The Ultimate Guide to Website Design in 2024

A business website is an important intangible asset that functions as a tool for attracting customers, stimulating sales, increasing awareness and building a reputation. 

A company website can be either a single-page or multi-page website with additional sections and a mini-catalog with a shopping cart. We tell you how to create a business website from scratch – from choosing the type of platform to setting up and launching.

What is a website for business?

A website for a company is a broad concept that unites a variety of niches, goals, types of projects and other parameters. Commercial resources are created to solve the following tasks:

• building a brand image, which is necessary to convey the philosophy, values, product specifics and other individual characteristics;
• increasing recognition, which is especially important in cases where products/services are sold not only through official channels, but also through additional channels (retail chains, marketplaces, etc.);
• organizing an online presence when land-based points of sale are already operating;
• improving business performance, collecting contact base, supporting channels in messengers and social networks.

These are just a few of the reasons why entrepreneurs sooner or later face the need to create a website. It is used for sales and promotion, finding clients and partners, strengthening reputation, moving from offline to online, when an online store is more profitable than a land-based point.

Why does a company need its own website?

A business website is a space that provides freedom and unlimited opportunities to find clients anywhere in Russia and the world. First of all, such projects are an element of a favourable reputation. For example, a company attracts partners: you can offer them paper catalogs or a link to Google Sheets. It is easier to redirect the user to a branded resource containing all the necessary information – from history and contacts to a digital price list available for download. 

Let’s highlight the main reasons why it is worth investing in creating a business website:

• forming a positive brand image. Your own resource makes it possible to focus on strengths, emphasize advantages and effectively promote branded queries attracted during SEO optimization. Information on the Internet is easy to compose and make readable: certificates, philosophy, directions, contacts, catalog are located in different sections, so it is easier to search and study them;

When choosing a digitalization method, entrepreneurs often rely on social networks or ready-made infrastructure similar to marketplaces. However, these channels are complementary, not primary. Marketplaces are highly competitive and have strict rules that platforms impose on sellers. There is a commission on each sale (depending on the category, in popular ones it can reach 20%) and overhead costs associated with packaging, delivery, non-redemptions, returns at internal rates.

Social media is great for professionals and small brands that are at the audience-building and niche-testing stage: compact product catalogs, ad launches, and portfolios are available, but for the majority of niches, these features are insufficient. A personal website provides choices in pricing, scaling, branding, audience communication, and search engine promotion.

What types of business websites exist

There are more than 10 types of business websites available, which are conventionally divided into single- and multi-page. Let’s highlight the main ones that are of interest for independent creation:

Landing pages

They are aimed at promotion with the help of advertising, contain CTA elements and lead magnets , have a selling structure – there is everything that encourages the visitor to perform the target action. They are used to build up the contact base, promote, find partners, online booking and pre-orders. The second type is one-pagers, which are distinguished by their informational focus, introduce the audience to offers, there is information about the company, contacts, land-based branches;

Online stores

The main goal is direct sales, for which product cards, a shopping cart, elements for comparing products, calculators are implemented. They are integrated with services for accepting payments and deliveries, working with reviews, mailings, and others. They can be supplemented with a blog, which allows you to move forward on information requests and collect user content;

Service sites

They are created by companies providing both offline and online services – these are beauty salons, travel agencies, lawyers, marketers, etc. The platforms are supplemented with booking, feedback and recording forms, may contain widgets and quizzes, sections with descriptions and approximate prices. They are well promoted in search engines, often contain blogs, as well as online scribbles;

Corporate

The primary objectives are to inform and build a strong reputation. Corporate websites contain information about the company, production, personnel, products, but most often there is no shopping cart: users can download a price list or go to another resource where they make a purchase.

The type of website is selected based on the current strategy

online stores are suitable for launching sales, corporate ones are suitable for strengthening reputation and finding partners/clients, projects with an individual set of functions are created for services, helping to book, sign up, and become members of a loyalty program. A company can launch several resources, for example, a corporate one to attract clients and provide information, a store – to sell different product groups.

How to create a website for business yourself

For independent and free creation of a website for a business that interests small and medium entrepreneurs, two options are available – CMS and constructors, let’s consider the specifics of each.

