Take Your Time
You’re Building a Business Online
Step 1

Before we get started, I want you to know something:

You do not have to do all of this today.

This guide contains a lot of information. Some parts may be familiar to you. Other parts may be completely new.

We all learn differently and we all digest information at different rates. Read a section. Work on it. Walk away if you need to. Come back tomorrow.

There is no prize for building your website the fastest.

The goal is to build something useful for your business and to understand enough about it that you aren’t completely dependent on someone else every time you want to make a change.

Think of Your Website as Your Virtual Business

If you were opening a physical business, you wouldn’t expect to do everything in one afternoon.

You’d find a location.
You’d decide what you needed inside.
You’d choose colors and signs.
You’d arrange your products or equipment.
You’d make sure customers could find you.
Then you’d open the doors.

Your website isn’t that different.

First we’ll figure out what you’re building.
Then we’ll get your domain and hosting.
We’ll put the basic pieces in place.
We’ll add your words, pictures and business information.
We’ll make sure everything works.

And eventually we’re going to flip that virtual OPEN sign.

Why Bother Building A Website?

• Because your customers are online.
• Internet use in the United States is nearly universal.
• Pew Research Center reported that 96% of U.S. adults used the internet in 2025.
• In its 2026 survey, 44% of adults said they were online almost constantly, with another 41% going online several times every day. Your customers aren’t just online occasionally.
• For many of them, online is where they start.
• They search for businesses, checking hours, comparing services, and look for phone numbers.
• They look at photos, read reviews, they want to know who you are before they decide whether to call, visit or buy.
• And your own website gives your business a home on the internet that you control.
• Google itself uses information from official business websites as one of the sources for business information appearing in Search and Maps.
• Facebook can be useful. Instagram can be useful. Google Business Profile can be useful. But those are someone else’s platforms.
• Your website is yours.

Your Website Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect

This is important.

A website is not something you finish once and never touch again. Just like a physical business, you tend to it. You change something when it isn’t working. You add a new service. You replace an old picture. You change your hours. You learn something new and make it better. So don’t get hung up trying to create the perfect website before you put it online.

• We’re going to build it one piece at a time.
• Use the worksheets.
• Make notes.
• Save websites you like.
• Take a break when your brain is full.
• Then come back and do the next piece.

Before you know it, you’re not going to be reading a guide about how to build a website.
You’re going to be clicking Publish.