
Also Read: Complete Guide To The Content Management System
Website Navigation is of utmost importance. A website that is confusing to navigate through will have high drop-offs regardless of the quality.
What was that thing?… Patience?
A well-linked set of web pages will not just make it easier for people to find their way to what they came for; it will also result in a thorough crawl of your website by Search Engine Bots. This will lead to better Search Rankings.
Ensure there are no broken links or loading issues with your site. Functionality is Paramount. Develop your web pages for quicker loading.
Follow Google’s Page Speed Insights to optimize page-loading speed.
Fast is the only way Forth.
Connect Your Hosting Account
- Log into your DNS account and find the “Manage Domain” options. You will be led to the list of domains you own. Here, select the one you want to connect with your hosting.
- Find your way to a “Manage DNS” option and go to the “Name Server” section. Your Domain Server would have given some name servers by default, but since You are not using the same service for hosting your website, you need to change this information. Find the “customize” option.
- Open an additional tab and log into your hosting account to find your site’s Name Server Details. Here you will find the Name Server(s) that you need to add to your domain. Copy.
- Go back to the “customize” option on the DNS site and Paste.
Et voila!
Note: It may or may not take around 24 hours for your DNS – Hosting Connection, so…that thing called “Patience”?
Also Read: How To Host A Website In Simple Steps
Add TLS or SSL to your domain
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a protocol used to encrypt your connection to secure it against data leaks during transfer between your customers and you. TLS or Transport Layer Security is SSL’s successor, which is a cryptographic protocol that provides better security against leaks.
Either SSL and TLS is combined with the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to form a HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to encrypt communications and a secure ID.
Also Read: 9 Types Of SSL Certificates – Make The Right Choice
Create social media profiles for the domain
Social Media today is indispensable for business. Online social platforms are the best channels to easily, effectively, and casually connect with your audience. And no matter what kind of services you offer, there are people on social media who are on the lookout for you.
And they’re all on Social Media!
But more importantly, Social Media directly influences your website popularity and Search Engine Rankings.
How?
People review, write feedbacks, express their fandom on social media. You can market, connect, and propagate through social media. This leads other people to look you up through Search Engines. The more people that reach your site through search, the better your Search Engine Performance.
And we’ll say it again: It is about time you get your business page on Social Media if you haven’t already!
Quality Content
None of all your efforts will ever pay off if you do not offer value to your prospects/customers. Content is the king of all propositions in today’s world.
Content is the one thing that may turn the tide in favour of a “not-so-good” website. If people know you have valuable content to offer, they might go out of their way to reach you.
While, no matter how much you spend and how hard you try; if your website lacks quality content, it just will not work for you.
Create a custom Email Address
Now that you have a domain that is your own, you can have a super-slick, pro-looking Email.
you can?
you *should*
A custom, professional email address gives you the “I mean business” vibe like nothing else does. But more importantly, it makes you look more credible. So, do not miss out on this step. If you got your domain and hosting from the same provider, you can simply do this by following your hosting provider’s instructions on creating a custom email, given on their site.
Also Read: WHY DOES YOUR BUSINESS NEED A DOMAIN EMAIL ADDRESS?
Start Marketing
Okay, so you’re almost done building your little virtual world, and you want to open its doors to visitors. It is time to start promoting your website!
There are numerous ways you could go about it…
- Email Marketing is one of the top techniques to draw people to your websites. Newsletters and Offers are good means of offering value to the audience. Good emailers have the potential to provide sky-high returns on investment!
- You could maybe start a Blog? Express your work and passion! Let the world know how interesting your dream is. You could even Guest Blog for symbiotic value and social proof.
- Search Engine Optimization is yet another tool that you should harness as it is a free-for-all and rewarding if done right.
- Remember all that stuff we mentioned about Social Media and Quality Content? Consistent efforts and good content are all it takes for Social Media Success.
Mix, match, and measure to figure out what works best.
And keep at it!
Remember to renew your domains before they expire
If you want to keep owning the domain, renew. It’s as simple as that! You could lose your domain name and all the brand value tied to it if someone else purchases it when your ownership expires.
You might have to pay them a lot to get your domain(s) back or go through an excruciating legal brawl! Further, the expired domain nameservers once changed to “parking pages” could bring all your web services to a sudden halt. You will lose customer confidence along with favourable Search Rankings.
So always ensure to renew your domains before they expire.
Also Read: Why Should You Renew Your Domain Before It Expires?
Launching your first website is anxiety-provoking, and you go on worrying whether you’re doing it right, and all the possible things that could go wrong.
We hope this helps you ensure the essentialities of your website and helps guide you in the right directions.
Make mistakes. Learn from them.
But, keep pushing forward.
Cheers!
