How to Design a Website in 2024: 14 Simple Steps + Pictures

Are you looking to design a new website for your portfolio or your business, but you aren't sure exactly where to start? Designing websites has never been easier, thanks to powerful website builders like Pixpa. But that doesn't mean that they don't still require some careful planning and implementation.

In this article, we will walk you through the essential step-by-step process on how to design a winning website.

What Are the Essentials You Need to Design a Website?

Before you design your website, you must be ready with certain elements. Apart from the website builder, you would require a domain name, web hosting (only if your website builder doesn’t provide it through its subscription), SSL certification, and SEO tools for search engine visibility.

Here’s a list of some of the essentials when it comes to designing your website:

Domain name: The address the user types into a browser window to reach that particular website. For example, the domain name for Pixpa is “pixpa.com.” The idea is to choose a name similar to your brand name, and you can do this with the help of a domain registrar.

Web hosting: Through web hosting, you can easily store your website data, including texts, photos, videos, and other files, on a physical server so that internet users can access it at any time.

Website builders / Content management system (CMS): These site creation tools allow you to create different types of websites, from blogs to online stores.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools: Creating websites is not enough, you need to ensure they’re visible to your target audience. SEO plays a pivotal part in it.

By including keywords specific to your business and creating compelling content around it, you can make your website visible in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

Here is a Step-by-Step Guide on How to Design a Website from Scratch

There was a time when creating your own website from scratch required hiring a dedicated team of programmers and designers. Today, website builders allow anyone to make beautiful and engaging websites with drag-and-drop simplicity.

You don't need expert-level coding skills to be a professional designer. You can quickly create and change your web page design through creative templates to meet your changing needs. Check out the stunning best web design portfolio website examples designed for your use.

But how do you actually go about doing it? Even though the creation process is easy, there's still a lot to think about when it comes to the task of "how to design my own site?" Without having and using a plan from the beginning, you might wind up wasting time remaking your site several times.

Here's a step-by-step guide for how to design a website, from initial concepts to implementation:

1. Have a clear vision and plan
2. Know the Latest Trends
3. Choose a Website Builder
4. Figure out how much the website will cost
5. Find your Template
6. Brand it Your Own
7. Add Content to your Website
8. Add a Blog to your Website
9. Add an E-commerce Store
10. Publish
11. Test your site everywhere
12. Perfect your Search Engine Optimization
13. Receive Feedback and Implement Changes
14. Keep it Updated

Step 1 - Have a clear vision and plan

The first step in the website creation process is to formulate a clear and purposeful strategy. Ask the question, what is the website's purpose? This is true regardless of whether you're creating an online store or a personal project - you've got to go in with a plan.

Write down a list of clear, defined goals for your website. Why are you building it? Who is your target audience? What are you trying to get from it - leads, clicks, sales, downloads, engagement, or site visitors? Clarity on all these points is important when one is tackling the challenge of 'how to make my own website?'

What is the website's purpose?

• Are you looking to create your portfolio website to encourage website visitors to contact you? Check out our guide on how to create your online portfolio.
• Do you want to create a business website? Check out these business websites built on Pixpa.
• Do you want to create an online store to sell your work easily? Check out these professional online stores created by professionals and small businesses.
• Do you want to create a blog website to tell your stories, share news, and build a community.? Check out our guide on how to create a blog website with inspiring examples.
• Do you want to create web pages such as client galleries to share, sell, and deliver your images to clients? Check out how you can create dedicated, mobile-friendly client galleries.

Make sure that you set your goals and decide what kind of website will best represent your brand presence online.

Step 2 - Know the Latest Trends

Nothing makes a website look more dated than using last year's hot ideas. Spend some time cruising your favorite websites and pay attention to what has been updated recently.

Notice anything that catches your eye? Have you seen websites that look fresh lately--what did they do? You don't have to run it alone when looking for hot trends, but it certainly starts with simply keeping your eyes peeled.

Website trends are a little bit like fashion trends. As fads come and go, it's fun to see what the newest websites look like and what creative ideas will pop to the forefront. Read our article on the 10 Top Latest Web Design Trends for a good starting point on your web design journey.

Trends in web design range from navigation layouts and animations to simple things like colors and text art. Many of the elements you choose for your website will be more tied to your brand than to trends. In the coming points, we'll delve deeper into branding your website.

The good news is that using a website builder takes some of the stress out of keeping your site looking modern. Pick your favorite theme and update it regularly. A professional designer puts the theme together, and they usually do so by studying what's hot and what's not.

Step 3 - Choose a Website Builder

There are dozens of popular website-building platforms. We have written an article on the Best Website builders. It includes the biggest names in the business, including Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and Weebly. These companies make it super easy to design a website, but they are made for a general audience. Their websites have some beautiful templates, but the ability to customize them for specific purposes is limited.

