If you wish to establish an online presence then your first step is going to be to get a website up and running. You will save a lot of money by building the website yourself and this does not have to be as technically challenging as it first appears.

One of the easiest solutions is to use WordPress as your platform. WordPress has traditionally been known as a means for creating blogs, however there are now a number of themes available which allow you to use it in the traditional website format.

WordPress is ideal for those who do not have a great deal of technical expertise because, not only is it easy to use but it has new plugins being developed constantly which add all kinds of helpful features, and it also has really great support and forums, where pretty much any question will be answered.

When you set up your first website you will be amazed at how easy it is to make it look professional. Most WordPress themes have done all of the hard work for you from a design point of view, so all you need to focus on is the content. At a very minimum you should include an 'About Us' page, terms and conditions, a privacy policy and contact details. You then need to create the content which will tell the world about your information, your skills or your products. This will hold true for whatever niche or business type you are involved in.

Have a look around at other websites in your niche, not with the aim of copying any of the content or layout, but just getting a feel for what works and what doesn't. If you find an interface clunky or non-intuitive, then guess what your customer probably will do too, and thus you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Simplicity is the key element in the success of a website. Yes the theme can have a great design and this will make it aesthetically pleasing, but the method of moving from one page to the next should be intuitive and everything should be clearly marked and easy to find. You know yourself that if you go to a site and that you can't find what you are looking for pretty quickly you are going to click away and find the information or the product you need somewhere else.

By using WordPress to build your website on, by installing a theme that is CMS based and by following these tips on the layout of the site, you will soon be up and running and have a firm base on which to build your business.