Your website is the very backbone of your online existence. It’s the ultimate bridge connecting your company to a stream of potential buyers. In fact, in today’s digital world, it’s practically impossible for any business to go without a website.

The good news is that building your own site today is much easier than it seems. There are plenty of tools out there to help you, and plenty of companies you can turn to for assistance if you need it. Still, it’s worth making sure you’re informed before you get started. Here are 7 things you should know before you start your new site.

1. What Do You Want to Accomplish?

It’s surprising how many people start their own website without actually thinking about what they want to do with it first. It’s easy to get lost and accidentally create a blog when what you really want is an eCommerce platform.

Before you begin speaking to designers, make sure that you take the time to sit down with your team and decide what you want to accomplish with your new website. Think about your long-term goals, and how you’re going to make money off your new site.

2. How Can you Make yourself Stand Out?

Once you’ve finished deciding what you want to do with your website, you can look into how you’re going to make yourself stand out from all of the other sites in your space. A good way to do this is to conduct some competitive research into websites that are similar to yours. Look at the kind of themes and designs they choose and think about how you can improve the experience for your customers or offer something completely unique. The more you can make yourself stand out for all the right reasons, the better off you’ll be.

3. Don’t be Afraid of Asking for Help

If you’re trying to keep costs low when you’re building your website, then you might want to avoid asking for a professional designer or developer to come and help you. Although building your website is easier these days thanks to themes and CMS systems like WordPress, if you want something really outstanding, then you might need some professional help. With that in mind, make sure that you get the right assistance on your side.

4. You Get What you pay For

Speaking of sticking to your web design budget, it’s worth noting that you do get what you pay for in today’s world, but that doesn’t mean that you should choose the developer with the highest price just because they’re expensive. When you’re looking for the right person or team to come and manage your website for you, make sure that you do your research. Take a look at the company’s portfolio, and make sure that you like what you see before you commit to paying anything.

5. Know your Brand

Your website is an integral part of your brand, and it’s going to help you for years to come when you’re trying to attract new customers and develop your reputation. With that in mind, you need to know what kind of image you want to have before you start designing. Choose your domain name carefully, using the name of your business in the URL if you can.

While you’re planning your website, think about where you can put your logo, how you can design your site to look as attractive as possible, and what kind of brand colours you’re going to use to capture the attention of your target audience.

6. Patience is Key

While we all want to start a website and begin seeing success overnight, it’s important to remember that online success takes time – particularly in this highly competitive marketplace. Even when you think your website looks perfect, it will take a while before you start attracting customers and converting them into loyal fans. Stay dedicated, and you’ll get there eventually.

7. How Will You Promote Yourself?

Finally, just because you take the time to build and publish a stunning website, doesn’t mean that visitors will automatically find their way there. When you’ve set your site up to go live, you’ll need to think about how you’re going to market yourself. People aren’t going to find your website automatically, and your SEO won’t kick in without a little help. Think about how you can develop your identity as quickly as possible through a range of solutions like social media marketing, content marketing, SEO and more.