Choose the Right Approach for Your Needs

  • Website builder (easiest): Squarespace, Wix, Framer — drag-and-drop, hosted, no coding. $15–40/month. Best for portfolios, small business sites, personal sites.
  • WordPress.org (most flexible): Free software, you provide hosting ($5–15/month). Thousands of themes and plugins. Requires slightly more technical setup. Powers 43% of all websites. Best for blogs, content sites, business sites.
  • Shopify: Purpose-built for online stores. Easiest ecommerce setup. $39/month+. Best for selling products.
  • Ghost or Substack: Designed specifically for newsletters and blogs. Ghost is self-hosted or managed. Substack is free (they take a percentage of paid subscriptions). Best for writers and content creators.
  • GitHub Pages or Netlify (free): For developers — host a static HTML site for free. No coding knowledge needed for basic use.

Getting Started with a Website Builder (e.g. Squarespace)

  1. 1

    Choose a platform and sign up

    Go to squarespace.com, wix.com or framer.com. Sign up with your email. Most offer a free trial — you do not need to pay before you build.

  2. 2

    Choose a template

    Browse templates by category (portfolio, restaurant, shop, blog etc). Pick one that is close to what you want — you will customise everything. The template is a starting point, not a fixed design.

  3. 3

    Edit pages and add your content

    Click any element to edit it — swap in your text, replace images, adjust colours and fonts. Add new pages (About, Contact, Services etc) from the Pages menu. Most builders use click-and-drag — no coding required.

  4. 4

    Connect a domain name

    A domain (yourname.com) is purchased separately if not included — typically $15–20/year from Namecheap, Google Domains or directly through the builder. Some builders include a free domain in their annual plans.

  5. 5

    Choose a plan and publish

    Select a paid plan to connect your custom domain and remove trial limitations. Most business-appropriate plans cost $20–35/month billed annually. Click Publish — your site is live.

For a blog or content site specificallyWordPress.org with a host like Bluehost or Siteground gives the most control and best SEO tools at a lower long-term cost than website builders. It has a slightly steeper learning curve but there are thousands of free tutorials online and a massive support community.

Frequently Asked Questions

DIY with a website builder: $15–40/month + $15/year for a domain. DIY with WordPress: $5–15/month hosting + $15/year domain + optional theme ($50–100 one-off). Hiring a web designer: $500–5,000+ depending on complexity. For most personal and small business sites, a DIY builder or WordPress is entirely sufficient.
No — modern website builders like Squarespace, Wix and Framer require zero coding. Even WordPress can be used without coding using page builders like Elementor or Divi. Coding knowledge helps for customisation and troubleshooting but is not required to build a professional-looking site.