The guides, in order
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Guide 1 of 10
Plan your pages
Work out the page list from the job your site has to do.
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Guide 2 of 10
Write your content
Who writes what, in which order, and how to keep it short.
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Guide 3 of 10
Choose a platform
Hosted builders, self-hosted software and shop platforms compared on control and upkeep.
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Guide 4 of 10
Domain and hosting
Register a domain in the right name, and set up email that receivers trust.
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Guide 5 of 10
Choose your features
Sort features into must have, later and not needed, with questions for builders.
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Guide 6 of 10
Set a budget
Build a budget from hours, rates and running costs, not from a guess.
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Guide 7 of 10
Local search basics
What Google says about local results, and what a small site can control.
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Guide 8 of 10
Privacy, cookies and company details
Privacy notice, cookie information, company details and terms for a UK site.
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Guide 9 of 10
Reviews and testimonials
What the 2025 UK fake review rules mean for a small business website.
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Guide 10 of 10
Get ready to launch
The checks to make before go live, and the review to book after it.
How to use them
Read the first two before anything else. Deciding the pages and the content shapes every later choice, from the platform to the budget. After that, read the guides in whatever order your questions come up, and keep the planner open alongside to write down what you decide.
What the guides rely on
Where a guide states a rule, it links to the source: GOV.UK, the Information Commissioner's Office, the Competition and Markets Authority, Nominet, the National Cyber Security Centre, the W3C or legislation.gov.uk. Where it describes how Google treats websites, it links to Google's own documentation. A law firm or other secondary source is used only where it adds something, such as a commencement date, and it is labelled as secondary.
What they leave out
The guides do not rank platforms or suppliers, and they do not quote what a website costs, because those answers depend on choices only you can make. They also do not replace advice from a solicitor or accountant when a decision carries legal or tax risk. Each guide says where that line falls.