When you conduct 100% of your business on social media, you haven’t got the secure base a website offers you. Facebook or Instagram change their rules and algorithms all the time, so they could suddenly make a change that bumps your competitors ahead of you. A website is the safest choice, the online space that gives you security, flexibility and full control.
How to make a website
6 easy steps to make your website idea a reality
No need for technical know-how
Whether you’re starting out in business or need an online space for your club, blog, or event, you will need to create a website. It’s vital that you’re online, and that your website is well designed and easy to navigate.
When you set out to build a website, there are many things to consider, but with our easy-to-use website creator, at least you don’t need to know lots of technical stuff! Using templates, you are guided and shown how to make your own website, and the result will be a professional, functional online space that helps you generate leads to establish your brand.
Make a website in 6 easy steps
With our drag-and-drop website builder you can have a beautiful, intuitive site up and running in just a couple of hours.
The time it takes to build your own website depends on the complexity of your business but no matter how much content, images or features you want to add, you’ll be able to do it all yourself at a far lower cost than you would be spending on a web designer.
Step 1: Get the right domain name
Before you can build your website, you need a good domain name to host it on. Remember, you’ll be using the domain in your marketing, email addresses and advertising, so take your time and make sure to make the right choice in this first step.
We’ve made a little checklist to help you choose the best domain name for your new website:
A. Easy to spell. Where possible, make your domain easy to spell and memorable.
B. Short and sweet. In the domain name world, shorter is always better.
C. Pick the appropriate extension. Choosing .com or .ie is almost always good, but if your business, club, or blog is very specialised or you are exclusively trading in a defined geographical area, a new gTLD or ccTLD may be the one for you (think .London, .fr or .dentist).
D. Avoid numbers and hyphens. When adding numbers or hyphens, you risk being misinterpreted when telling someone your domain name in conversation.
E. Think ahead. Make sure you don’t box yourself in by choosing a domain name that’s too specific. You may want to expand in the future.
F. Consider SEO. If possible, use a search keyword in your domain name. Avoid acronyms as they don’t make sense to web crawlers - even if it means you need to make your domain name longer.
G. And finally, make sure you cover all bases. A .London domain extension may be perfect for your business, but make sure to buy the same domain in other popular extensions like .com and .uk too. This will help protect your business from other companies or individuals snapping up the same domain name as you and your business potentially losing visitors to them.
Step 2: Choose your plan
Our Website Builder comes in Free§ , Starter and Professional packages. With the paid plans, you get a free domain name*, free email, a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth (that means there is no limit to the traffic to and from your website), as well as SEO and developer tools.
The Free§ plan includes one webpage and the Starter plan, allows you to create up to five pages. If you need more than that, Professional is the plan for you. Choose your plan here.
Step 3: Choose your template
Note: Click the arrow in the top left corner of the screen to filter the templates in order of the industry or blog theme they are most suited for. 
Our Website Builder is template based. This means you can make a website with no prior knowledge of web design or coding. All plans include access to a large selection of templates, so you are sure to find one to fit your requirements.
Functionality before beauty
We’re not suggesting a functional website can’t be visually pleasing - all websites and designs can be made beautiful – but when you’re choosing your template, think first of the functions you need because they are the backbone of your website
Note: You can try out all the templates, you can even switch them at any time, but once you have started adding content to your website, the content will be lost if you switch templates.
Actions in Step 3:
To start creating your website, you need to choose your template. Go to your Dashboard > Below your domain name, you'll see Website Builder. Choose 'Edit site'. > Template options will appear. Hover over each one to 'Preview' OR 'Start Building'.
Just the clicks:
Dashboard > Choose 'Edit site' > 'Preview' OR 'Start Building'.
Step 4: Create your content
Now it’s time to familiarise yourself with the template. Once you’ve clicked the menus, hovered over the various sections, and made sure the functionalities and design will work for your website, it’s time to put your own content into the template.
Design is important, content equally so. You can have the most beautifully designed website, but if it doesn’t tell your visitors what they need to know about you, you might as well not have one.
Here’s a helpful checklist of what you need to include:
A. Tell your visitor who you are and what you do.
When a visitor checks out your website, you want them to find out who you are and what you do without having to scroll, click or search for this information. Make sure your name is at the very top of the page, alongside your logo, if you have one. Underneath or in the main section of your header, have a line or short paragraph about what you are offering.
B. Add an easy-to-navigate menu.
Your menu options must be clear and easy to find at the top of your website.
C. Contact information
A great way to display your contact information is to have it in two places. At the top of the page you could list your email address or a link to a chat so if a visitor wants to contact you, they can in an instant.
Your full contact details should be either in the footer of every page or on a dedicated Contact page, or both. Contact details should include social links, physical address, email, phone number, and any other way you wish to be contacted.
D. An easy-to-spot CTA (Call To Action)
Make it easy for your visitors to act by displaying clear and noticeable CTA buttons, links or images. Whether you’re inviting your visitors to request more information, sign up to newsletters, enrol, or do something else entirely, if you put it on a button, they are more likely to click!
E. Add good words
Your website will often be the first impression a potential customer has of you, so you need to tell a story about who you are, what you do, and why they should choose you over your competitors. Your content needs to be concise, on-brand, up-to-date, and original.
Actions in Step 4:
Hover over each section of the page and left-click to edit > Edit images by removing the existing and add a new one > Edit copy directly in the template.
Just the clicks:
Hover > Edit images > Edit copy
Step 5: General features
The general features that you can edit appear on the left side of the screen.
Design
Here, you can edit the global font, font size, and text format, as well as setting the layout for your website.
