As an entrepreneur, building a website for your business is paramount to success. In fact, 71 percent of small businesses have a website, meaning that if you don’t, you risk falling behind your competition. Moreover, over 50 percent of consumers say they don’t trust businesses without websites.
However, building a website can initially appear as a daunting task, especially if you lack advanced technical expertise. Thankfully, there are many options available to laymen users. In this guide, we’ll take you through how to build a website without coding skills.
Keep reading to learn more.
Why Your Business Needs a Website
There are many reasons entrepreneurs and businesses choose to build a website. Here are just a few to consider.
Increased Exposure
As a result of the many online marketing avenues that having a website opens, building a site is an excellent opportunity to increase business exposure. Through search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads, you can effectively drive traffic to your website and capture leads.
Digital Business Card
A website can act as an effective business card that is convenient and infinitely accessible by prospective clients and business associates. While traditional business cards incur repeat printing costs and are easily lost and destroyed, websites solve this problem, as all you need to do is point people to your web address.
Income Diversification
A website also presents an excellent opportunity for you to diversify your business’s income. For example, you could integrate an online store into your site or take online payments for your service with upsold add-ons.
No-Code Website Builders
In order to develop a website without technical expertise, you’ll need to take advantage of a codeless platform.
Wix
Wix is one of the most popular website builders available, with over 200 million users worldwide. The platform offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop user interface (UI) that allows users to build basic websites without encountering any technical issues. Wix also offers several high-quality pre-made template designs for users to modify, circumventing the entire development process. This means all you’ll have to do is add your own text and image content.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Trusted by millions
- Dynamic template designs
- Wix app marketplace
Cons
- Limited basic account
- Premium plan is single site only
- Analytics require paid plan
Related Article: WordPress vs. Wix: Which is Right for You?
Squarespace
Like Wix, Squarespace also offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop UI. However, SquareSpace is targeted toward e-commerce websites, meaning that it comes with added functionality for users wanting to build an online store. In terms of usage, Squarespace doesn’t quite match Wix, but it still boasts an impressive 3.8 million subscribers.
Pros
- e-commerce friendly
- Google Workspace integration
- Excellent mobile compatibility
- Template library
Cons
- Learning curve
- Limited template customization
- Relatively high price
Related Article: WordPress Vs. Squarespace: Which is Right for You?
CMS: WordPress Elementor
Though the above two platforms offer many benefits, an alternative to them is using a Content Management System (CMS) such as WordPress. In a nutshell, a CMS provides access to advanced development tools with the convenience of an easy-to-use website builder like Wix or Squarespace. At Idea Maker, we recommend using WordPress as your CMS of choice for the following reasons:
Ease-of-Use
For such an advanced platform, WordPress is surprisingly simple to use once you have the right plugins installed, which we’ll explain how to do shortly. Even so, with a basic WordPress install, navigating the platform remains a hassle-free experience.
Functionality
Considering that WordPress powers over 41 percent of live websites, it should be no surprise that the platform has vast functionality. Not only does WordPress come packed full of features, such as the drag-and-drop Gutenberg Editor, it also includes a plugin library with over 55,000 add-ons.
Scalability
As a result of WordPress’ comprehensive customization options and extensive functionality, WordPress websites are scalable. This means that as your business grows, so can the capacity of your website. For example, as more users pass on their details through your site, you can increase database storage using third-party services.
How to Set Up WordPress Without Code
Fortunately for the uninitiated, WordPress offers two services: one that requires knowledge of backend development and one that can be installed with minimal technical experience.
The latter is WordPress.com. All you need to do is head to WordPress.com (after finishing this article or course), select “get started” and follow the on-screen. You’ll be asked if you want to purchase a domain if you don’t already have one, along with various add-ons aimed at ensuring a smooth development experience.
How to Install Elementor Without Code
Once your WordPress install is set up, you can choose to build a website using the default editor. However, this is not the best choice for those with little knowledge of the platform. Your best bet is to install the Elementor plugin. This is much easier than it sounds; just follow these steps:
- Login to your WordPress account
- On the left-hand sidebar, select the “Plugins” tab
- On the right-hand search bar, search “Elementor”
- You should see “Elementor Website Builder” appear in search results; click “install”
- Once Elementor has been installed, navigate back to your plugins tab
- Location Elementor, click “Activate”
- You have now successfully installed Elementor on your WordPress site
Once Elementor is installed, you can then begin to build your website using its drag-and-drop interface. Simply navigate to the “Pages” tab on your WordPress install, select “Add New,” then “Edit with Elementor,” and begin building your page just as you would with Wix or Squarespace.
Website Development from Idea Maker
If you want all the benefits of having a website without the hassle of actually building one, you should consider working with the expert developers at Idea Maker. We have a team of dedicated web developers and designers ready to build an exceptional website that satisfies your requirements. Schedule a free consultation today and find out what we can do for you.
