Your comprehensive guide to creating an integrated commercial website

ِAnyone who owns a business needs to create a commercial website that represents their business or project on the Internet and provides it with a digital presence so that it is easy to find and recognize it by visiting the site, in order to attract more customers and generate more profits.

Therefore, in this comprehensive guide, we will introduce you to the steps for creating a commercial website on the Internet, starting with defining the basic goals of the website, through obtaining the requirements and using a program to create and customize the website, and ending with starting to achieve the desired benefit from the website and improving it.

What is a commercial website?

A business website is a website on the Internet that represents a business that offers products or services to its customers, and its objectives can vary depending on many factors related to the company and its products or services.

Therefore, a commercial website can be a small site consisting of a limited number of pages, or it can be a huge site that includes detailed information about the company, and includes an online store that allows visitors to browse and learn about products, and a blog that provides explanations about what the company offers.

A commercial website can be linked to any commercial activity in any field. A commercial website can be created for a fast food restaurant, a clothing store , a hospital, a doctor’s office , or a law office. The site may also represent a larger commercial activity such as a factory, transportation or export companies, etc. Of commercial activities.

Why do you need to create a business website?

It is important for any business, regardless of its size or the field in which it operates, to have a commercial website that represents it, because this provides many features and benefits to both the company and customers, including:

• It facilitates the delivery of information to visitors and customers , as the various elements that can be added to the website, such as pictures, graphs, and video clips, help clarify information about the company, products, and services to customers, and this reduces the effort expended by management and increases sales.
• It allows marketing through search engine optimization (SEO) , where a lot of potential customers search in search engines for companies that provide them with the services or products they need, and an SEO-compatible business website helps you direct them to your business website and turn them into your customers.
• It provides the ability to receive customers 24 hours a day . The website operates continuously without stopping at all. This means that you can receive customer inquiries or requests through it at any time, which increases the chances of implementing sales operations and obtaining profits.
• It enables you to reduce the costs of the business , as it can help reduce the number of employees and reduce the number of company branches, thus reducing the amount of money needed to operate the business. This allows you to offer products at distinctive prices that give you a very strong competitive advantage.
• It makes you able to overcome geographical restrictions . While it is difficult for you to reach customers who are hundreds of meters away from you if you do not have a commercial website, you will be able to cover all regions of the country or even the world by using a website.
• It allows you to obtain useful information and statistics , as you can get to know your customers and potential customers accurately through website statistics , and this enables you to develop your business and get more sales and profits.

There are also many advantages and benefits that a website can provide to a business, almost all of which help increase business profits, which is why creating a business website is an important step forward on the path to success.

The cost of creating a commercial website?

Although you can create a website for free, creating a professional business website requires paying some money, and the amount of money you should spend varies depending on the goals of creating the site and the features you want to include in it.

If you want to create a website that provides information about your business, creates an online presence, provides the ability to contact you, etc., the costs of setting up and running your website for a full year will probably not exceed $60.

These costs are divided into two main requirements: hosting and domain. Other requirements, such as the site creation and management software, the template that determines the appearance of the site, and the plugins that help develop it, can be obtained for free if the WordPress content management system is adopted.

However, sometimes medium and large companies may need to create and design a more professional business website that requires purchasing a paid WordPress theme or developing a custom template , and this can cost more money.

Read also : How much does it cost to create a WordPress website? Basic and optional costs

How to create a commercial website

WordPress is the best way to create a website for a business thanks to its many features that facilitate this task and make it more professional. In addition to being easy to set up and use, it provides very high customization capabilities that allow you to build a website that is more suitable for your business.

For this reason, we will explain there the steps for creating a commercial website using WordPress, starting from defining the goals of the site, and ending with launching it, benefiting from it, and improving it.

Step (1): Determine the goals of the commercial site and develop a plan

You should not start creating a commercial website without knowing and defining the goals you want to achieve and developing an appropriate plan, as websites that represent commercial activities can be created for different purposes, and of course some steps of building and designing the website differ depending on the purpose of its creation.

