You’ve started the business, or the side hustle, or the hobby, or freelancing. You’ve got the name, maybe even an Instagram handle, maybe your first client paid or not, but no real website yet. That means, to build your first website might be the next big step to looking professional and really solidifying your business as a business.
In this episode, I’m giving you clarity, confidence, and understanding on how to get a website up without tech overwhelm, without tons of money, or without tons of time. I'm even going to do a quickfire glossary of website-related terms you’re going to hear on your website journey so you can really understand what’s going on.
Below, I’m going to share the things you don’t need when building your first website, even though you might think you need them. I’m also going to share the things you actually do need, and then walk you through the step-by-step of building your first website. Let’s dive in.
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I truly love helping first-time business owners launch their first website because it is such a milestone. The day you launch your website as a small business owner is often the day you think of as the official start date of your business. It’s like that ribbon-cutting moment.
If you’re brick-and-mortar, the start date is often the grand opening when customers walk into the building. But when you’re online-only, especially as a service business, it’s often your website going live and you telling people about it. That is the official start.
For me, I actually count my website launch day as day one of my business. I had been freelancing for about six to nine months before that, but the day I made it official is the day I consider my business start date. That was March 29, 2016, which is almost ten years ago now, which is crazy.
I still remember the feeling of building my first website and nervously posting on my Facebook profile and personal Instagram account that I now had a business, with a name, and that I was open for new clients.
Anyway, when I launched my first website, it wasn’t perfect. My current website still isn’t perfect. There are errors that happen on it, even as a designer. But my first website was exactly what my business needed at the time, and it helped me immediately. It helped me book clients and get things rolling.
And for me, as someone who was just 22 at the time, it helped me, in the middle of feeling really nervous about the whole business thing, confidently call myself a business owner.
So before we get into it, I’m going to share what you actually need and don’t need to build your first website. But first, if you’re new here, I want to give you a quick 30-second summary of who I am.
I’m Elizabeth McCravy and I started my business officially almost 10 years ago after quitting my first “real” job. I worked at an advertising agency as a designer, stayed about four months, and then quit with no plan.
I had started freelancing while I was still at that job, but I really ramped it up after I quit. Eventually, that freelancing turned into a legitimate business. At the beginning, I did random design work, websites, social media management, copywriting, whatever people needed, I would do it. I was a jack of all trades and wasn’t sure what I liked most yet. I just knew what I could do and what I enjoyed.
Over time, I narrowed things down to website design and branding, and within that, I narrowed it further to using Showit as my website builder, which we’ll get into later in this episode. Now, almost ten years later, I’m one of the top Showit website designers. I sell website templates, I’ve helped thousands of businesses with their websites, and I’m also a mom of three.
My youngest is five months old, my oldest is four years old, and I work part-time from home on this business and this podcast, often during nap time. Literally right now, my little girl is napping. I love what I do. I love website design, I love keeping things simple, and I love removing the extreme confusion that often exists around this process.
I really love seeing people make their business legitimate through a website. Taking the dream, making it a reality, making money online, and making money from home. I’m all about working faster and smarter so you can get back to things like being with your family or focusing on other areas of your business.
5 Things You Don’t Need To Build Your First Website
I’m going to start with the five things you don’t need to build your website, and then the five things you do need.
1. You Don’t Need to Have Your Business Running For a Certain Amount Of Time (Or Have Earned a Certain Amount of Money)
The first thing is this: you do not need to have your business or side hustle running for a certain amount of time, or have earned a certain amount of money, to have or need a website.
This mindset is really just selling yourself short. We often make up milestones we think we need to hit before our business is “legit” enough to do the next thing. But typically, you know in your gut when it’s time to get a website.
For some people, that’s day one. For others, it’s more like my experience, where I freelanced for about six to ten months before deciding to make it official with a website. And for some people, they won’t even launch their business until the website is set up.
Or maybe you’ve had a couple of clients through friends or social media, and now you’re feeling that gap because you don’t have a place to send people. You’re thinking, I booked someone through Instagram, but now this next person wants to see more than just a post. They want a website. You don’t have a home base yet.
In those cases, yes, you probably do need a website. What I don’t want you to fall into is the trap of thinking there’s some test you have to pass to prove your business is ready for one. That “ready” point looks different for everyone and depends a lot on your business and what you’re doing.