Users in particular niches might find the template options from these website builders a bit limiting. One weak area is that most free website builders don't offer all the tools for creative professionals.

Pixpa is an all-in-one website builder for creators and small businesses to create beautiful, professional websites complete with a built-in online store, blog, and client galleries. Pixpa’s versatile platform has everything you need to showcase your work, share ideas, and sell your products/services online without any coding knowledge.

Photographers, artists, graphic designers, models, and creative directors use Pixpa as their go-to website builder due to the large library of templates to choose from. Best of all, Pixpa websites have add-ons that no one else does. 

Are you a photographer looking to share photos from a shoot with your clients in a private gallery? That's a tricky feature to find, but Pixpa makes it easy. So what are you waiting for? Build your photography website with Pixpa today.

Here's a look at how to get started with the Pixpa website.

Step 4 -Figure out how much the website will cost

Most people don't have web design expertise and look at hiring a freelancer or a professional web studio, which is an expensive option. Depending on the kind of website you need, the cost of building a website could vary from a few thousand dollars up to $15000 or more.

The other option is to choose a great website builder, which will allow you to completely customize your page for an entirely made-from-scratch look while being drag-and-drop simple to make. This option is way more affordable and easier.

With high-quality website builders, you can create a professional website with all the features you need available in one seamless, powerful platform.

Wondering how much to design a website with Pixpa? Pixpa's pricing model is as clear-cut and well-designed as the templates. One simple price, with plans starting as low as $3.60 monthly. You don't have to worry about web hosting, domain registrations, or add-ons - you get it all with Pixpa.

Step 5 - Find Your Template

Like most website builders, Pixpa allows you to view the templates available before you sign up. It's a great shopping tool because you can get ideas and inspiration from many places. Compare the portfolio and web gallery templates from other builders with Pixpa, and the choice will be clear.

As you find your template, remember that you'll be able to customize it later on. When you start with a beautiful template, you can design a website that is genuinely your own but without all the work. Pixpa offers a multitude of stunning, pixel-perfect, mobile-friendly templates. You can customize your site design using a simple & powerful visual style editor.

Adding pages to your website is a breeze with Pixpa's drag-and-drop page builder. With a host of built-in tools such as search engine optimization manager, marketing popups, announcement bar, and much more, you don't need any extra plugins to start growing your website traffic and converting more leads.

Here is an example of top personal website templates you can check.

If you are looking for some website design inspiration, look at these outstanding portfolio websites created on Pixpa. Here is an elaborate guide that will help you create your own personal website.

Step 6 - Brand it Your Own

Just because you base your site on a professionally designed template does not mean that you have to keep every website element. Pixpa's design tools allow you to customize all of the template options. Maybe you don't need a particular feature, or you want to add something that the template doesn't show by default, or maybe you want to make it better to match your brand's identity.

Building a Strong Brand Identity:

Brand identity is a significant part of your website's marketing presence. You'll want to spend some time coming up with a cohesive plan. This is how your customers will remember you and come back to you.

Your brand starts with your domain name on the web. The URL you choose is important. It needs to be simple, unique, and memorable. It also needs to sum up your business in a meaningful way. If it contains some keywords that the search engines will pick up, that's good, too.

Traditional branding dates back to business cards and billboards. Graphic designers can put together a package of brand identity items that work to sell yourself or your product. Many things go into this, from big things like a logo to small things like fonts and color schemes. You can play with the elements yourself—none of these things are complex. They need to look good together and show your website in a good light.

Enhancing Your Web Brand with Visuals:

Photos and videos play a huge part in your web brand, too. Banner and landing page graphics are some of the most impactful elements to help attract site visitors. Choosing the right images is step one, and giving them a unique look is step two. Think of the emotional difference that a contrasty black-and-white cityscape photo has compared with a high-key, over-saturated photograph of a tropical island.

Where does your business land? These are two extreme examples, but you can harness an entire spectrum of emotional reactions from visual imagery and brand identity. Don't fear playing with images and using filters. One tip, however, is to try to keep things uniform. If you want a certain look, maintain it throughout the website for consistency. Don't bounce back and forth, which will leave your website visitors confused.

On your website, the more of these touches you add, the better. While the templates are visually appealing, without your personal touches, they can all still look a little generic.

Adding a Personal Touch with Text:

Your brand doesn't end with visual elements, however. Your website and your business should also have a tone and voice. Consider this when adding text. All websites need some text, and how you speak to your audience tells them a lot about your website or your business.

Are you a professional, speaking in the third person and formally? Or are you an individual introducing yourself and using "I" and "me?" Make sure your personality shows, but in precisely the way you want it to. Here are some tips on how to write great content for your portfolio website.

Optimizing Website Functionality:

While you're getting to the work of branding your website, consider some functional questions as well. The navigation of the website may need some tweaks, depending on how you've customized it.

