How to open a website in Kenya

In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through the different steps you should take if you want to open a website in Kenya. From choosing the perfect domain name to regularly updating your website.

I will also tell you about the different search engine optimization (SEO) techniques you can use to help your site rank on Google search results page.

Step #1: Choose the perfect domain name

The domain name is your website’s unique identifier – it’s what people type in their browser’s address bar to find your site.

For instance, our domain name is www.kifarusolutions.com.

When choosing a domain name, it’s good to use a domain name checker to see if the name is available or taken.

Once you register a domain name, it remains valid for the period you have paid it for usually a minimum of one year.

As such, you cannot change it during that period.

This makes it important to make sure you choose the right name. That being so, here are a few things you should consider when choosing the right name:

Tips for choosing the right website domain name

• Memorability: Generally, you want to choose a name that is easy to pronounce and remember. For instance, com is much easier to pronounce and remember than qwifarusolutions254.co.ke or 45785.com.

In fact, if possible, avoid numbers and punctuation marks as much as possible unless absolutely necessary.

• TLD relevance: The TLD is the part that comes after your domain name. For instance, kifarusolutions.com TLD is .com. Similarly, safaricom.co.ke TLD is .co.ke.

There are many TLDs that you can choose from. And, you want to make sure that the TLD you’re choosing is relevant to your business/brand.

To learn more about TLDs, read our other guide on the same here: How to choose the right TLD for your website.

Remember, different TLDs have different registration and renewal prices.

• Availability: If the domain name and TLD combination you choose is already taken, you’ll need to choose another name. However, if it’s a brand name, you can contact the current domain owner and propose to buy it from them but this will be much more expensive.

Once you have found the right name, register the name with a domain name registrar such as NameCheap or SasaHost.

Step #2: Select a reliable website hosting provider

A web hosting provider is the company that hosts your websites files and makes sure that your website remains online 24/7.

Since there are many hosting providers to choose from, make sure you find one that aligns with your needs.

To help you in doing so, here are a few things that you should take into consideration…

Factors to consider when choosing a website hosting provider

• Customer support: A good customer support team will promptly help you if you experience problems more so if the website goes offline.

Some of the things you should do to know if the hosting provider is reliable is to check all their available customer support channels from their website. Write them an email (or call them) to see how fast and how well they respond.

Typically, you do not want a hosting provider whose customer support team does not pick calls or takes a few days to reply to your queries.

In general, a good customer support team will take 0-4 hours to reply to your emails.

• Prices: Prices can range from as low as Ksh. 2,500 per year to as much as Ksh. 300,000 per year depending on the hosting package that you choose.

So, be sure to choose a price range that matches your budget.

• Features: Hosts have different packages with different features and prices. You will want to make sure that the hosting package you choose meets all your needs.

These features include disk space, monthly bandwidth, number of email accounts, database types, and so on.

• Reviews from past customers: Use social platforms such as Facebook groups, Reddit, or Quora to see what past customers have to say about the hosting provider.

When doing your research, avoid reviews from blogs as much as possible since most blogs usually have affiliate links to the hosting provider. As such, their reviews will be biased.

Tip: It’s possible to register a domain name with one registrar and then host it with a different hosting provider.

Step #3: Create your website (DIY or hire a professional)

Once you have registered your domain name and paid for a hosting package, it’s time to start working on the site.

Here, you can opt to create the website yourself or to higher a professional to do it… Yes, you can also create a website yourself with no coding knowledge. This is made possible by content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Wix, Drupal, Joomla, or Shopify among others.

However, if you opt to take this route, you will need to dedicate some time to learn how to use and manage these systems.

This might be anywhere from a few weeks to months depending on your learning speed.

Nevertheless, this option is not always advisable as you risk leaving your website vulnerable to attacks by hackers.

Now, if you opt to hire a professional, you can either find a freelancer on online marketing platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr or outsource to a web design agency like us.