CMS

A content management system (CMS) is an engine that allows you to create websites for companies for a fee or for free. Access is provided through an internal control panel (called a console or admin panel), ready-made templates are provided, and sometimes page builders. Additionally, plugins are available that allow you to expand the basic functionality of the project.

The engines do not provide a domain or hosting – you will have to pay for them separately, they support integration with e-commerce services. You can understand the specifics of the CMS thanks to the wide community and documentation for developers, but the platforms are difficult for beginners, so you have to involve designers and layout designers. 

They have an open source code, which negatively affects security, in free versions there is an abundance of third-party advertising. Plugins, as well as most templates, are paid, which increases the project bill. If the versions of the plugins and the engine do not match, there are failures in operation, a large number of add-ons reduces performance.

Website builders

Website builder is a platform where you can build any project without coding knowledge. They provide convenient visual editors, as well as the following tools:

• ready-made templates that only require minimal changes. They have a well-thought-out structure, all the necessary sections and CTA elements;
• blocks that make it easy to build a business website from scratch or expand a ready-made template;
• design block – a solution for complete control over design, aimed at professionals (can also be used by beginners).
• The latest feature of the designers is neural networks that generate a company website in a few minutes using text queries and several answers to questions. Regardless of the method of creation, all sites are easily editable, no need to involve programmers or layout designers. 

Additionally, the designers provide:

• assistants based on artificial intelligence , they can generate and paraphrase text content/visual content;
• hosting, protection from DDoS attacks, simple registration of a domain name or connection of an existing one from your personal account;
• blog functionality to increase audience engagement and activity;
• ready-made integrations for expanding basic capabilities, most often available for free;
• access to API and documentation for developers;
• everything you need for e-commerce – from the shopping cart to product cards;
• SEO settings for effective promotion in search engines + connection of statistics/analytics.

Constructors

Constructors implement free tariffs, but with restrictions. The latter affect the cost of a paid subscription, the following limits can be set:

• disk space;
• number of pages per project;
• throughput;
• number of templates and integrations.

When choosing a platform, you need to consider these factors

Step-by-step instructions for creating a company website

At the start, you need to register: indicate your email address, optionally – a phone number. An email will be sent to your email containing registration data and instructions on how to interact with the service.

Creating a website for business using templates and blocks

Immediately after authorization we receive an offer to create a project, an online store and other types are available. We need a “Company Website”, in the section with templates we look for the necessary one, using keywords, in our case – “apartment cleaning”. 

We launch a preview of the template – it is suitable, click on “Select” and go to the graphic editor. Everything is intuitive here: you can change elements through the settings panel or simply by clicking on them. Let’s get to work, for example, we will set up the header and the first block.

Edit the header

Specify the niche/company name, enter contact information. You can add the type of service, and also customise the button by setting the colour, description and changing other parameters. It is easy to add links to each text block: anchor and internal, external, as well as a phone number, email, file (for example, a document or PDF is uploaded, which will be available for downloading).

Setting up the first block

First, we change the text through the “Content” block, an alternative is to highlight the text content and use the AI ​​tool for paraphrasing.

We make the background (click on the form in the lower left corner of the block).

You can upload a new image or video, as well as fill it with either a solid color or a gradient.

Work with the form

In the “Content” → “Form” block, reduce the number of fields – two is enough to increase conversion (click on the cross to delete). Click on the gear wheel next to the name to select the field type, set the name and set mandatory/optional filling.

In the “Design” section, we manage the form, fonts, and colors

Go to the “Form” block: select actions after sending (pop-up window, redirect) and specify where the entered data will be sent ( CRM , Telegram, and other channels that need to be connected in advance, you can directly from the template). Set up analytics, preliminary connection of Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics is required .

All blocks are configured in this way, 3 groups of parameters are available for work: “Content” – for texts and SEO, “Design” – for design and visuals, “Form” – for pages with forms. In the upper right corner of each block there are individual settings that allow you to delete, move and hide. If you need to expand the structure – click on “+” (“Add another block”), after which you get to the catalog and select the desired option, for example, with a countdown timer or reviews – over 170 ready-made solutions are presented. The changes made are saved automatically.

Assembly in the design block.

