Are you a marketing student or someone interested in breaking into a marketing career? Creating a website to use as part of your portfolio can help you land interviews and get hired. But how do you actually make a website? What marketing tools do you need? Do you have any knowledge creating a website? No experience in website design?
Building a website with no prior website development experience or coding experience can be intimidating. But with the rise of AI tools and free YouTube videos, creating your first website doesn’t have to be extremely difficult anymore. Whether you choose to use AI to build the website for you, a drag and drop visual tool, or through coding, resources are available to learn how to create your first website.
If you’re a beginner, I created a list of 5 essential marketing tools that will make starting a website or blog easy for you.
However, there are a few things you need before you can get started.
Establish Your Purpose and Goals for the Website
Having a clear purpose or long-term goal for your website will help you avoid unnecessary spending and headaches trying to find your niche and expertise. It can also help you by giving you an idea of what you need for your website. You should choose a niche that interests you so that content writing comes natural to you.
Pre-Website Design Checklist
- You’ve selected your niche
- Identify a clear goal for your website
- 3-5 Content Ideas in your niche (blog posts)
- Possible names for your website
If part of your goal is to create blog posts, having 3-5 content ideas is a great start to make sure you have posts ready within a few days of setting up your website. Why do you need the content ready soon? To allow Google to start indexing your content and start ranking as soon as possible. Ranking your blog posts is super important as this is how you gain organic traffic.
Now, you’re ready to start. Having this information on hand will help you create a brand new website without bumps on the road.
Creating Your First Website
First, you’ll need a domain. This will be your URL where people will identify your website by and come to know your brand. For example, www.marketingbycris.com. If you prepared yourself, check to see if you’re domain name is available. Don’t know how to check? Use GoDaddy or any other domain availability finder. (Before you buy it, a web hosting provider may offer a free domain.)
Then you’ll need your web hosting service provider, such as Hostinger, Bluehost, and many more. A web hosting provider is where your website’s files will “live” online. If you’re using a content management system like WordPress.org, you’ll need a hosting service provider. If you’re using popular website builders like Squarespace and Wix, they’ll provide their hosting. More on this later.
5 Marketing Tools to Build Your First Successful Website
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Hostinger – Web Hosting Service
When selecting a web hosting service provider, you want well-recognized brands that are cost-effective and offer a good user-friendly platform. Look for fast loading speeds because slow websites will drive traffic away from your pages, damaging your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking. Hostinger also offers an AI website builder where you describe your website, give it a few details about it, and within minutes, you’ll have a fully functioning website.
Key Features:
- Affordable Pricing
- Easy Website Builder
- One-Click WordPress Installation
- Free Domain & SSL (on select plans)
- Fast Loading Speeds
- 24/7 Customer Support
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Canva – Simple Graphic Design
Canva is a beginner-friendly graphic design tool that helps you create designs for your social media platforms and website. It provides millions of templates, photos, icons, and design elements to help you design website graphics, marketing materials, etc. Canva offers both a free and a pro plan. The pro version unlocks Pro-only design elements and much more.
Key Features:
- Free & Pro Plan
- Millions of Templates
- User-Friendly
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Ahrefs or Moz Pro – Comprehensive SEO Tools
Ahrefs and Moz Pro are among the top SEO software tools used by marketers globally. They provide powerful keyword research tools, backlink analysis, rank tracking, and site audits to identify issues impacting your site’s performance. Ahrefs is known for its massive backlink index (super important to getting your website ranked on Google). On the other hand, Moz Pro is known for its incredible, user-friendly keyword suggestions. However, both tools allow you to make data-driven SEO decisions to improve your search rankings and drive organic traffic.
Both SEO tools offer an incredible amount of tutorials and guides to help you make sound decisions in your SEO strategies. When you’re starting with your website, learning how to properly use an SEO tool can make a huge difference in your website’s search ranking. SEO tools like Semrush start at $139.95 monthly, which can be quite expensive for a beginner. However, Ahrefs and Moz Pro offer affordable options that are perfect for beginners. These SEO tools will allow you to learn how to use these platforms that are essential to any marketing career that involves maintaining and updating content on a website.
Pricing for Starter Plans:
- Ahrefs – $29 monthly
- Moz Pro – $49 monthly
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Notion – A Project Management Tool
Becoming organized is easy with a project management tool. I highly recommend Notion due to the simplicity and affordability… It’s free. With Notion, you can create a content calendar to set goals. For example, if you create a blog page, having a content calendar helps you create deadlines to help you publish content. Creating a notes section to document every idea that comes to mind helps you not lose ideas. At some point, you’ll realize your notes section is filled with new content ideas. Feeling like you have no new content to post? Look back at your notes section! Notion allows you to keep yourself accountable, organized, and manage time effectively, all important skills for any marketing career.
Pricing:
- Free
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Mailchimp – Email Marketing Tool
Mailchimp is one of the most widely used email marketing platforms globally. It offers so many features, including custom email templates, automation workflows, audience segmentation, and analytics. Mailchimp is beginner-friendly thanks to its drag-and-drop email builder and library of existing email templates. Best of all? Mailchimp offers a free plan that includes 500 contacts and 1,000 emails per month. This is a great way to start building email marketing campaigns for any new marketer.
Key Features:
- Free Plan Available
- User-Friendly
- Thousands of Email Templates Available
- Automation Workflows
- Audience Segmentation
How Can These Marketing Tools Help You Succeed?
Well, with Hostinger’s AI website builder, it seamlessly allows you to create a website in minutes with a few details about your site. Hostinger makes it super easy for you to create a real, functioning website ready to edit to your needs. Additionally, it provides excellent hosting, so your website has fast loading speeds with a well-trusted brand.
Most importantly, Ahrefs and Moz Pro are two of the most globally known SEO tools that help you identify keywords, competitors, and give you in-depth information on how to rank your site.
With these marketing tools, you’ll be set to start a functioning and successful website, assuming you put in the work. But that’s not it! Using these tools together will help you practice and build hands-on experience in content marketing, content writing, SEO, email marketing, graphic design, and project management. Learning how to use these tools effectively can help you stand out from your competition in any marketing interview.
Now, you’re officially ready to start creating your first website and building your marketing portfolio. While these marketing tools aren’t the only ones you will need, it’s the basic set to get you started.