Site objectives should not be determined arbitrarily, but rather this process should take place after extensive study and taking all relevant factors into consideration, including:

• The nature of your business : If you focus on providing one specific service or product, your main goal will be to clarify the product specifications and features and enable customers to purchase it if appropriate (depending on the product or service).
• The budget allocated to the website : If your budget is small, it may be better not to build a huge website that requires a lot of employees to manage it. Rather, it would be more appropriate to design a simple commercial website that focuses on introducing your activity and its products, and enabling visitors to communicate with you.
• What site visitors expect to find : It is necessary to pay great attention to visitors’ expectations, in order to convert them into customers. For example, if your company manufactures somewhat complex products, customers will expect content that explains them and explains how to use them.
• Products or services you provide : If you run a business concerned with technical matters such as software, the nature of the products dictates that one of your goals is to enable visitors to purchase and download digital products directly from the website.

Based on these factors and many other factors related to your business, you must determine the main goal or goals of creating the commercial website, in addition to the sub-goals. In many cases, the main goal of the site is to provide information about the company and its products, and other times the above is in addition to selling products through the site electronically.

Step (2): Provide the main requirements for creating the site

In order to create a professional commercial website, it is necessary to first obtain the basic requirements necessary for this, which are high-quality web hosting , an appropriate professional domain name , and an SSL security certificate . Without these requirements, building a website that instills confidence in the hearts of visitors will not be possible.

The task of hosting is to operate the site and enable visitors to access it, and allow you to manage it and install and use programs that help in this (such as WordPress), while the domain name directs visitors to the site correctly so that they can browse it, as it acts as its address, and the SSL certificate By encrypting the data that is exchanged between the site and visitors or customers in order to secure it.

Obtaining requirements and linking them together

Although there are many companies that provide web hosting, they are not of the same quality and reliability, and in order for the site to be complete and professional, you must be careful to obtain high-quality hosting from a reliable company, such as Digital Ocean or AWS , which are among the best hosting companies .

As for the domain name, because it is not linked to many features, it is not difficult to find a reliable company that provides it, but we recommend adopting one of the companies that we mentioned in the article ( The best sites to buy a domain at a low cost ). As for the SSL certificate, it can be obtained and installed by following The explanation we provided in the article ( Obtain an SSL certificate for free and link it to your website ).

It is worth noting that you may also need to link the domain and hosting to each other if you did not obtain them from the same company (some hosting companies sell domain names), and to know how to do that, you can review our detailed article that talks about this topic ( how to link the domain to hosting, and make the settings as follows the correct ).

Read also: How to reserve a unique domain that sticks in your mind (tips for choosing a domain name)

Step (3): Install WordPress on the hosting

WordPress is a free content management system that helps create websites and greatly facilitates their management. It runs on web hosting, and is the best and most popular way ever to build and customize a website thanks to the many features it has and the many benefits it provides.

But in order to use it to create and design a commercial website, you must first install it on the hosting. Fortunately, this is easy to do, most of the time just taking a few clicks in your hosting control panel , because hosting companies often provide an automated WordPress installer.

We have explained in detail two different methods for installing WordPress on hosting in an article ( How to download and install WordPress on hosting ). We also explained how to install WordPress on Digital Ocean hosting in particular in a separate article ( Steps for installing WordPress on Digital Ocean hosting ).

Step (4): Choose and install a WordPress template

After installing WordPress on your web hosting, you must choose and install a suitable template to create and design a professional commercial website. There are many free WordPress templates suitable for commercial websites in the official WordPress store , and you can also find free, high-quality Arabized WordPress templates on the Arabized business templates page on our website.

If you want a paid template that is more professional than the free templates, you can get a template which is the best source for obtaining paid WordPress templates in the Arabic language.

