Having a website is the first step to creating an online presence. If you are a business owner, creating a website is a great way to promote, as well as showcase the products or services that your business has to offer. In addition, having a website allows for potential customers to learn more about your business and easily contact you if they are interested.

Moreover, a website tells the world what your business is all about. And because most people will go online first to learn about a business, looking for your website is often the first thing they will do. So, you want to be sure that your website shows up when they do. This is why it’s so very important to have a website if you own or run a business.

Website Builder is an online editing and publishing tool powered by GoDaddy that allows you to easily and quickly create a website. You simply select a design template for your website and then use the editor tool to add in your content, such as text and images. With the use of a simple drag and drop tool, there are no technical or coding skills required with Website Builder.

How to create a website with Website Builder:

1. Start by signing up for a Website Builder plan.
2. Select a design template that you like and one that matches what your website or business is about.
3. Using the drag-and-drop editor, add in your text and images. If you want, you can even create a contact form for people to reach you by email.
4. Publish your website.
5. Sit back and watch your business grow as customers begin to find your new business website online. You can always add new features such as a shopping cart to create an online store as your business begins to expand.

With Website Builder, you have access to hundreds of professionally designed templates to choose from. It’s as easy as typing in the industry for your business and then selecting a template that you want to use for your website. In fact, many templates are already pre-populated with content. So, all you need to do is customize the template to your liking and change the wording, images, or anything else on your site as you see fit.

Most definitely! You can customize your website to meet your specific needs. Customize everything from menus, pages, colors, fonts, and much more. Add photos, videos, prices, galleries or any other features that are important to you and your business. Virtually every section of your website is customizable with Website Builder. Whether you want to change the name of a page, edit the navigation menu or style, you have that option. When customizing your website, you can even view how your edits will look on both mobile and desktop, so you can ensure that your website looks great across all devices.

If you are wanting to sell online, you have a couple different options. With both Business and Business + plans, you have the option of adding a PayPal button to your website that can be used to process payments and sell from your website. But, if you are looking for more advanced checkout features and the ability to process payments with other methods besides PayPal, we recommend adding a shopping card to your website. You can add the shopping cart option when signing up, or you can always add it later if you decide to.

Yes, you can. By adding the shopping cart feature to your website, you are able to sell products or services right from your website. Offer various payment and shipping options to make checking out a breeze for your customers. Learn more about creating an online store.

When signing up for a Website Builder plan, you do have the option of using a free domain to use for your website. However, it is not a custom domain, so it does have some limitations. So, while you do not need your own custom domain to set up your website, we do recommend purchasing your own domain name for your website so that you can have a professional web address for your site.

Yes, it does. With all Website Builder plans, a free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate comes included and is automatically installed on your website during setup. This way, you ensure that your website is safeguarded by using encryption to help protect your visitors and keep private any sensitive information they may submit through your website, such as contact or credit card information for payments.

Having an SSL certificate installed on your website is an important component to overall website security and something to be taken seriously. Plus, having an SSL certificate on your website can also offer a slight SEO boost as well to your website as Google has publicly announced that they favor websites with them and recommend SSL encryption for all websites.

Yes, you sure can. Add your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media pages in the Website Builder and have your icon links display on your website. Not only does linking your social media to your website give you more credibility, but it also helps expand your overall online presence. Website Builder makes it easy to add and manage your social media links from one central location.

Yes, SEO tools come built in with certain Website Builder plans including Business and Business +. With a simple to use SEO wizard, you have a step-by-step optimization guide that offers suggestions on how to improve the SEO of your site with keywords and descriptions. Simply review the recommended optimization suggestions and apply them to your website to help improve your rank on popular search engines such as Google. It really is SEO made simple. And who doesn’t love that?

1. Start by getting organized
Start by thinking about what you want to communicate on your website. Think about the images you might want to show and about the different pages you want to include. When starting out, often this may include a homepage, an about page, a contact page, and perhaps a blog page. Take notes and write out what you want your website to say on each page. Also, think about what you envision for your website to evolve into in the future. Getting organized and planning out your website will give you a much more clear sense of direction and ideas for how to map out and structure your website. This is particularly helpful when first getting started.
2. Select a website template
Once you’ve thought about what you want on your website and how you might want it to look, next select a template for your website. After signing up for a Website Builder plan, you have the option of typing in the industry of your business in the initial setup. After doing this, you will then be presented with template options that closely match what your business is about. Simply select one that you like to get started customizing and editing your website.
3. Edit and customize your website
Next is the fun part. Use the built-in editor to add in your content, business information, and products or services. Edit fonts, colors, or any other styles to get your website looking just the way you want it. You can add in text, images, videos, or anything else that makes your website unique and specific to your business.
4. Buy a domain name
If you already own a domain name, you can connect it to your website within Website Builder. But, if you don’t have a domain name yet, we recommend buying and registering one. Choose a domain name that closely matches the name of your business. This will help your web address look more professional and be easier for your customers to remember and find your business online.
5. Optimize your website for search engines
Take advantage of the SEO optimizer that comes with your Website Builder plan. Using the SEO tools that come built-in will help ensure that your website is following basic SEO best practices, thereby giving your website a better chance of ranking higher on search engines like Google. When your website ranks higher on search engines, this helps your website to be more easily found online by customers who are looking for a business just like yours.
6. Publish and launch your website
When you’re ready, take a deep breath and publish your website. When you publish your website, you are launching it live to the world. Then sit back, relax and watch your business grow. You can always make edits, add updates, or make changes to your website at any time.