Need a website for your small business and can't code? Start here

Gather five things first

1. Your business name, exactly as you want it written everywhere.
2. What you offer, in plain words, and the price or a starting price if you are comfortable showing it.
3. Where you work: your address, or the area you cover.
4. How people reach you: phone number, WhatsApp, email, opening hours.
5. Three to six of your own photos: your work, your premises, you.

Ten minutes on this saves an hour later, because every builder will ask for these in some form.

Describe the business, not the website

The most useful thing you can tell an AI builder is what you do and for whom. 'A family-run plumbing business in Leeds, same-day call-outs, mostly homeowners, prices from 60 pounds' gives a builder far more to work with than 'a modern blue website'. Say what makes you different in one sentence: you answer the phone, you are insured, you have done this for 20 years.

Check the draft the way a customer would

• Open it on your phone first. That is where most visitors will see it.
• Can you find your phone number and opening hours without scrolling past three screens?
• Read every sentence aloud. Anything you would never say to a customer, change.
• Replace stock-looking images with your own photos wherever you can.
• Fill in the contact form yourself and confirm the message reaches you.

Publish, then connect a domain

Most builders let you publish on their own address straight away. When you are happy, connect a domain you own or buy one, so the address is yours: yourbusiness.com rather than a platform address. On Orivox that needs a paid plan, from $5 a month; the free plan publishes on an Orivox address. Prices for other builders are on their own pricing pages (we read them on 2 November 2026).

What to do in the first month

• Add the website address to your Google Business Profile.
• Share the link wherever customers already find you: invoices, email signature, social profiles.
• Ask two customers to look at it and tell you what confused them.

Common questions

How long does it take to get a small business website online?

The first draft from an AI builder usually takes under two minutes. Gathering your content, checking the draft and fixing the details is what takes an afternoon.

Do I need to buy a domain?

Not to start. You can publish on the builder's address first and add your own domain when you are ready.

What if I do not like the first draft?

Change the description or ask for specific changes. On an AI builder a second attempt costs minutes, not a designer's invoice.