Pages
Add new pages and rearrange existing pages here. If you have chosen a paid plan, you have the option to add and edit popups here also (in Professional packages only).
Widgets
In this section, you have the individual components to sections of your website like text, images, buttons, forms, galleries, and many more. You drag these to the section of the page where you want them. Some of these widgets are available on paid plans only.
Content
In the Content section, you can add general content that you would like available and accessible on all pages of your website.
Personalise
Here we take your website personalisation to the next level! Prepare to be a little bit impressed, as you can create a user experience that is completely customised for each individual visitor to your website. Please note: Personalisation functions are only available on a Professional package.
You can Create a Popup that is triggered depending on time, the user’s location, number of visits, a campaign URL or which device they are viewing your website on.
You can Update a Section or Page daily at a specific time to display specials or new offers.
You can Notify Users of Events on a popup and urge them to sign up, express interest or book a ticket.
You can Display a Click to Call button when a user reaches your site from mobile or tablet.
You can even target visitors based on their actual location in real-time with the function in Visitors Nearby.
And so much more! The personalisation level of our Website Builder opens your website up to a vast amount of customisation.
Ecommerce
Our Ecommerce packages are an add-on to our Website Builder. A complete shop is added to your website when you upgrade. The Ecommerce solution makes it easy to create products, upload photos, set up payments, create categories, add shipping information, share voucher codes and discounts, and lots more.
Note: Our Ecommerce solution includes the Professional Website Builder package.
Blog
When you add a blog to your website in the Blog section, you first start by setting the structure of your blog in the Edit Layout menu. Setting the structure to make all your posts similar in setup makes your blog consistent and supports SEO best practice.
In the Blog Settings menu, you can set the name, thumbnail, and RSS feed details for the overall page on your website where all your blog posts are listed.
When you first set up your blog page, three test blogs are displayed on your website in the Manage Posts section. They are useful to familiarise you with the look and feel of blog posts. You can even use them as templates for your own articles and then when you write your own blogs, you can delete them.
To make an engaging blog page, you should fill it with interesting content, relevant and valuable to your visitors. To create a blog post, click the blue New Post button and follow the instructions to populate the page.
My Apps
The apps section is where you can set up your compliance information for cookies, data, privacy and GDPR. This is all done using the Usercentrics app. You can install it by following these instructions >> Install >> Got it >> Start Setup >> Confirm Setup.
The Usercentrics crawlers scan your website for third-party technologies like Google Analytics, Google Maps, Facebook Pixel etc., as these might process personal data from your users. To ensure you comply with privacy laws like GDPR, these technologies will be automatically blocked on your website until users consent to activate them.
Once set up, you can make additional configurations, like customising the notification messages and adding the name of your Data Controller.
Settings
The final section is your general site settings. In here, you can edit icons, Google analytics code, language, backup and more.
Step 6: Website launch
And finally, click 'Publish'. Well done, you’ve created your own website!
Now that you’ve crossed the finish line and your website is live for the world to see, here’s a little checklist of tasks to make sure everything runs smoothly:
A. Check your website across various browsers.
Open your website on Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Firefox. On each one, check that all the pages look as expected and that everything works.
B. Check that your website looks good on mobile screens.
This can be done in the site editor also, but it’s always best to check on an actual screen too.
C. If you are yet to set up Google Analytics or similar, now is a great time to do it.
With Analytics, you can monitor all your pages, your marketing campaigns and your search engine success.
Frequently asked questions about Website Builder
Why do I need a website when I have social media?
Why should I build my own website when I can get someone to do it for me?
The simple answer to this question is “because you can”! If you don't have the time to create a website yourself, perhaps the option of a DIY website builder is not for you. But the website creator programmes and templates available are as good as anything a web designer can offer you, so if you have the time and want complete control of the creation of your online space - building your own website is something you should do.
What if I haven't got the time to build my own website?
You may not have the time to make your own website, and if that's the case, we can do it for you. We have a super Studio Team of skilled web designers who will happily do all the work for you. Find out more and get in touch with the team.
Will my website be safe and secure?
Absolutely! With all our packages, you get a free SSL certificate. This means that any data that moves to or from your website will have an encryption. An SSL creates a secure connection between your website and the browser your visitor is using.
* The offer is first month for 99c (ex VAT) on monthly Website Builder - Starter and Website Builder - Professional plans. This offer is for the first billing period only, does not apply to renewals and is limited to online transactions. Offers cannot be used in conjunction with any others and may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of Namesco Ireland Limited.
** Get a FREE .com, .ie, .net, .org, .biz, .info or .online domain name registered for 1 year when you purchase a monthly Web Hosting, Website Builder, Website Builder Ecommerce, WordPress Hosting, Email Hosting and Microsoft 365 package using the embedded voucher code. This offer is limited to 2 uses per account. Additionally, get a FREE .com, .ie, .net, .org, .biz, .info or .online domain name registered for 1 year with any of our Annual or Multi-year Web Hosting, Website Builder, Website Builder Ecommerce, Email Hosting, WordPress Hosting and Microsoft 365 Packages. These offers do not apply to renewals or transfers, and are available for online transactions only. These offers are for the first billing period only, cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers and may be withdrawn at any time at the discretion of Namesco Ireland Limited.
† The online scheduling and booking facility is provided by vCita and will require an active vCita subscription. A 14-day free trial is available to customers signing up through the online scheduling widget within Website Builder.
§ Website Builder Free is free for 1 year when registering any domain name. Thereafter, you will be required to upgrade to our Website Builder Lite product which will become chargeable as per the price outlined in our price list. There is no obligation to upgrade. Standard terms and conditions of service apply.