You’re not a web designer, you can’t afford a web designer, and you need a website for your business.

You can’t have just any website! Your site needs to look professional, function perfectly and be easy to maintain.

In short, you’re wondering how to make my own website rock — all by myself.

Can you really make your own website by yourself?

In short, yes.

I believe you can create your own website. Even better, with the six tips below, you can make it rock.

Read on to find out how.

1. Make good design decisions from Day 1

How to make my own website look good? If you’re not a designer, this question may be keeping you up at night.

First, pick a platform that will allow you to get under the hood of your site and change the way it looks.

Two great options:

• Self-hosted WordPress with a theme that allows you to design page elements
• Squarespace with a flexible theme you can update yourself

When you control how your site looks, you can use the web design tips below to make your site look polished and professional.

2. Choose a limited palette of colors, and use them consistently throughout your site.

I recommend starting with just two main colors. Read more about how to find your two main colors here.

(Don’t include white or black in your color count.)

Once you’ve established your two main colors in your site header, your link colors, your headlines and other static areas of your site, select one accent color to complement your two main colors.

This accent color should be different from your other colors. It should be brighter, more intense, and from a different part of the color wheel than your two main colors.

Use this accent color sparingly to draw attention to important areas of your site like buttons, opt-in forms or ads.

3. Use custom fonts to give your site a unique style.

Wondering how to make my own website not look like all the other sites online?

Here’s a quick tip:

Making the extra effort to use custom fonts on your site is one of the fastest ways to make it stand out from the other sites on the web.

And custom fonts can be free: just check out the Google Font API to see all your options.

Of course, you need to understand how to choose a good font. If you’re not sure, learn about the types of fonts and how to combine them here.

4. Keep it simple to keep them engaged

The best website design tends to be simple. Why?

Because if someone is searching for information or resources, they’re going to spend more time on a site that’s easy to navigate, simple to use, and a snap to understand.

Sites can get more cluttered over time, so commit to keeping yours simple and stick to it. This will mean making some difficult decisions about what you allow onto your home page, and which promotions are worthy of your sidebar.

Those tough decisions will be worth it if it means visitors spend more time on your site.

Related: Why Simple Websites Work Best

5. Add content that draws people to your site

Keeping your website updated with new pages or blog posts makes Google very, very happy.

Google likes sites that update often. It ranks them higher in its search engine, which means more people will find your site and recommend it to others.

How to make my own website stand out from the rest? Here’s how …

Find an angle that’s uniquely yours. Share resources, information and tips that help your ideal customer meet her challenges. And keep adding good, solid, reliable information to your site.

Related: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting Your Website Content

Related: The Content Marketing Lifecycle: What to Expect as Your Website Grows

6. Make your web page content easy to read

With a little extra care and attention to formatting, you can make your pages look inviting.

Taking the time to break up your paragraphs so they’re no longer than three sentences will help. So will adding subheads throughout your page. These act as “signposts” to guide your reader through your information.

Adding bulleted lists makes your information easy to skim and understand.

Related: 6 Quick Content Formatting Tips That Will Energize Your Page

And taking the time to add great images to go with your words will make the difference between a mediocre page and one that stands out.

Related: What is Visual Content Marketing?

How to make my own website an integral part of my online business?

Wondering how your website fits into your online business plan? Take a look at the page below so you can see how your website is an essential part of your online business success.

Related: The Ultimate Guide for How to Build Your Business Online