At Kifaru Solutions, we pride ourselves in creating bespoke and responsive websites for different industries at affordable rates.

We always strive to deliver our projects before the agreed timeframe with no extra hidden costs.

To get a quotation for your website, you can call/WhatsApp us on +254 748 880 468.

Step #4: Add essential elements to our site

When creating your website, it is important to make sure that you add all the relevant information, navigation tools and visuals to make your website appealing and easy-to-navigate for the reader.

Navigation refers to how easy it’s for the user to move around your site.

Here, you will want to make sure that you have a clear well-organized menu and an easy-to-find search bar. This makes it easy for your reader to find what they are looking for thereby reducing bounce rates.

When we talk about visuals, we mean the look and feel of your website – you want it to be attractive enough to capture the attention of the reader but not too much that it distracts them from the main points.

This includes using an attractive typography and a colour scheme that matches your brand identity.

Also, be sure to incorporate high quality and relevant photos and videos at strategic position within your site.

But, take care not to incorporate large pictures or videos as this might slow your site load speed which will in turn result in a poor user experience and lower site ranking on Google search results page.

Finally, the main reason for a user to visit your site is to get information. May it be about you, what you do, how to contact you or book an appointment.

As such, be sure to add all the relevant information and tools to make it easy for the reader find what they need.

At this step, it’s also important to incorporate keywords and phrases related to your industry to help improve your search ranking on Google.

Step #5: Optimize your website for search engines

Here, you will be using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to help your website rank for relevant keywords and phrases that your customers are searching for.

This will help build your brand’s awareness and increase organic traffic and leads.

One of the most important things to consider is on-page SEO. This entails creating relevant SEO content with the right keywords and phrases. It also includes having a proper internal linking structure, proper title tags, meta description and image alt-texts among others.

Other than that, make sure that your website is responsive and mobile-friendly for it to be optimized by Google.

For the most part, this includes having a website that adjusts depending on the current screen size.

Also have a look at your website’s technical SEO. This includes things such as page load speed, SSL certificates, website crawlability, site hierarchy and much more.

Step #6: Test and launch your website

Once you have finished creating your website, launch it and test it across various devices.

For best results, open it in different phones, tablets, desktops, and laptops to make sure that it’s responsive.

Alternatively, you can use the developer tools in your computer’s browser to test the site’s responsiveness.

Once done, test it for some common security vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting, directory traversal, unauthorised access, and DDOS attacks.

If all looks good, you can proceed to submit your site to Google for indexing.

Here, you will submit it using the Google Search Console.

Step #7: Promote your website

There are various digital marketing strategies that you might use to promote your website.

The most common is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) that helps your site rank on Google search results.

Other techniques that you can use include promoting it on your social media handles and search engine marketing (SEM).

SEM involves using paid advertising to appear at the top of search results.

While this can help increase your visibility and increase traffic, it’s quite expensive thereby requiring a large budget.

As such, it might not be profitable for businesses where the customer acquisition costs are quite high.

Another method you can use to promote your website is by link-building.

This involves contacting other relevant websites such as review sites or directories to link back to your website for relevant terms.

Step #8: Regularly update your website

Google loves new and relevant content. So do readers.

That’s why websites have a blog section – make use of it.

Regularly updating your website helps readers know what’s new in your business. Maybe you have new products, services, or discounts that they might find important. Or you have opened a new branch closer to their location.

Additionally, if you are regularly updating the blog section with relevant user-content, Google will reward you with higher rankings.

Here, I would greatly advice to hire an SEO Specialist or to outsource to an outside agency like us to make sure that all the blog content being posted helps increase traffic to your site.

Do you need help creating your website or helping it rank on Google?

At Kifaru Solutions, we specialise in creating bespoke, responsive and SEO-friendly websites that communicates your brand’s message to the relevant readers.

Call/WhatsApp us on +254 748 880 468 to get a free quotation for your website design or SEO needs.  

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