Keep it as clean and straightforward as possible. Ensure there is a standard menu bar on the top and that it's easy to find. The one thing you never want to do is let your site visitors get lost--always make it easy for them to get around.

Step 7 - Add Content to Your Website

Now that you've got your site more or less laid out the way you'd like it, it's time to start adding your product. Your product might be your portfolio of work, or it might be physical products you want to sell. Whatever they are, figure out how you want them presented.

Remember, only showcase qualitative content on your website. You must carefully go through your work while putting yourself in the shoes of the target audience. Add relevant keywords and create engaging content. It is surely not an easy task. But when done right, it can truly improve your website's search engine visibility.

Here are some examples of top product design portfolio websites made with Pixpa.

You must create an About Page on your website, which introduces you to website visitors and provides them with information about the person behind all the fantastic work. The web page should strike a fine balance of personal touch, allowing you to connect with your target audience and also want to sound professional, like someone who can be trusted to do the job on time and budget.

Your Contact Page plays an important role in converting your site visitor, who is really interested in your product or service, into a valuable customer. Make sure that it's easy to contact you. Do you want interested parties to email you, call you, or follow you on a specific social media channel?

There should always be some form of a call to action included on a great sales page. Include that in a creative and catchy way to drive user engagement. Here are some contact us page examples to glean inspiration from

Here is a video on how to add content to your Pixpa website.

Step 8 - Add a Blog to your Website

Even if you aren't a blogger, a blog is a powerful marketing tool. Blogging connects you directly to your customers. If you blog about a technical subject, it can make you an expert in the eyes of your readers. If you use your blog for social media platforms and business updates, it keeps you engaged and makes your website look updated.

Traditional blogs with articles are search engine favorites. Web crawlers love feeding on blogs, especially if they're filled with relevant keywords. Blogs basically provide free marketing for your brand and business allowing your web pages to be showcased in search engine results pages. All it takes is researching what people are searching for and writing a short article about that topic.

While many bloggers take the art form very seriously, it doesn't have to take up a lot of time. The primary key to blogging is that you update it occasionally. If there's one rule in blogging, it's not to let your last post be from two years ago. Ideally, add a post every week or more. Worst case, make sure there's something updated every month.

All Pixpa plans include a blogging tool with unlimited posts. You can schedule them to post in the future, so if you'd like to sit down and write all your year's posts at once, you can knock the project out in no time.

Check out these stunning blog websites created on Pixpa.

Step 9 - Add an E-commerce Store

So, you have finally created your business website? Now, it's time to sell your products online! Pixpa's templates allow you to add an eCommerce store to any web design.

Stores are one of the most complex and complicated elements of web design. There's so much that goes on behind the scenes of a store's interface. Product catalogs require databases of information to pull from, plus the shopping cart function and ecommerce functionality. For something that most of us use daily, it's incredibly complex once you dive in and try to build one!

Building an e-commerce store with Pixpa is easy. The full-featured e-commerce store builder offers all the tools you need to run your online business: products and inventory management, discounts, taxes, shipping, abandoned carts, and easy order processing.

If you're a photographer, you'll love the ease with which Pixpa allows you to sell images as downloads and prints with automated order fulfillment. You can collect payments directly on the site and even set up coupon codes and specials. Best of all, there are no commissions on sales. Not many website builders offer this, which is neat, right?

Even if you aren't selling your works to the general public, Pixpa's client galleries are the perfect tool to show your projects to select clients. There are obvious businesses that can immediately benefit from the gallery tool, like wedding or portrait photographers. Moreover, designers, architects, and other creative professionals will find it just as valuable.

Step 10 - Publish

Ok, you've got your domain picked out and your website laid out and branded. Your content is in there, and you're happy with the way it looks. Now it's time to go live and publish it!

Step 11 - Test Your Site Everywhere

Don't stop there, though. There are always little things that can catch you off guard and look different when put to the test.

Your first step after publication should be to open the site on as many different devices and browsers as you can. Tinker with settings, colors, and layouts until it looks great on all electronic devices. Look at it on computers, tablets, and phones. Then branch out.

• Ask your friends and family to "beta test" it for you. Take it for a test drive and get some feedback.
• Does it load quickly? What does the site speed look like? Are there any errors? If you've got a store, does the cart work--and the checkout too?
• Set up a coupon code for 100 percent off and have some friends make sample purchases. Remember to delete that code later, though!

If anyone gives you feedback about the design, ask for specifics. Get some screenshots if you can because you might not be able to reproduce what they're talking about on your computer.

Step 12 - Perfect Your Search Engine Optimization 

Once your site is live and tested, it's time to start perfecting your SEO. Read our Guide on SEO for Photographers and Creators to know more in detail about devising an SEO strategy for your website. While it may sound technical, there's not much to it.

