2.2 Building Your Website
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure you have:
- Website structure plan completed (Section 2.1)
- Hosting set up and domain connected (Section 1.2)
- All content, photos, and assets gathered
- 8 hours of focused time (can be split across 2-3 sessions)
Step-by-Step
Choose your path
Option A: Squarespace (~$24 AUD/month, or $17/month on an annual plan) — drag-and-drop, no code, beautiful templates. Best for non-technical owners. Option B: WordPress + hosting — more flexible, steeper learning curve. Option C: Hire a professional ($2,000-$10,000+). For this guide, we walk through Squarespace as the recommended DIY path.
Select and customise a template
Browse templates filtered by your industry. Pick one with a layout structure you like — all templates can be heavily customised. The template is your scaffolding, not your final design.
Build your Home page
Structure top-to-bottom: Hero section (headline + CTA button), Services overview (3-4 cards), About snippet (2-3 sentences + photo), Social proof (testimonials, reviews), Call to action, Contact summary (phone, email, hours).
Build your Services page
Create a section for each service: service name as H2, definition-first paragraph, who it’s for, what’s included, pricing or ‘from $X’, and a CTA button.
Build your About page
Include: your story, founder/team bios with real photos, qualifications, values, and credentials. Write in first person or close third — avoid corporate speak.
Build your Contact page
Include: clickable phone number, email address, address/service area, contact form (4 fields max), hours, and Google Map embed. Test the form.
Set up navigation
Keep main nav to 5-7 items. Add ‘Book Now’ as a highlighted button. Add footer navigation with Privacy Policy and Terms links.
Review and launch internally
Check every page on desktop and mobile. Click every link. Submit every form. Read every page out loud. Get someone else to review and give honest feedback.
See Squarespace's editor guide for screenshots of the drag-and-drop page builder and customisation options.
Test your site on your actual phone — open your URL in Safari or Chrome mobile. DevTools emulation is useful but never catches everything a real device does. Check that buttons are tappable, text is readable without zooming, and forms work with the on-screen keyboard.
- Spending weeks on design instead of launching — Done is better than perfect. A live imperfect website generates leads; a perfect website that’s never launched generates nothing.
- Using stock photos everywhere — Customers spot stock photos instantly. Use real photos of your work and team.
- Walls of text — Use short paragraphs (2-3 sentences), bullet points, subheadings, and white space.
- No mobile testing — over 50% of your traffic will be on phones (and over 60% of Google searches are mobile). Test on an actual phone.
Set a hard deadline: ‘My website will be live by [date one week from now].’ Without a deadline, a website build expands to fill all available time.
Your site going live does NOT mean Google can find it. A brand-new website is completely invisible to search engines — even if everything is built perfectly. You must complete Phase 3 (especially section 3.1: Google Search Console) immediately after launch to tell Google your site exists. Without this step, you could wait months before appearing in any search results. Read the “Critical: Your New Site Is Invisible to Google” callout in section 3.1.
You're Done When
- All planned pages are built with real content
- Every link works and every form submits
- The site looks good on mobile
- At least one other person has reviewed it
- You’ve immediately moved to Phase 3 to get indexed