2. You Don’t Need Custom Coding Or To Hire a Developer
Second, you do not need custom coding or to hire a developer to build your first website, or honestly, for most websites ever. Custom-coded websites are very 15-years-ago. That’s the hill I’ll die on. Technology has advanced to the point where you simply don’t need it.
You likely do not need a developer. If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re probably starting a service-based business or maybe an online course business, something along those lines. You do not need a custom-coded website.
And I’m not even talking about AI advances here. I’m talking about website technology before AI was even a thing.
Now, I’m not saying your website isn’t built using code, or that code isn’t happening on the backend. But you don’t need to code yourself, and you don’t need to hire someone to write custom code for you in order to have a website.
Instead, you can use what’s called a website builder. It often feels similar to using something like Canva, if you’re familiar with that, where you’re dragging and dropping elements to build your website yourself. So just take the coding and developer aspect off the table.
Again, yes, some people do need a developer. If you’re starting an app company or building software, absolutely, you’re hiring a developer. But if you’re starting a copywriting business, bookkeeping, a design company, or maybe you’re a midwife, a doula, or a counselor, you do not need a custom-coded website.
3. You Don’t Need To Invest Thousands in a Custom Website
You do not need $1,000 or more for a custom-designed website when you’re just starting.
Yes, you can hire a designer to custom build a website from scratch, start to finish, if you want to. And if you have the funds and feel confident that a custom website makes sense for your specific business, then sure, that can be a valid option. But for most businesses, that’s not what I recommend.
It’s usually better to invest less money into your first website and have something you can edit, adapt, and change yourself. In the first three years of your business, things are likely going to change a lot.
What often happens is someone spends $10,000 on a custom website, and then one, two, or three years later, it feels like a waste because they need to redo it anyway. Maybe they change their business name, their services, their messaging, or their aesthetic. A lot shifts early on.
Those first three years of business are similar to the first three years of a child’s life. You go from laying there, to sitting up, to crawling, to walking. Businesses grow and change in the same way, and a lot can happen in a short amount of time.
That’s why I think starting with a template makes more sense. Earlier in my career, before I sold website templates, I worked one-on-one with clients only. I didn’t have a template shop yet.
And this exact issue is what motivated me to create my templates and eventually start selling Showit templates. I had amazing women coming to me for their very first website. As my prices increased to $10,000, or more for custom websites, I’d often think, I really want to work with her, and she really wants to work with me. But I don’t think she needs to spend that much right now.
Some of these women were even willing to go into debt to get their first website. And as someone who also teaches business, my honest opinion was that this wasn’t the best business move.
One of the best things about service-based businesses is that they can be very low-cost to start and have low monthly expenses, while still having high profit margins. So going into debt for a website right out of the gate often doesn’t make sense.
That’s why I created my website templates with these business owners in mind. You’re new, you want to move from freelancing or side hustling into a legitimate business, and you want to spend less than $1,000 on your website. That’s where templates come in.
You don’t need the “super website” when you start. Most people don’t. But it is really nice to spend under $1,000 and still have a website that looks custom and professional through a template. And for some people, they continue using templates long-term, and that works beautifully. A lot of people do that.
Or maybe when you’re five years in, you hire a designer to revamp everything and get a completely custom website.
4. You Don’t Need To Have Your Website Copy And Branding Photos Ready
You don’t need to have every photo or every piece of website copy written before you start. This is something that often hangs people up. You’ll think, I need to get a photoshoot done. I need to write everything. I need to know exactly what I’m going to say on my website before I even begin.
But you can actually buy a website template first and then figure out your photos and copy after. What I’ve seen through my own customers is that the template can actually inform those decisions, rather than the other way around.
If you don’t have a super clear vision yet for your brand photos or overall style, it’s often easier to choose a template first. Then you can get brand photos done after you’ve purchased the template. The same goes for writing your copy. Once you see the layout and sections, it’s much easier to think, okay, this is what this About page includes, or these are the sections on the Services page. Now I know how to write copy for that.
So I actually think it’s a better decision to pick the template first and then do photos and copy afterward. It’s usually faster and more effective.
5. You Don’t Need a Giant Business Plan
You do not need a giant business plan with all of your goals and hopes for the next five or ten years before you have a website.
You might not consciously think this is a requirement, but a lot of people feel like their business just isn’t “there” enough yet to have a website. So let me be clear: you do not need a five-year business plan. You don’t need to know that you’re in this for the long haul.
You just need to know what you’re selling right now and have a little bit of money set aside to create your website. That’s it. Know what you’re selling, have a bit of money ready, set aside a little bit of time, get the website up, and then make that money back once you start booking clients or customers from your new site.