In order to choose a high-quality and appropriate business website template for you, make sure that it has the following features:

• It has many customization options that provide you with the ability to design the commercial website as you want.
• SEO compatible , so it’s easier for potential customers to find you.
• It supports an easy-to-use website builder like Elementor, or can be edited using the full website editor.
• It includes a blogging section , as most business websites need blogs to publish content about the company and products periodically.
• It is responsive to all screens , and works perfectly on all types of devices, including smart devices, tablets, and computers.
• It allows adding a contact form or integrates with an add-on that allows it to be added , because some customers prefer to communicate via a custom form.
• If you plan to sell products on your business website, the template should support WooCommerce well .

After choosing the appropriate WordPress template to create and design the commercial website you want, you must install it on WordPress to use it to adjust the appearance of the site. To do this, you can review the article ( How to install a WordPress template correctly ), in which we explain how to do this in detail and with pictures.

Step (5): Choose and install the necessary add-ons

WordPress plugins or add-ons add new functions and tools to the content management system that help create, design, manage, and achieve the goal of the site. In order to be able to perform all these tasks on your commercial site to the fullest extent, you may need to install some plugins. The most prominent WordPress plugins that you may need for a commercial website include the following:

• An add-on to improve SEO : It helps you make your site and its content compatible with search engines so that you can top the results and reach the largest number of potential customers. Among the best SEO add-ons are Yoast SEO , Rank math SEO , and All in One SEO .
• Website building add-on : If you want to design the commercial website yourself based on many tools and options without having to rely on template options (and this is recommended when creating a commercial website), you must install a website building add-on that is compatible with the template that you have created. Install it, such as SeedProd , Elementor , or Themify Builder .
• In addition to securing the site : It is necessary for the commercial site to be secure, as security instills confidence in the hearts of visitors, and this contributes to converting them into loyal customers. In addition, securing the site protects its data and the data of visitors, preventing it from being lost or leaked, and thus losing money. Sucuri and Wordfence areamong the best security plugins for WordPress, and you can rely on one of them.
• Add-on for temporary storage : Add-ons for temporary storage greatly speed up the website, and speed is one of the most important factors that help the success of the site, because visitors appreciate it. Therefore, you must use a plugin for temporary storage on your commercial site, such as W3 Total Cache or Wp Rocket .
• Add-on to improve images : If you do not want to add a lot of images to your commercial website, and you want to make the site merely an introductory interface for the company, it may not be necessary to install an add-on to improve images. Rather, they can be improved using an external tool before uploading them to the site, but if you are going to add A large number of images, it is preferable to improve them by using a plugin within WordPress. One of the best add-ons for performing this task is ShortPixel .

You may also need other add-ons to help you create, design, and improve a powerful commercial website according to the functions you want to add to it. To find the appropriate add-on, you can always search our site through the search box using the keyword related to the main function you want to add to the website.

After determining the plugins that you will need on your site, you must install them on it by following the appropriate method from the methods that we explained in our detailed article in which we talked about this topic ( How to install a WordPress plugin and activate it on your site correctly ).

Step (6): Customize, layout, and add master pages

Determining the customization and layout of the site pages and including the necessary content in them is an important step in creating a commercial website, but there is no single layout that can be relied upon, as you are the one who precisely determines the layout of the site pages and the content they contain. The most important pages that business websites should include include the following:

• Home page : This page is the most important page on the commercial website, and its function is to invite the visitor to take action and provide information about your company and its products or services. The home page must include a very clear value proposition, preferably appearing in the front and center of the screen. The home page of a business website is different from the home page of a blog: while the latter displays the latest posts, the former is divided into multiple sections by company. For example, the home page could be divided into the following sections starting from the top:
  • Main menu , company logo and call to action button.
  • An attractive and clear value proposition, and a call to action button.
  • A section dedicated to introducing the company and the products and services it provides.
  • A section that includes evidence of the benefits of your products or services (statistics, for example).
  • The most prominent advantages that characterize the company and its products in general.
  • The most recent posts published on the site’s blog if it will include a blog.
  • The footer section , which can include links to important pages, the most important products, and rights.
• About Us : This page includes information about the company itself, its story and history, and its products. Customer reviews about the company and products can also be included on this page. We have explained how to create this page in the article ( Create an “About Us” page on your site to highlight your story and introduce you ) .
• Contact Us : This page should contain contact information with the various departments of the company, in addition to a contact form that provides the ability for the visitor or customer to easily send you a message. You can review our comprehensive article for more instructions on how to ( design the perfect Contact Us page ).
• Products or Services : This page explains in detail what your company offers and how customers can obtain or purchase it, and it can allow them to order products or services through it if you provide this on your commercial site.
• Privacy Policy : It is one of the important pages that must be added to all types of websites when creating them. We have explained what it is and how to create it in a separate article entitled ( Learn how to create a privacy policy page on your site ).
• Blog : This page contains blog posts that are well organized and in easy-to-navigate sections. The main section on the blog page usually includes blog posts starting from the most recent to the oldest. But if you don’t want to publish posts on your site, you don’t have to add this page.

