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How to Start a Website
By the end of this course you'll be able to plan, build, and launch a real business website yourself — domain, hosting, pages, and all. No code required, no shortcuts: the manual way that actually teaches you how your site works.
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Your business is invisible right now. In six modules you'll go from no site to a working business website — domain, pages, words, launch — built by your own hands. Nobody rents you the result. You own it.
What you'll learn
- Map out your site's pages and purpose before touching a builder — the planning step most people skip.
- Register a domain and connect hosting yourself, with DNS pointed and verified.
- Build every page of your site — copy, images, navigation — in the right order.
- Launch properly: analytics, backups, and a checklist that catches what breaks after go-live.
Is this for me?
Who is this course for?
Anyone who needs a business website and doesn't have one — or has one they're embarrassed by. No technical background required. If you can use email, you can do this.
What do I need before starting?
A business idea, even a rough one, and about $15 for a domain name. That's the entire shopping list.
How long does it take?
Six modules at 30–45 minutes each. The building itself takes most people one to three weekends — spread it over two weeks and build as you go.
Start here
Module 0: Start Here
Orientation: what you'll build, how the course works, and how to get the most out of every module. Start here before Module 1.
Module 1
Module 1: Plan Before You Build
Most websites fail before a single page is built — not from bad design, but from fuzzy thinking about what the site is for. This module forces the decisions up front: one job, a page map, and the right tool for the build.
Module 2
Module 2: Domain and Hosting
Your domain is your address on the internet and your hosting is the land it's built on. This module walks through picking a name, registering it properly, and connecting it to hosting — the part that intimidates beginners but is really just three steps.
Module 3
Module 3: Building Your Pages
With the foundation in place, it's time to build the pages themselves. This module covers the homepage structure that actually converts visitors, how to write copy in your customers' words, and the contact setup that turns interest into inquiries.
Module 4
Module 4: Design Basics
Good design isn't about being artistic — it's about being readable and easy to use on a phone. This module covers the three design skills that matter for a business site: type and color, mobile-first layout, and keeping images fast.
Module 5
Module 5: Launch Essentials
Launch isn't just pressing "publish" — it's the technical checklist that makes your site measurable, findable, fast, and safe. This module covers analytics, search engines, speed, security, and backups: the unglamorous work that separates real sites from brochures.
Module 6
Module 6: After Launch
Launching is the starting line, not the finish. This module sets up your ongoing routine: a sustainable content habit, the three numbers worth watching, and how to tell the difference between a tweak and a rebuild.
Choose your track
Two ways through this course — pick the one that fits where you are.
Starter track
Modules 1–3 in order. You'll make the big decisions (Module 1), get your domain and hosting (Module 2), and build your core pages (Module 3). Skip Modules 4–6 for now — launch simple, then come back for design polish and the launch checklist.
Advanced track
All six modules in order, then the teardown above and the final exam. Pay special attention to Module 5 (analytics, speed, security) — that's where most DIY sites fall apart. If you're rebuilding an existing site rather than starting fresh, do Module 1's audit exercise on your current site first.
Your build brief
Everything you write in the build brief prompts across this course's modules collects here. Download it as a designed PDF — and we keep a copy too, so when you're ready for us to build it for you, we already know exactly what you want.
Your answers save automatically as you type — on this device and to your signup email.
Teardown: A Local Plumber's Website
Let's look at a typical local service website — the kind you see for plumbers, electricians, landscapers. The homepage headline reads "Welcome to Smith Plumbing — Quality Service Since 1998." Below it: a paragraph about the company's history, a list of twelve services, three stock photos, and a contact page buried in the nav.
What works: The phone number is in the header — good, since most of their business comes from calls. The services list is comprehensive, which helps with search. The "since 1998" builds trust for anyone who reads that far.
What we'd fix: The headline wastes the most valuable five seconds on the page. "Welcome to..." tells a visitor nothing about what happens next. Following this course's Module 1 framework, the one job here is booking a service call — so the headline should say "Plumber in [City] — Same-Day Service, Call Now" with the phone number as a tap-to-call button. The twelve-service list should become individual pages (Module 3's page map), each targeting what people actually search for. The history paragraph moves to About where it belongs. Three changes, same business, completely different conversion rate.
The lesson: most small business sites don't have a traffic problem — they have a clarity problem. The fixes are never technical. They're decisions about what the page is for.
Course extras
Glossary — 15 key terms Final exam — 10 questions, 15 minutes
Want this done for you?
Rather do it with us? Our Full Website ($5,000) — a complete business website, designed, written, and launched for you.
See done-for-you services