What You Need to Build Your First Website
Okay, now let’s talk about what you actually do need before you build your first website.
1. A Business Name And Offer
You need a name for your business. That can be your own name, like mine, or something like your name plus what you do, for example, Elizabeth Maccray Copywriting. For a long time, my business was called Elizabeth Maccray Designs, and now I mostly just use my name.
Your business name can also be a fictitious name, which is actually how I started. I had one fictitious name, then a few years later I rebranded to another fictitious name, and eventually I rebranded to my own name. Any of those options work.
You also need an offer, meaning something to sell. That could be a service like photography, a product like an online course, something online like coaching, or something in person like being a birth doula or a therapist.
Without a name and an offer, you won’t really have anything to put on your website yet. So those are the first things to figure out: what am I selling, and what am I calling this business?
Once you have those things figured out, you’re probably ready to start the journey of picking out a template.
2. A Domain Name
The next thing you need for your website is a domain name, which is your website address. You can think of this like your brick-and-mortar address. If you had a physical store, this would be the address people put into their maps app to find you. Online, your domain name is where people go to find you on the internet.
For example, my domain name is elizabethmccravy.com. In my ten years as a business owner, I’ve actually changed my business name three times, so I’ve had two other domains before this one. I share that to say, pick something that works for now. You can change your domain later if you need to. Is it a bit of a headache? Yes. But it’s doable, and it doesn’t have to be the thing you keep forever.
You can buy a domain name through places like GoDaddy. Domain names are usually much cheaper than what you’ll pay for your website template and your website platform, which we’ll talk about next.
Unless you’re buying something that’s extremely short or highly desirable, most domain names are pretty affordable. We’re usually talking around $30 a year. Something like your own name, like elizabethmccravy.com, is typically not expensive because it’s specific to you.
You do want your domain name to be short, memorable, and easy to spell and say. You also want to make sure that when it’s written out without spaces, it doesn’t accidentally spell other words that don’t make sense.
I also have a business naming guide on my website here if you want more advice about this. Inside, it talks more about naming your business and choosing a domain name, since those two things go hand in hand.
3. A Website Platform
The third thing you need for your website is a website platform. This is also sometimes called a website builder. Those two terms are interchangeable.
The platform I use, and that my templates work with, is called Showit. It’s very beginner-friendly, but also robust enough that large businesses earning millions of dollars still use it. It has a wide range of users, from people just starting out to very established companies.
It gives you a lot of creative freedom and it’s something you can update yourself, which is one of the many reasons I’m such a big Showit fan. I know the people who work there and build the product. They care deeply about excellence, customer support, and community. It really is one of the best platforms out there.
Head here if you want to learn more about Showit and get a one-month free trial with no credit card required, just to explore the interface and see what I’m talking about.
4. A Template Or A Custom Design
You either need a template that you can customize yourself, or you need to hire a designer to custom build a website from scratch.
I’ve already shared why I don’t recommend a fully custom website for most brand-new businesses. There are always exceptions, but if you’re not a designer yourself, you’ll need one of these two options.
What you don’t want to do is start with a blank screen and try to build everything from scratch on your own. That usually takes forever and becomes overwhelming. You need a starting point, either through a template or through a designer.
5. Website Hosting
And the fifth thing you need is website hosting. Website hosting is the tool or company that actually puts your website out on the internet.
We use hosts for lots of things. Podcasts have hosts, for example. If you’re a podcaster, your host is what gets your show onto platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. My podcast host is Buzzsprout. Buzzsprout is what makes this episode available for you to listen to.
Sometimes the website builder and the host are two separate things, and sometimes they’re the same. In the case of Showit, your website builder and your website host are bundled together, which makes things much simpler.
In the case of WordPress, for example, the host and the builder are not the same.
A Rapid First Glossary Of Words You’ll Come Across As You Build Your First Website
Okay, now let’s do a rapid-fire glossary of the words you’ll hear when you build your first website. Even as a designer, I wish I’d had something like this when I was starting out.
Website template (sometimes called a website theme): A website template or theme is essentially the bones of your website. It’s designed and ready, and you just add your words and images. It’s a base you build on, and you can customize it as much or as little as you want. These terms are interchangeable. “Theme” is more commonly used in the WordPress world, which is another website builder. “Template” is more commonly used with platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or Showit.
