Your website is the most important digital asset, whether you’re building a side hustle, opening an e-commerce store, or building a personal portfolio. 

But building a website from scratch can feel intimidating. There are so many website-building platforms and tools to figure out, and not enough practical advice on how to build and launch a website that ranks. 

This guide does just that. We’ll break down how to build and launch your website in just 7 steps.

We’ll start with the planning phase, where you figure out goals and your audience, right down to the last phase where you launch and start scaling your content and outreach efforts. 

Let’s get started!

Making a Website from Scratch

Step 1: Planning 

This is an important foundational step. 

Before you start designing or even register a domain, it’s important to think about why you want to start your website and who you want it to serve. This phase sets the foundation for every decision you’ll make moving forward.

What are your website goals? 

What do you want your website to achieve? Is it meant to generate leads? Share your expertise through coaching or courses? Sell products? 

Your answer is important because it will guide the design layout you choose, features, navigation, and even the content you’ll create.

But don’t complicate this step or spend time building a long mission statement. As long as you have a focus, you’ll be good to go. 

For example, the goal of our website, Truehost, is to provide cheap web hosting in Kenya, and the website is designed to showcase our hosting services. If you are a wedding planner, for example, you might want people to promote cake-making services, wedding dresses, venues, and catering. 

So, a layout that supports lots of photography and videos, and a calendar for booking events would be a must-have on your site. 

Who’s your target audience?

Who are they? What problems are they trying to solve? What questions are they asking?

Use this stage to get specific. If you’re targeting small business owners in Nairobi, think about their interests, budget, and online habits. Are they more likely to fill up a contact form, order on your website, or through WhatsApp or Facebook? Do they need information in Kiswahili, English, or both?

If you know your user well, you will serve them with relevant content and allow them to interact with your website in a way that suits them best. 

What Actions Do You Want Visitors to Take?

In addition to figuring out goals and audience, figure out what you want people to do when they land on your website. Do you want them to: 

• Fill out a contact form
• Book a consultation
• Read your blog and subscribe
• Buy

Step 2: Choose a website-building platform

Now that you’re done with planning, let’s get down to building. But first off, which website-building tool do you want to use?

We are big fans of WordPress at Truehost, and even offer WordPress hosting, but we also know it might not be the best platform for everyone. 

If you’re not sure which website-building tool to choose, read this post first, where we discuss the best WordPress alternatives, then circle back to step 3 of this guide. 

Whatever your choice may be, WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, or Custom code, the platform you choose will affect everything, from

• To how easy the site is to manage, 
• How flexible it will be as your business grows, 
• And how well it can perform in terms of speed, SEO, and integrations. 

There are three core approaches to building a website, and each has its advantages and disadvantages

Website builder 

Website Builders like Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow, etc., are designed to make website building easy. You don’t need to worry about installing software, coding, or hosting.

They have dashboards that are easy to use, drag-and-drop editors, pre-made templates, and a lot of inbuilt tools for SEO, forms, blogging, etc. Plus, these builders are designed to do one thing really well, but leave room to expand into other areas. 

For example, Shopify is built for e-commerce, but you can add a blog functionality to it from within the tool. The downside is, the blogging feature might not be as good. You can learn about more website builders in this post.

Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress.org

WordPress is popular and supports a wide variety of needs, from portfolios to small websites and even enterprise users. It can also do a lot of things through its plugins. For example, you want to run an email campaign? Install a plugin for it from the dashboard.

WordPress strikes a balance between ease of use and advanced functionality. It’s also highly customizable, has an easy-to-use block builder, and supports many free and premium themes. But, you’d have to host it, maintain it, and manage plugins. 

You can read more about WordPress here. And if you’d like to speed up building your WordPress site, use one of these top WordPress AI builders. 

WordPress is the best long-term option for users who want control, performance, and flexibility. If you want to monetize a blog, create multilingual sites, or scale traffic with SEO, WordPress is usually the way to go.

Custom Development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or Frameworks like React, Vue, Laravel)

This means hiring a developer to build a website for you from scratch using custom code. It’s costly and takes longer to launch, but it’s a great option when you have very specific needs.

Governments, institutions, SaaS, or large businesses should consider using this option because it gives you exactly what you want. It also gives you more control over design without bloating your website with plugins. 

Only hire web developers you can trust, especially if you are non-technical. If you want a tailored website, hire our Truehost developers. 

Note: Do not choose a platform because it looks easy. Go back again to your goals and consider how the website platform you choose will affect your goals long term.

What if you need to add features, switch designs, or optimize for SEO? Will the platform support that? 

Choose a Website Host

If you’ve decided to build your website using WordPress.org (which gives you full control and ownership), you’ll need to choose a hosting provider. 

A website host is where your website files will live. It is a server that stores your content and surfaces it on search engines when visitors type in your domain.

Hosting directly affects site loading, security, and site performance. Some hosts might even complicate WordPress installation, so choose wisely.

