Before you build a website, here's what you need to know

There's a moment a lot of founders describe to me. They've decided they need a website, they're ready to go, and then they open a browser and just... stop. Where do you even start? What pages do you need? What do you write? What if you get it wrong?

If that sounds familiar, you're not behind. You're just at the beginning.

Building a website has a process, and once you can see it laid out, it stops feeling like one giant overwhelming task and starts feeling like a series of smaller, manageable ones.

Before you pick colours or fonts or wrestle with layouts, you need to know what your website is actually for. Who is it speaking to? What do you want people to do when they land on it? What feeling should it leave them with? This sounds simple, but it's the stage most people skip, and it's also why so many websites end up looking pretty but not doing very much. Spend time here. It makes everything else easier.

From there, you need words before you need design. Copy first, design second, always. Think about the pages you'll need, typically a homepage, an about page, a services or work page, and a contact page. Start drafting what you want to say on each one. It doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to exist, so you have something to work with. This is also the stage where people realise they have more to say than they thought.

Once your content is taking shape, you can choose your platform. For most small businesses and founders, a website builder like Squarespace is the right choice. It's visual, it's manageable, and you don't need to touch a line of code to make something that looks genuinely good. The platform decision should follow your needs, not the other way around.

Then the actual building begins. Pages go up, content goes in, images get added. This is where it starts to feel real, and where having a clear plan from the earlier stages pays off, because you're not making it up as you go. When it's built, check it on your phone, check every link, read it out loud, and then publish it. No website is ever fully finished. The goal isn't perfect. The goal is live and working.

Most of the overwhelm people feel isn't really about the website. It's about not being able to see the path through it. Hopefully now you can.

If you'd like some help getting started, get in touch.