What do I need to create a website for my business?

By Charlie B, Deliberate Design.

The short answer: a web address, somewhere to host the pages, the words, a few photos, and a way for people to contact you. Five things. Everything else is optional.

1. A web address

Also called a domain name. yourbusiness.co.uk. A .co.uk costs about £6 to £10 a year from a registrar. Register it in your own name, not your designer's. With us it is included.

2. Hosting

A computer that serves your pages when someone visits. Shared hosting is £3 to £10 a month. A website builder bundles it into the monthly fee. We include it in the £20 a month.

3. The words

What you do, where, for whom, and what it costs. Write it the way you would say it to a customer at the counter. Three short paragraphs beat a page of waffle.

4. Photos

Your own, of your work, your shop or your van. Phone photos in daylight are fine. Avoid stock photos of smiling strangers; everyone can tell.

5. A way to be contacted

A phone number that works, an email address, and a contact form if you want one. On ours the form sends to your email and nothing is stored on the site.

What you do not need

A logo designed by an agency, a blog, a booking system, a chatbot, an app, or ten pages. Start with one page that is right and add things when a customer asks for them.

Prices in this post were checked on 2 October 2026.