Matter of fact, spare yourself the headache, choose Truehost and enjoy reliable hosting that guarantees:

Super fast speeds, 99.9% uptime, 1-click WordPress installation, top-notch security with SSL certificates, automated backups, local support, and services tailored to the African market.

And all this at an Affordable price. 

We also tailor our hosting services for different business needs and budgets, by offering these hosting types:  

Types of Hosting

1. Shared Hosting affordable type of hosting, where your site shares server resources (like storage and RAM) with other websites. Ideal for beginners launching a personal blog or small business site that doesn’t expect heavy traffic.

2. Managed WordPress Hosting. This is still shared hosting, but the server is optimized specifically for WordPress. This is a great option for people who want the power of WordPress without managing the technical stuff themselves.

3. VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server). With VPS, your site gets a dedicated portion of server resources. It requires some technical knowledge.  VPS hosting is best for growing sites with moderate to high traffic or businesses handling sensitive data.

4. Cloud Hosting. With cloud hosting, your site is hosted on multiple servers (a “cloud”) rather than just one physical machine. This means better uptime, faster performance, and a lot of room to scale. Ideal for large-scale websites, agencies, or anyone who wants enterprise-level performance without managing hardware.

5. Dedicated Hosting. Dedicated hosting lets you rent an entire server just for your site. Unless you’re hosting a huge site or running a complex SaaS platform, you really don’t need this.

Here’s a full breakdown of these and other hosting services from Truehost.  

Step 3: Design Your Website 

At this point, you’ve planned your goals and chosen the right tools. But before you start installing themes and plugins, you need to zoom out and think about how people will use your site.

This is where UX design and information architecture come in.

Too many sites look great but confuse or frustrate users. Others have all the “right” content but no flow—no clear path to action. This phase ensures your site feels intuitive, clear, and goal-focused before a single design pixel is placed.

What pages should it have, how should you group them, and how should users navigate between them? 

Start with a simple sitemap. 

These are the core pages most websites need:

• Home
• About
• Services / Products
• Blog or Resources
• Contact

Depending on your business, you may also need:

• Portfolio / Case Studies
• Testimonials / Reviews
• FAQ
• Pricing
• Legal Pages (Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, etc.)

If you’re running a content-heavy site (like a blog), map out the categories and tags you’ll use. But don’t overdo it. It’s better to end up with a few well-defined categories than a lot of vague or confusing ones.

Ask:

• Can users find what they need in 1–2 clicks?
• Are my services easy to browse?
• Does the navigation reflect how people think, not how I see my business?

Tip: If you aren’t sure of what works, look at competitors’ navigation bars, footer links, and landing page layouts. 

Once you have the structure, map out the flow: What do you want a visitor to do when they land on your homepage? Where should they go next?

For example:

• Homepage → Service Page → Contact Form
• Blog Post → Newsletter Opt-in → Free Download
• Product Page → Checkout → Confirmation Page

Next, streamline your navigation

Good navigation should help users move confidently. Not stress them out. 

Here are a few tips to follow:

• Keep your main menu between 5 to 7 links
• Group similar content under dropdowns or “mega menus” if necessary
• Always include a prominent CTA, like “Book a Call” or “Shop Now”, a few times on your pages to save visitors from scrolling back and forth
• Add a secondary menu in the footer for less critical links (e.g., privacy policy)
• Make sure the menu is also visible and easy to use on mobile 

Tip: When designing, design for the user. The idea might be yours, but you’re not designing for you. So, make sure what you design is easy and enjoyable for others to use. 

If you’re using WordPress, you can easily design your website with tools like Elementor, Kadence Blocks, etc, without touching code.

You can find other WordPress AI builders that support a responsive design in this article. 

Step 4: Build Your Website

You now have everything together: 

• Your goals and target audience 
• Website building platform 
• Domain name and hosting 
• Site design and structure 

It’s now time to start building. How you build your website will depend on the platform you choose. 

1. Set up your environment. This stage applies if you’re building custom code or using WordPress (or other CMS powered platforms like Ghost or Strapi). You’ll have to install the platform and prepare your hosting and database. This easy-to-follow guide will help you install WordPress in just a few clicks. 
   
2. Once the environment is ready, start implementing your site’s basic structure. 
   
3. The goal is to replicate the wireframes and sitemap you planned earlier. develop key templates—such as your homepage layout, inner content pages, headers and footers, and navigation menus.
   
   Make sure they’re consistent and responsive across device types.
   
4. Adding functionality. This will differ based on the type of website you’re building. This may include implementing contact forms, analytics, newsletter tools, databases, content management, payment gateways, shopping carts, checkout flows, etc.
   
5. Test for mobile responsiveness as you build. This means optimizing for screen readers, ensuring good contrast ratios, and testing across breakpoints.
   
   CMS tools like WordPress come let you optimize right in the editor, but you could still use other tools like Lighthouse or WebPageTest to catch performance issues.
   