The basic idea is that you want to take advantage of how Google, Bing, and the other big search engines scour the web and index web pages. These companies mix things up from time to time, but generally, they favor certain things from websites.

The number one thing to do to get your page as SEO-friendly as possible is to know what keywords your clients are searching for. This is trickier than it sounds because buyers and sellers are on very different journeys.

You've got to put yourself into their shoes and imagine what they might be typing. If you know they're trying to find you by name, it's easy. But if you're looking for clients that have never heard of you before, it can be very tricky.

Here is a complete tutorial on SEO optimization using Pixpa

The easiest keywords to rank well on are as specific as possible. For example, getting your page to rank well under "landscape artists" might be difficult. So get as specific as you can.

What do you do? How about "Smokey Mountains Painter in Asheville, NC?" If you mainly sell locally, adding your city can be a big help. If you work in one medium or one subject, including those items is helpful too.

And, of course, you can have more than one keyword or phrase that you want to target. Using the various text blocks on your site, including your blog posts, you can channel various search terms into the site. In addition, by using one of the best SERP analyzers, you can both learn what kind of search results people will see when they search with which keywords and shape your webs

Step 13 - Receive Feedback and Implement Changes

As you start using your site and gain more and more site visitors, start collecting as much feedback as possible. How did they find you? Did they find what they were looking for? Is there anything you could improve upon?

Never hesitate to ask for feedback, especially from actual customers. This is your most vital tool in making your site better, after all. Just getting feedback isn't enough, however. You've got to constantly want to make your website better and understand that it's a continuous, ongoing process.

When you design a website, you should always expect change. Customer needs are never constant. You need to follow that by playing around with the site structure, altering your website pages, or creating more unique and branded content if necessary.

With the right attitude and Pixpa's easy-to-use tools, you'll be on your way to growing your business in no time.

Step 14 - Keep it Updated

It's not all about improvements, though. The secret of the best websites is that they aren't only updated and revised. They're also used by their creators like bulletin boards and constantly updated. Some people think of websites like static billboards along the information superhighway. That's pretty far off the mark--websites can be so much more than that.

Think of the last time you visited a small business's website and realized it was just a digital version of a paper flyer. They've probably had the same layout, information, and branding since they opened several decades ago. On the one hand, it is good for them to make it work! But they could be doing so much better. Websites are your hub in cyberspace. Adding and refreshing content constantly keeps the site fresh and relevant.

And one last thing--the more updates you make, the better your SEO performance, too! For some great tips do read our article on how to to build and maintain a professional-looking small business website.

Factors to Consider When Designing a Website

Budgetary constraints

Building a website from the ground up by hiring a website developer can be an expensive affair. Now, if you have resources it is important to understand the purpose and the scope of your business.

If the budget you’ve set aside for web development isn’t much, then creating your own website through a website builder such as Pixpa will prove to be beneficial.

Knowledge, skill, and experience

Knowledge to create a fully functional online website can be challenging. Technical know-how about creating a website cannot be gained overnight. It requires time, which for a business owner will be rare to come by.

However, website builders can be saving grace mainly cause you don’t require coding skills to, all you need to do is choose a template and start working on it.

Time

As the old saying goes, “Time is money.” if you have other things that hold more priority than designing a website, then hiring a web developer and delegating the work might be the right decision.

Then again, constant communication should be maintained, and regular feedback must be given to ensure the best of results.

Start Your Website Design Journey With Pixpa Today

Whether you're creating a modeling portfolio or a business site, the process is similar. This guide will help you create a website that converts.

No-code website builders such as Pixpa allow individuals who lack knowledge about web design to create professional websites for a fraction of the cost. Designing websites has never been easier!

Pixpa is the perfect example of a website builder that has been optimized for one group of people - the creatives of the world. If you've got a fashion portfolio to showcase, publish, or something original like a blog you want to share with the world, your work deserves a beautiful website.

FAQ

How much does it cost to create a website?

Website development costs will vary depending on the website builder you choose. Pixpa’s website subscription plan starts at $3.60 a month. It includes access to premium templates, no commission on sales, integrated SEO tools, and much more. Check out our detailed pricing breakdown.

Is it possible for a beginner to design a website?

Yes! Thanks to website builders, creating interactive and functional websites has become much more easy for individuals with no coding experience.

Do you need technical knowledge to make a website?

No, with the help of website builders such as Pixpa, you can create websites in no time. All you have to do is choose from a range of high-quality templates and use the drag-and-drop page builder to customize the website to your liking.

Can I design a website for free?

Yes, there are free website builders you can utilize. However, they are limited in features, including no custom domain, e-commerce functionality, and much more. Subscription plans offered by website builders are highly affordable and offer top features to help you create a fully functional website.