Domain/domain name: Like I mentioned earlier, this is your website’s street address, for example, elizabethmccravy.com. You buy this through places like GoDaddy. Your domain name is where the website you design gets pointed to.
Hosting: A website host stores your website’s content, things like text and images, on powerful computers called web servers. Hosting also maintains the site and makes sure it’s secure and available to visitors. Showit is a website platform that also includes hosting, which is really nice because everything is wrapped into one place. So when you hear the term “hosting,” that’s what it means. It’s the behind-the-scenes system making your website accessible online.
Website platform (also called a website builder): Just like template versus theme, platform and builder are interchangeable terms. This is the tool you use to actually build your website. Examples of website platforms include Showit, Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, Shopify, and Kajabi. Kajabi is a good example because it includes a website builder, but it also hosts online courses and handles email marketing. Some platforms do multiple things, while others, like Showit, are more focused specifically on the website itself.
SEO: This stands for search engine optimization. SEO is how Google, ChatGPT, and other search engines find your website. And to be specific, SEO isn’t something you buy, it’s something you do. When you hear the word “optimize,” that’s exactly what it means. You’re optimizing your website to be found in search results for the things people are looking for.
Full site template: This is a Showit-specific term. A full site template means it includes your entire main website: homepage, About page, Services page, Contact page, blog, and more. You can always add pages, and you can also delete pages you don’t need. For example, if a template includes a blog or resources page and you don’t plan to use those, you can remove them. A full site template is meant to be the foundation for your entire website.
Add-on template: An add-on template is made up of pages or canvases that you add onto an existing website, rather than replacing the whole thing. This is not going to be your whole site. It’s pages you add onto a template or custom design you already have.
Here are some examples:
- Speaker page template: if you’re trying to book more speaking gigs and want a media kit on your website, you can buy that template, customize it, and add it to your main site.
- Timeline template: this is made up of canvases, meaning sections of a website page, that you add onto your Showit template. It lets you share your story or your service process in a unique way through a really intentional design.
- Podcast page: that’s a page on your website dedicated to information about your podcast. Maybe your full site template doesn’t include a podcast page design, so you buy an add-on to include that.
Add-on templates aren’t necessary. They’re an extra option, not something you need to start with. What you do want to start with is a full site template.
So there you go - those are your glossary terms. There are probably a few I could add that I’m forgetting, but this is a really good starting point to help you understand the language around websites.
Step-by-Step For How To Build Your First Website
Now let’s get into the step-by-step of how to build your first website. I’ve got five steps that outline what to actually do. I’ll also say that if you’re using a different website platform than Showit, these steps might look a little different. I’m specifically sharing how to build your first website in Showit.
1. Choose Your Website Platform
Step one is choosing your platform. Again, I recommend Showit as a first platform, but the most important thing here is just picking something and starting. Don’t get stuck in decision overwhelm.
I’ve actually changed my website platform three times. My very first website, back when I was freelancing in college, was on Squarespace. After that, I built websites on WordPress. And now I’ve been on Showit for many, many years. So just know that you can change platforms later.
One thing I do want to clarify, because this comes up a lot, is that changing platforms does mean redoing your design. You can’t design a website on Showit and then simply upload it to Squarespace. You would need to recreate the design within that new platform.
But again, the key thing here is to just pick a platform and start. For service-based businesses, online courses, templates, and things like that, my recommendation is Showit. You can learn more about Showit here and you can get a one-month free trial with no credit card required by using the code ELIZABETH when you sign up.
You can also check out my Showit website templates here!
2. Pick a Template That Fits Your Brand
Step two is picking a template that fits your brand. A website template saves time, stress, and money. If you’re DIYing your website, you do not want to skip this step.
Like I mentioned earlier, as a non-designer, you don’t want to start with a blank screen and think, okay, let me drag in a button, place a photo here, adjust this spacing. That process takes forever if you’re not a designer.
As a designer, that’s literally what I do for fun. That’s what I’m doing when I create templates. I’m starting with a blank screen and designing something for you. But that’s not what you want to be doing yourself.
A website template puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to updates. If you need to change your pricing, you can do that yourself. If you want to add a new service, you can duplicate a page and create a new info page for that service.
Maybe you launch your website using photos a friend took of you, and later you do a professional brand photoshoot. You can easily go into your template and swap out all of your images. Showit makes this really simple, and that flexibility is one of the biggest benefits of starting with a template.
That flexibility is one of the biggest benefits of using a template. It really puts you in control. So to start, you pick your platform and then you pick your template.