The design block allows you to build websites for business from scratch – this is a blank sheet that needs to be designed manually or by transferring the layout. After registering in the constructor, when choosing the type of project, you need to click on “Blank page”, then – on “Design block” (lower left part of the screen).

We find ourselves in the graphic editor again, clear the page (it is enough to select all elements and press the Del key). Here are the following settings:

1 – adding elements such as text, objects, photos, videos and others;

2 – checking the display of the design on different screens (adaptation will be required, the parameter is used only in the design block, in templates everything happens automatically);

3 – cancel and redo the action;

4 – scale control;

5 – grid on;

6 – hot keys;

7 – Basic settings and layers.

First, we change the background: delete the existing image, click on “Background color” and make a gradient two-color fill. Now we connect the grid to ensure an even arrangement of elements and the integrity of the design. Add text via “+”:

• we write the title and offer;
• In “Settings” we select the font and color, add a shadow.

Click on “+” → “Photo” again, upload icons and add text to display the company’s advantages. Click on “+” again and send to the form block: open “Settings”, in the “Content” section delete one field in the form, change the call to action, go to the “Button” block to design fonts and shades.

The data is saved automatically, after the assembly is complete, you need to check how the pages are displayed on different devices and, if necessary, adjust them to the screen parameters.

Creating a Business Website in 3 Minutes Using a Neural Network

Creating a website in 3 minutes using a neural network is done from the official page of the service or through the personal account of Kraftum. The user gets to the form where he needs to indicate the main characteristics of the company:

• Name;
• type of services provided;
• Main advantages.
• Company data formCompany data form

After filling in, click on “Generate website”, AI does everything automatically in real time. The selling structure and relevant images are selected, texts are written, blocks are designed. At the finish, we get a beautiful project, if necessary, you can make any changes – here everything is like when working with templates.

How to set up and launch a ready-made website for business

You need to do the following in the “Sites” section:

• click on the required project, in the window that opens, select the page and click on the three dots and “Settings”. Here you will find SEO, name, connection of the adaptive version and the current status (published/not), as well as HTML and actions (duplication/deletion);

• hover the cursor over the project → click on the gear wheel (on the right), proceed to setting up the entire site.

There are several sections in the main settings – let’s look at the capabilities of each:

“Basic”. Specify the name of the site, select the main page and domain, upload the favicon , close/open the resource for viewing, and disable the platform label if necessary;

“Articles”. The block allows you to create a blog and manage articles;

“Social networks”. We configure the display of the link in social networks and messengers by adding a title, description and a suitable picture;

“HTML”. We add HTML code when connecting statistics collection services or social network pixels, plugins, widgets ;

“Design”. Design management is available: colour palette and fonts (with the ability to upload your own pairs);

“Analytics”. We connect Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics, following the instructions, we set the parameters for saving information about sources and UTM tags ;

“Payment on the website”. Relevant for companies that will be engaged in sales. The user has two payment systems – ЮKassa and Robokassa;

“SEO”. This section is dedicated to managing the SEO of the entire site; a preliminary connection to Yandex.Webmaster is required;

“Integrations”. In the catalogue, we look for integrations that the new site requires – these are CRM, tables, reviews, online recording, chats, mailing services and much more. Step-by-step instructions are provided for adding each integration.

Let’s go to the section with domain names: you can connect an existing one or register a new one, making a payment immediately.

After the 10-day period has expired, you need to select a tariff, which can also be done through your personal account: there is information about the conditions, discounts and bonuses that are provided when making a payment for 12+ months. At the finish, we go to the project, check it and click the “Publish all pages” button – the business site is ready to receive the first visitors.

Finally

Your own website allows you to attract customers without being tied to a region, which has a positive effect on key commercial indicators, stimulates sales, and strengthens your reputation. Free website creation for business takes a minimum amount of time, and you can assemble the project yourself without a programmer. 

The easiest way is to use constructors that provide a variety of templates and blocks, convenient visual editors, and a developed infrastructure for subsequent project management. After launching the resource, it is worth using promotion tools, including paid advertising and SEO optimization, to achieve the best positions in search engines. For those seeking professional assistance, opting for the best and affordable web design services can significantly enhance your website’s effectiveness and appeal.