How to Start a Website

Chapter 1: Buy Your Domain

Your domain is your address on the internet (like "yourbusiness.com"). Choose carefully — changing it later is hard.

How to Pick a Good Name

1. Keep it short (under 15 characters)
2. Easy to spell when spoken out loud
3. No hyphens or numbers
4. Try for .com (people type it by habit)
5. If .com is taken, .co and .io work fine

Where to Buy

| Place | Price | Why |

|-------|-------|-----|

| Cloudflare Registrar | ~$9/year | Cheapest (sells at cost) |

| Namecheap | ~$9/year | Great all-around |

| Porkbun | ~$9/year | Good prices |

Avoid GoDaddy — they upsell everything.

Chapter 2: Choose Your Website Builder

A website builder lets you create a site without coding. Like building with digital Lego blocks.

| Builder | Cost | Best For |

|---------|------|----------|

| Squarespace | $16-33/month | Beautiful + easy |

| Framer | Free tier / $10-25/month | Modern, fast |

| WordPress.org | $3-30/month hosting | Full control |

| Carrd | Free / $9/year pro | Simple one-page sites |

Beautiful + easy: Squarespace. Simple one-page: Carrd (free). Full control: WordPress.org.

Chapter 3: Plan Your Pages

Pages Every Website Needs

1. Home Page — What you do (clear in 5 seconds) + a button telling people what to do next
2. About Page — Your story, why you do this, a photo of you
3. Services/Products — What you offer, who it's for, what it costs, how to buy
4. Contact — A form, your email, social links
5. Blog (optional) — Helps Google find you

Chapter 4: Design Basics

5 Rules

1. Less is more. White space looks clean and professional.
2. 2-3 colors only. Use Coolors.co to pick them.
3. 1-2 fonts. One for headings, one for body text.
4. Real photos when possible. Free stock photos: Unsplash.com, Pexels.com.
5. Make buttons obvious. Bright color, clear text.

Mobile First

Over half of visitors are on phones. Always check how your site looks on your phone.

Chapter 5: Build Your Pages

Home Page

1. Headline: What you do in one sentence
2. Sub-headline: The benefit in one sentence
3. Call-to-action button: "Book a Call" or "Get Started"
4. Proof: Customer quotes or logos
5. How it works: 3 simple steps
6. Repeat your button at the bottom

About Page

1. Photo of you
2. Your story in 2-3 paragraphs
3. Why you care about this
4. Call-to-action at the end

Chapter 6: Set Up the Tech Stuff

Hosting

Squarespace, Wix, Framer, Carrd: Hosting is included.

WordPress: Need separate hosting (SiteGround $3-15/month or Cloudways $11/month).

SSL (the lock icon)

Almost every host includes this for free. Makes your site secure.

Professional Email

Google Workspace ($7/month) gives you yourname@yourdomain.com.

Zoho Mail is free for up to 5 users.

Analytics

Set up Google Analytics (free). Your builder has a place to paste the tracking code. Takes 5 minutes.

Chapter 7: Launch Checklist

Content

• [ ] All text proofread
• [ ] Every page has a clear purpose
• [ ] Contact info is correct
• [ ] All links work
• [ ] Images load properly

Tech

• [ ] Site loads fast (test at PageSpeed.web.dev)
• [ ] Looks good on phones
• [ ] SSL is active (https:// + lock icon)
• [ ] Google Analytics connected
• [ ] Contact form works (test it yourself)

SEO

• [ ] Every page has a clear title tag
• [ ] Every page has a meta description
• [ ] Images have descriptions (alt text)
• [ ] Submitted to Google Search Console

Chapter 8: After Launch

First Week

1. Share everywhere — social media, email signature
2. Ask friends to check for issues
3. Set up Google Search Console
4. Write your first blog post

Ongoing

• Weekly: Check analytics
• Monthly: Update content, fix broken links
• Quarterly: Review design

Getting Found on Google

1. Write helpful blog posts about topics your customers search for
2. Focus each page on one keyword
3. Get other sites to link to yours
4. Be patient — 3-6 months for search traffic

Your website is your home on the internet. Unlike social media, you own it.

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