These pages can be created and their appearance customized using the WordPress plugin editor , the customization tool , a website building plugin that the theme supports, or the full WordPress site editor.

Step (7): Launching the website, marketing, and making use of it

After you create the pages of the commercial website and customize them as suits you based on the articles we referred to in the previous paragraph, you will be able to launch the website and attract visitors and customers by marketing it in various possible ways, including:

• Advertisements : You can add advertisements that talk about your company and the products and services you provide on other appropriate sites by communicating with their owners, or you can create an advertising campaign to promote them if you wish.
• Social networking sites : Social media is suitable for promotion in various fields due to the diversity of its users, which is why it will be beneficial to use it, whether by creating pages that represent your business on them, or publishing ads in appropriate groups and pages.
• Search engine optimization ( SEO ) : This is the best way to market your site and your company’s products and services, especially if you include a blog on the site that talks about products and services, how to use them, etc., as this will make it easier for you to direct visitors to your site and product and service pages.

In order to achieve the goals for which you created the commercial website, you must be keen to continuously develop and improve various aspects of the site by learning more about how to manage it using WordPress, as well as by updating its content whenever necessary, and publishing posts on the blog on a regular basis. To help you with this, you can review the following articles:

• The comprehensive guide to the WordPress control panel (pictorial explanation) .
• 10 tips that help the success and continuity of your WordPress site .
• Explaining the conversion rate – and 13 strategies to improve it on your site .
• What is bounce rate? What is its importance? How do you improve it? .
• A full explanation of A/B testing and its conduct on a WordPress website .

Tips for success in creating and managing a commercial website

After you create and customize the design of the commercial website, you can launch it and start marketing it to obtain visits and customers, but in order to ensure the success of the website, be sure to follow the following important tips:

• Focus on the goal of creating the commercial website , and always work to achieve this goal by making technical improvements to the site.
• Make the site design beautiful and its options easy to use . Most visitors evaluate commercial sites based on the design, at least in the beginning.
• Ensure that the various pages of the site are compatible with all types of devices , by actually browsing it through them.
• Add interactive content to the site when appropriate , such as competitions, and make sure to take advantage of it to attract the visitor’s attention.
• Update information on an ongoing basis , and make sure it includes information about the latest releases of products, services and offers.
• Make sure to speed up the site , because a slow site negatively affects the site’s ranking and makes the user experience bad.
• Use high-quality, expressive and original images , as this instills confidence in the visitor and encourages him to deal with your company.
• Include photos of people’s faces , as faces attract the visitor and increase the likelihood of them becoming a customer of your company.
• Apply the best SEO strategies , and never adopt any black hat SEO practices .
• Publish content based on certain strategies . You must develop a good and appropriate plan to publish content on your commercial site’s blog.
• Make your call to action button clear by coloring it a distinct color that will catch the visitor’s attention.
• Use split testing (A/B) to find out what your site visitors and customers prefer to adopt.

Questions about creating and designing a business website

With this, we finish clarifying the concept of a commercial website, introducing you to its benefits for commercial projects, and explaining how to create a commercial website step by step using WordPress, starting with defining its goals and ending with customizing and launching it to achieve the desired goals.