So, you need a website for your service business. Perhaps you’ve seen a lot of the free or cheap options online: Wix, Weebly, WordPress.com. Even field service management software like Housecall Pro now offers website building capabilities.
Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash
Use WordPress for your service business
If you’re just getting starting started creating a website, I recommend you use WordPress for 3 reasons:
- Completely customizable in that you can customize just about everything from design to user interface.
- Integrates well with your CRM, email marketing or other tools.
- Built for Content Marketing, so you can rank high without necessarily shoveling money at Google Ads.
I’ve used WordPress for over 10 years, and over 14% of the top websites are powered by it, compared to thousands of different platforms available.
But how do you build a website in WordPress?
I’m sure you’ve seen the YouTube commercials that say something like, “Hi! I just built this great website in 7 seconds using blah blah blah.”
Bah! You can’t build a website worth anything in seven seconds, but you can build a good WordPress-powered website in one weekend if you follow these steps.
How to setup a WordPress-powered website for your service business in one weekend
1. Create a domain name
First, create a short, memorable domain name that reflects your business name or service.
2. Choose hosting
Get hosting through Bluehost, GoDaddy or another provider. Who you pick is up to you, but I recommend spending more than the “Cheap-and-Crappy Plan”. This is your business’ marketing platform — it makes you money. If you spend more on a combo meal at Carl’s Jr. than your monthly web hosting, don’t complain about your website’s performance.
3. Draft an Outline
Now comes the hard part: creating the site itself, which should start with an outline before you start worrying about what fonts or colors to use. Instead of just blasting people your services, start with addressing your ideal customer. Think about what about what problem your service solves.
If you’re having a problem identifying your customers’ problem, I suggest reading “Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller. If you go to MyStoryBrand.com, you can create an account which will walk you through seven steps to creating your story for your brand.
4. Write the Copy
Once you’ve got an outline, write the copy. I often use Google Docs to write copy for websites, because I can easily share documents with clients for review. It doesn’t matter what editor you use — but that you write the copy before building the site.
And you don’t need to make a complicated site. One clear, concise and compelling page will often do.
5. Build the Site
With your copy finished, you can then focus on building a page in WordPress using a simple theme and the new WordPress block editor. Here’s a few “business” themes that won’t cost you a dime:
6. Test the Site
Load the page, look at everything and click everything. Try to break it. It’s okay, because it’s better that you break it than a customer.
7. Launch the Site
Once you’ve tested it, you can “launch” the site. I say “launch” meaning that you can launch the marketing campaigns that mention this site, whether the site is on postcards or on Facebook ads.
That’s it. It takes longer than seven seconds, but can be done quicker than a weekend.
Recapping the process
- Get Domain Name
- Get Hosting
- Create an Outline
- Write Copy
- Build the Site
- Test the Site
- Launch the Site
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