Steps For Building Your First Website From Scratch: A Beginner’s Guide

Web Development | 20-09-2022 | Brijesh Jakharia

steps for building your first website from scratch

Unlike brick-and-mortar stores out there, websites cater to the needs of your target audience at any point in time and from anywhere across the world.

What does this mean for you?

It simply means you have the opportunity to push your products/services even while you are deep into that peaceful slumber of yours. So, if you have landed on this page to know how to build your first website from scratch, it simply means that you already know the benefits of having one for your business. In addition to this, you do not wish to seek the assistance of a website design company.

Let’s cut the chase and get to the process.

Key Terms to Know to Understand the Process of Website Building

Website Builder:

From creating a blog to building a functional website, a website builder is a powerful tool with thousands of templates to choose from to establish your online presence.

Web Hosting Platform:

It is an online platform allowing the publication of website files to push your site on the Internet. The service helps you with the technologies and tools to publish your website.

Web Server:

A web server is a set of software and hardware using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and other protocols for responding to requests for data transfer.

Uptime:

Website uptime is the period of time during which your website is easily accessible to your users. The ideal goal is to get the website uptime of 100%. However, even a website uptime of 99.99% is considered good.

Page Speed:

Page speed is the duration of time taken for a browser to request a page on your website and retrieve it for your users to access your content.

Search Engine Optimization:

SEO is the process of optimizing keywords and content as per a user’s search intent to help improve the ranking of your website or a page in the search engine.

Domain Name:

Similar to the name your parents gave you, you need to give your website a unique name as a part of the Internet infrastructure. It is often found as a human-readable format for your users to look up for your website.

Widget:

Widgets are modular elements, allowing you to use a particular feature or a function while building your website. You can use these widgets to design your website in any way you like. For instance, creative agencies kill the blank space and use proper layouts with widgets to make the website look appealing.

Content Management System:

A CMS is useful software for helping you to handle, create, and change content on the website without having to get your hands on complex codes and hardcore HTML.

Plugin:

A plugin is an external element to a program in the form of software that enhances the existing capabilities of your website. These are often addressed as extensions or add-ons.

Website Theme:

When you opt for web design services, your service provider might often ask you for your preferred theme for your website. However, if you choose to handle the process on your own, you should know what the term stands for. A website theme is a layout on top of which your content design is done to create an appeal.

Now that you know about key terms often talked about, we can begin with the process of website development from scratch.

Step-by-Step Guide to Building your Website from Scratch

Select the Best-suited Website Builder

While there are multiple web builders available in the market, you must select the one that’s best suited for your goals. Web builders are developed for any newbie to establish a website from scratch without possessing hardcore technical skills.

You can compare different website builders available--Wix, Shopify, Bluehost, Weebly, Zyro, and more--to identify the one that fits your needs. It would be best if you looked for the following parameters before choosing your website builder:

- Easy Usability
- Value for Money
- Flexibility to Design
- Availability of Features
- Customer Support
- Reviews and Ratings from Fellow Customers

Select a Domain Name for your Website:

As discussed previously, a domain name is a human-readable name that helps a user look up your website. To get the right domain name, you can follow some thumb rules.

Your domain name should be relevant to what your website is about. It should align with the content, your service, and your product. Besides this, you can keep your domain name short and simple; or at least keep something catchy for a better recall value.

Choose your Design Template:

Here comes the interesting part!

In this step, you will need to choose a design template for your website or a theme that reflects your brand identity. Themes offer a sturdy framework for your website, which you can handle independently without hiring branding companies.

Once you choose your website template, you can drag and drop the elements to make it personalized for your brand. You can experiment with new pages for blogs, services, products, about us, contact us, and more. You can upload pictures using stock images to provide visual appeal to your website. There are numerous free stock image websites that you can use to search for relevant images for your website.

Upload your Content:

Now that the skeleton of your website is ready, it’s time for you to add value to it using your content. It is recommended to have concise content for your visitors, and you should choose content holders compact in size for better readability and scannability.

In addition, it is important to diversify the use of content with formats--text, videos, and images to keep your website interactive for your users.

Add Plugins:

You can add plugins to your website, which can help you enhance features and functionalities. One of the most popular plugins often installed on websites is Yoast SEO. Yoast SEO will show you scores based on the frequency of your top keywords.

You can optimize the content on your website based on the score and get an edge in search engine results.

Preview your Website:

With the domain name set up, template selected, personalized for your website needs, and ready with the content, your hands might be itching to click on the publish option. But wait! Here’s what you should do first.

Go through the preview option and check your website from your visitor’s viewpoint. You can make the final changes using the edit option and then choose the preview option to get a final view of the website before hitting the publish option.

Now that you know about key terms often talked about, we can begin with the process of website development from scratch.

Key Takeaway

Upon hitting the final publish button, you are living with your website. Share your website link on your socials and keep updating content to get benefits from your search engine results.

Also, do not hesitate to change the designs of your website from your insights on what works best. You will get this intelligence as you start getting visitors to your website.

Simply put, keep on experimenting and take your website to its best version.

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Author

Brijesh Jakharia

Brijesh Jakharia co-founded SPINX Digital in 2005 and takes great pride in crafting web and mobile marketing solutions for mid-market businesses to enterprises. Marketing is his passion, and the thrill to build a brand from the ground up has helped him craft successful brand stories for world-class clients. While not at work, he loves to spend his time on research and reading digital content stories.