Virtual gaming is quickly becoming the favorite window of entertainment for teens and millennials globally with impressive active participation and growth rates. Therefore designing and developing a gaming website should happen with a mind for the targeted audience. You need to find out the right host provider for your game, so research the top hosts on this site. Naturally, every game is developed for a certain type of player and the website needs to capture this as well.
The simplest way to explain creating a gaming website can be summarized as:
- Step 1: get a domain and hosting to get started.
- Step 2: get a platform to run your site.
- Step 3: upgrade and improvise according to your vision and traffic.
Here are some of the few extra things that you will need for your gaming website besides a hosting service:
1 A vision for a global audience
Just like several games are targeting different groups of players, your website should also have the vision to target those audiences. There are different types of websites like Gaming blogs, clan gaming websites, websites for game developers or publishers, personal websites for game streamers, gaming server websites, etc. Consider and examine what you want your gaming website to focus on and what type of content you want to put forward. This is an important first step since it will inform everything about how you set up your site.
2 Multiplayer hosting
If you are aspiring to create a multiplayer website, you should opt for a hosting plan that provides a VPS (virtual private server). It simply means a server you have full access to and which you can configure any way you want. That is to say, you can always upgrade to something more robust as you learn more about your website needs. It is not possible to give universal advice about the best specifications for a multi-gaming server host. These will depend upon the number of game servers the host will support, the software, and application support used with those games. But remember once you set a server you can configure the server according to your needs.
3 Theme selection
Once you have a vision and you have set a domain and a hosting service. The next important factor is theme selection. Having a dynamic game theme as your website’s theme can help visitors get comfortable and familiar with your website. People are always attracted to creativity and curiosity. There are gaming website builders that specialize in clans and guilds according to the game. Others offer templates that you can use as it is or tweak to your niche site. Of course, you want to choose a builder that has a rich template gallery, so your website can have a unique look that is unlike many others.
4 Choosing a CMS (Content Management System) or platform
You must choose a user-friendly platform to run your website design specifically for gaming websites or having the tools required to run your gaming website needs. You need a flexible CMS solution that works across all devices and channels. Two common CMS currently are WordPress and Joomla. Here are some of the checklists that a comprehensive CMS should provide:
- CMS that supports multi-media: You can showcase screenshots and videos of trailers and gameplay. This feature also lets your users upload and share their gameplay videos and images.
- Blogging page: This page can provide your gamers with the latest information on updates and notified alerts for the future. You can also use the same blogging tools for game descriptions, content marketing purposes, to announce events and build a bond with your customers.
- Customize options: A good gaming CMS will be loaded with ample templates that are well designed with different themes. These themes can be further modified or the CMS will empower you to create custom layouts and pages using code and a visual page builder with ease.
- Security: Since cyber-security has become a major concern for consumers. so it’s vital that your CMS can help you gain the trust of your target market by helping you adequately display contact information, terms, and condition policy, etc.
5 Extra features for optimum web experience
Your website must provide a flexible opportunity for exploration to your users to secure more consumers. Securing strong loyal followers can be further enhanced by taking advantage of extra features available, by adding certain plug-ins features like:
- Online communications features: One of the fun things about online gaming apart from the game itself is community relations. Features like TeamSpeak and discord are ways of chatting with fellow gamers.
- Multi-lingual support: Gamer enthusiasts come from anywhere in the world. So by ensuring your website has multi-lingual support, you can deliver customer experience on a global level at the same time expanding your outreach too.
- Plugin to live stream and social-media: Some of the most influential social media personalities are gamers who stream their game live or share their achievements. It is important that if you are running a multiplayer gaming website, such features are added for user’s exploration.
Well, these are some few pointers a gaming website needs. There are a lot more you will find once you begin your gaming website. The whole process of creating the website is a lot similar to any other website. Explore more!