6. Set up site backup and site control. This will depend on the building method you’re using.
   
   Site builders might not need this step, but if you’re using WordPress, you will need to set up a backup plugin. If you’re a developer, you can set up automatic updates using Netlify, Vercel, or GitHub Actions.
   
   And do version control using Git with a service like GitHub or GitLab. 

Do not rush this step. By taking time and building a quality website, you’ll deal with fewer bugs later on, ensure better performance, and provide your users with a smoother user experience.

Step 5: Populate your web pages with content

With your website pages and navigation ready, it’s time to add content. 

Without content, your site is just a shell. Content is how you grow your audience, shape your brand, and convince people to buy. 

There are two types of content: 

• Static content. Which is content on web pages such as the home page, About us, and services. It’s static because it doesn’t change (unless you need to overhaul your pages) 
• Dynamic content. This is content like blog articles, portfolio content (e.g, for a photography website), video content, or podcasts, that you post regularly   

Start by defining your messaging. What do you want your site to communicate? What problems are you solving for your visitors?

The answers should guide everything from headlines and service descriptions to the tone of your call-to-action buttons. 

Build out every page to support your website goals, whether it’s to educate, sell, inform, or generate leads.

1. Your home page is the most important, so make sure its content communicates the value you offer: what you do and who you do it for within the first few seconds. You can support this message with real-world outcomes. 
   
2. If you have customer testimonials, awards, or recognitions, include them on the home page. 
   
3. The About page is also just as important, as it helps you put a face to your brand. This is where you talk about your team, tell your story, mission, and values.
   
4. In the service or product pages, highlight product features and how they solve customer problems. Again, you want to include testimonials here, and also demos of your products or services. 
   
5. An FAQ would also help to answer anything you can’t directly address in the content. Plus, it’s good for SEO.  
   
6. Finally, add a contact page, with all the different ways visitors can use to reach you. 
   
7. Don’t forget SEO. SEO isn’t just for blogs. It’s also important for pages. So as you create your page content (and later, blog content), optimize it with keywords and add a heading structure (H1, H2, H3). 
   
8. Add meta titles and descriptions to help search engines understand your content, and internal links to direct users to more content and pages. 

Tip: To find keywords, use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner.

Remember to make your content more visual with relevant images, icons, and videos. Use visuals from your business, or ask existing customers to send you any user-generated content.

If you don’t have any of these, use stock images and videos from Pixabay, Pexels, or other stock libraries. 

Step 6: Test and Quality Assurance (QA)

By now, you’ve designed your site, developed it, and filled it with content. But before you publish it, you need to verify that it’s ready to handle real users. 

This phase is important because it helps you catch technical issues, design inconsistencies, or poor mobile responsiveness. These are factors that can turn away visitors. 

Review every single page on the site. 

1. Start by looking at it through the eyes of your audience. Confirm that your message clearly communicates what you offer and that all calls to action buttons are working and easy to find. 
   
2. Navigate through menus, scroll through every section, and click every button. 
   
3. Fill out forms, test the checkout process by running a test purchase to ensure customers can check out without problems.
   
4. Look for typos, broken links, misaligned sections, and loading errors.
   
5. Next, test your site across physical phones, tablets, Mac OS, and Windows, and browsers to ensure users can see all menus, content, and buttons, and navigate without problems. 
   
   Use browser developer tools or online services like BrowserStack to simulate different devices and operating systems. 
   
6. Performance is another major consideration. A slow website will lose visitors and harm your search engine rankings.
   
   Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or WebPageTest to run speed tests. If you identify issues like oversized images or inefficient code, fix them. 
   
7. If you’re using any marketing pixels (Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok), confirm they work correctly on the pages.
   
8. Perform legal and compliance checks. If your site collects any kind of user data through contact forms or newsletter signups, add a privacy policy.
   
   Also, enable cookie consent banners and unsubscribe options to ensure your website complies with regulations like GDPR, CCPA, or CAN-SPAM. 
   
9. Check that your website is accessible to everyone. That means people with disabilities or other usability issues, like color blindness.
   
   But beyond this, ensure color contrast ratios are readable and your images have alt text. Use tools like WAVE or Google Lighthouse to catch issues that can make your website unusable. 
   
10. Set up analytics and tracking. Set up Google Analytics (GA4) to measure traffic, engagement, bounce rates, conversions, and much more from day one. Also, connect Google Search Console to track indexing and SEO performance.

Step 7: Launch 

Once everything passes internal testing, you may want to conduct a soft launch by quietly publishing the site and sharing it with a small group of people before making it public. 

A soft launch will help you catch last-minute issues. It also helps you gather initial feedback about copy, layout, and usability experience. 

Once you’ve improved your website based on this initial user feedback, announce it across your email subscribers and social media channels. 

Now sit back, create great content, and watch your website grow! 

Need Help Making Your Website From Scratch? 

Now that you understand how to make a website, challenge yourself to build one. But if you don’t have the time, Truehost’s capable team of developers is always here to help. 

Contact us today and let us help you get you build your most important digital asset.