For your main website, you’ll want what’s called a full site template, not an add-on, like I explained earlier in the glossary section. A full site template gives you everything you need to launch your website.
And if you’re enjoying this episode, I highly recommend checking out my templates here! I have a lot to choose from.
I have templates for photographers and videographers, wedding professionals, coaches, therapists, lactation consultants, birth doulas or midwives, copywriters, bookkeepers, podcasters, course creators, and YouTubers. When you’re choosing a template, I recommend picking one based on the design, layout, and overall vibe that resonates with you. That matters more than the industry label.
There’s a wide range of styles too, from sophisticated and modern to fun and colorful. There really is something for everyone in the shop.
I also have a website personality quiz that matches you with a group of templates based on your brand personality. If you’re looking at the options and thinking, I don’t know which one is right for my ideal client or my business, you can go here and take that quiz. When you take the quiz, you also get a discount and some free Canva templates for your social media.
Read more: How to Choose the Best Showit Template for Your Business (WITH EASE)
3. Customize Your Site
At this point, you’ve picked your platform and your template, and now you make it your own.
You customize your site by adding your brand colors, fonts, website copy, and photos. Sometimes people keep the template’s original fonts and colors, which is the fastest and easiest option. Other times, they change everything.
What I see most often is a mix. Maybe you keep most of the colors but swap out a font, or you keep the fonts and change the colors. There’s a lot of flexibility here.
The template you purchase includes placeholder content, so it’s meant for you to replace the words and images. That means swapping out photos of models or stock images for photos of you, your work, or your products, and updating the copy so it reflects your business.
My templates also come with my Showit Blueprint Course. It walks you through how to use Showit step by step. You don’t have to watch the entire course to customize your site, but I do recommend watching the first few videos so you understand the interface.
Showit itself also has great resources to help you learn the platform.
Read more: How to Customize Your Showit Website Template Really Fast
4. Connect Your Domain And Launch Your Website
Step four is connecting your domain name and going live. Your website does not have to be perfect before you do this.
Showit has clear tutorials on how to connect your domain, so I won’t go deep into the technical details. But essentially, you’re telling your domain provider, wherever you bought your domain, that the website you built in Showit is what should appear when someone types in your domain name into their browser.
That’s what it means to connect your domain and go live.
Once you do this, your website is live on the internet. It’s launched, which is such a fun and exciting moment. Now you can share the link with people. It can show up in Google search. You can share it on Instagram, add it to your Stories, and send it directly to potential clients. It’s a real link, out there on the internet, connected and working.
5. Start Sharing Your New Website
That brings us to the fifth and final step, which is to start sharing it. Add your website to your social media bio. Put it in your email signature. Do that launch post where you say, “Hey, I’m officially in business. Here’s my website. Come check it out.” You can promote it as a way to book clients or sell your offers. At this point, it’s yours to share.
I also want to say this about this step: you can continue tweaking and updating your website after it’s live. You don’t need it to be perfect before you launch.
Maybe you get your site to a solid baseline where you think, this is good enough to go live. Sure, you might want to add a blog later, or a resources page, or email marketing opt-ins down the road. But for now, it works. Launch it with what you have and keep improving it as you go.
With Showit, making updates is very simple. You just log into your Showit account, open the website builder, make your changes, and click publish again. As soon as you do that, the updates go live.
So when I say that step four is connecting your domain and going live, that doesn’t mean you’re locked into that version forever. You can make changes as often as you want, even multiple times a day if you need to. You’re fully in control, and changes take effect immediately when you publish.
You can add new pages over time, purchase add-on templates whenever you want, and those add-ons can come from any shop. They don’t have to be from the same designer you bought your main template from. That’s a question I get a lot, so I just want to note that here.
And from there, you start sharing your website and making money from it.
Are you feeling ready to finally get your business online and build your first website?
I’ve mentioned it a few times, but if you’re interested, go check out my Showit website templates. They’re fun, unique, and strategically designed. They’re also built with SEO in mind, which I briefly touched on in the glossary section earlier, but SEO is a big focus in how I design my templates.
My team and I also offer really great customer support over email. If you run into roadblocks or need help troubleshooting something while you’re working on your template, you can email us and we’ll get back to you. We even often create custom videos to walk you through things. If you’re stuck and need a visual explanation, we’ll record a video showing you exactly how to do it.
I really hope to see you launching your website and officially making your business official in the near future. I hope this episode was so, so helpful for you as you build your first website!
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