Create Your Own Website: A Plan for Complete Beginners

The first website most people build doesn’t fail on technology. It fails on an empty “About” page that stays empty for three months, because the builder was set up on day one and the text never followed. If you want to create your own website, the order matters more than the tool.

This guide is for people who have never built a site: freelancers, small shops, clubs, families. No code, no jargon you won’t get explained.

How to create your own website in five stages

Writing comes before building on purpose. Templates look great with placeholder text and odd with real text. If you already have the words, you’ll pick a template that fits them.

Stage 1: what the site is for

Write one sentence: “Visitors should be able to … .” Examples:

• “…see my prices and book a call.”
• “…find training times and contact the coach.”
• “…look at my portfolio and send an enquiry.”

That sentence decides your menu. Anything that doesn’t help it can wait.

What pages does a website need?

For most small sites, five pages are enough:

1. Home. Who you are, what you offer, one clear button (call, book, enquire).
2. Services or offer. What you do, for whom, ideally with prices or price ranges.
3. About. A photo and a few honest sentences. People buy from people.
4. Contact. Address, phone, email, form, opening hours, a map if you have a location.
5. Legal pages. A privacy notice, and in some countries an imprint or terms. In the UK and EU, GDPR applies as soon as you collect personal data, even through a contact form.

A blog, a shop or a gallery can come later.

Stage 3: registering the domain

Your domain is the address people type, like oakbarbers.co.uk. Register it separately from the website tool. That way you can switch builders without changing your address. The details are in how to register your own domain, and the choice of ending in which domain extension fits.

Typical yearly costs at betadomain, the same for registration and every renewal:

Quick check: is oakbarbers.co.uk still free? Replace it with your own name idea.

Stage 4: builder or WordPress?

Two main paths for beginners:

A website builder (Wix, Squarespace, Jimdo, WordPress.com and others). You pay a monthly or yearly fee, the provider handles hosting, security updates and backups. Drag and drop editing. Easiest start, less freedom.

WordPress on your own hosting (the free software from wordpress.org). You rent web space, install WordPress, choose a theme and plugins. More flexible, more maintenance: you’re responsible for updates.

The detailed comparison, with costs and a decision table, is in website builder vs WordPress. Short version: if you just want a nice five-page site and don’t want to think about it again, start with a builder.

Working in the builder

A few habits that make the result look professional:

• Pick a template close to what you want, then change as little as possible.
• Use two fonts at most and your template’s colours.
• Compress photos before uploading. A 6 MB phone photo slows the page down. Aim for under 300 KB per image.
• Write button text that says what happens: “Book a haircut”, not “Submit”.
• Check every page on your phone. Most visitors will use one.

Stage 5: launch checklist

Before you tell anyone about the site:

• Domain connected, with and without www
• HTTPS works (padlock in the browser, no warning)
• Contact form sends to an inbox you read, tested once
• Phone number is clickable on mobile
• Privacy notice and other legal pages linked in the footer
• Page titles set for each page, not “Home | My Site”
• Spelling checked by someone else
• Site added to Google Search Console

Connecting the domain is usually two DNS records: an A record for the bare domain and a CNAME for www. Connecting a domain to a website builder shows the exact steps.

What creating a website costs

For a simple site you build yourself, the yearly budget is roughly:

Builder and hosting prices are typical ranges and change often. A full breakdown, including what agencies charge, is in how much does a website cost.

Email on your new domain

Once the domain is registered, add an address like [email protected]. It looks better on business cards than a free webmail address and stays yours if you change provider. Our guide on email with your own domain compares the options.

Mistakes to avoid on your first site

• Waiting for perfect. Launch with five decent pages. Improve later.
• Free subdomain forever. oakbarbers.wixsite.com looks temporary. Get your own domain from day one.
• Too many pages. Ten thin pages are worse than four useful ones.
• No clear next step. Every page should end with something to do: call, book, write.

Your first step is the address. Browse the domain price list or start with the .com extension page, then come back to the builder.