You Don't Need Another Listicle About Website Builders
Let me guess: you've spent the last three hours reading reviews of website builders, watched two YouTube comparisons, scrolled through Reddit threads where everyone insists their choice is the only right one, and you're more confused than when you started.
Here's the truth nobody wants to tell you: most advice about websites for solopreneurs comes from people trying to sell you something. Affiliate links, courses, their own web design services. I've built websites for over 50 small businesses and solopreneurs since 2018, and I'm here to give you the straight talk you actually need.
The overwhelm is real. There are literally 500+ website builders out there. Everyone has an opinion. And most of that advice is designed to make you feel like you need more features, more pages, more complexity than you actually do.
Let's cut through the noise.
What Your Solopreneur Website Actually Needs to Do
Before we talk platforms or design or any of that, let's get clear on what your website is actually for. Not what some marketing guru says. What it actually needs to accomplish for your business:
- Establish credibility. When someone Googles your name or business, they find something professional that proves you're real and serious.
- Let people contact you. There's a clear, easy way for potential clients to get in touch.
- Show your work. People can see what you do and whether you're the right fit for them.
That's it. Everything else is nice-to-have. If your website does these three things, you're already ahead of 40% of solopreneurs I've worked with who either have no website or one that's so complicated it confuses everyone.
Pages Every Solopreneur Website Needs
This is the most common question I get: "What pages do I need?" Here's the minimum viable structure that actually works:
Homepage
Why it matters: This is where most people land first. It needs to immediately answer: who you are, what you do, and why someone should care. Within 5 seconds, a visitor should understand if they're in the right place.
Keep it simple: a clear headline about what you do, a brief explanation of how you help people, and a call-to-action button (usually "Work With Me" or "Get in Touch"). You don't need fancy animations or a video background. You need clarity.
About
Why it matters: This is consistently the second-most visited page on solopreneur websites. People want to know who they're working with. This isn't your life story—it's why you're qualified to help them and what makes you different from the 47 other people who do something similar.
Include a photo of yourself (yes, a real one, not a logo or stock photo), your relevant experience, and maybe one personal detail that makes you memorable. The About page is where trust gets built.
Services (or Work, Portfolio, What I Do)
Why it matters: People need to see if what you offer matches what they need. Be specific here. "I help businesses with marketing" is useless. "I create email sequences for health coaches launching their first online course" tells me exactly if you're right for me.
If you're a service provider, list your services with brief descriptions and ideally pricing ranges (more on this in a minute). If you're showing portfolio work, include 3-6 examples of your best projects with context about the results.
Contact
Why it matters: This seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many websites make it hard to actually get in touch. Have a dedicated contact page with either a simple form or your email address. That's it.
Don't make people hunt for how to reach you. Don't force them through a 15-question intake form before they've even decided to work with you. Make it easy.
Real talk: I've seen solopreneurs obsess over having 12 pages on their website when they could have launched with 4 pages three months earlier and already landed two clients. Perfect is the enemy of done.
Pages You Don't Need (Yet)
This is where I'm going to save you weeks of work and a bunch of anxiety. Here are pages you absolutely do not need when you're starting out:
A Blog
Unless you are genuinely committed to publishing helpful content every week (or at minimum every month), skip the blog. An empty blog with three posts from 2024 makes you look inactive. A "coming soon" blog section makes you look unprepared. No blog at all? Totally fine.
You can always add a blog later when you're actually ready to maintain it. I've worked with solopreneurs making six figures who've never published a single blog post.
A Shop
If you're not selling products right now, don't build shop infrastructure "just in case." E-commerce adds complexity, costs, and maintenance. Add it when you actually have something to sell.
An FAQ Page With Three Questions
You don't have frequently asked questions yet—you have three questions you imagine people might ask. That's not the same thing. After you've worked with 10-15 clients, you'll know what the real FAQs are. Build it then.
A Testimonials Page With Zero Testimonials
This should be self-explanatory, but I've seen it: a whole page dedicated to testimonials when you don't have any yet. Instead, add a testimonials section to your homepage once you actually have 2-3 solid ones.
Platform Comparison: The Honest Take
Okay, now the question everyone wants answered: what platform should you actually use for your solopreneur website? Here's my honest assessment after building on all of these:
Squarespace ($200-400/year)
Best for: Solopreneurs who want something professional-looking without touching code and don't mind paying for simplicity.
Pros: Beautiful templates right out of the box, easy to use, includes hosting, good mobile responsiveness, solid SEO basics built in. Most of my clients who just need a simple site are happy here.
Cons: Less flexibility if you want custom features, can feel limited if you have specific design ideas, annual cost adds up.
Wix ($200-350/year)
Best for: People who want more design control and don't mind a steeper learning curve.
Pros: Very flexible drag-and-drop, tons of apps and integrations, good for people who like tinkering, competitive pricing.
Cons: Can look messy if you're not careful with design, sometimes slower load times, the editor can feel overwhelming with options.
WordPress (Self-Hosted) ($100-500/year)
Best for: People comfortable with a bit of tech who want maximum control and flexibility, or who plan to blog seriously.
Pros: Endless customization, huge community and plugin ecosystem, you own everything, best for SEO if set up correctly, scales with you.
Cons: Requires managing hosting separately, updates and maintenance needed, security is your responsibility, steeper learning curve.
Real answer to "What's the best website builder for a small business?" It depends on your comfort level with tech and your budget. Squarespace if you want simple and pretty. WordPress if you want control and plan to grow. Wix if you want middle ground.
Custom/Hand-Coded ($1,500-4,000 one-time)
Best for: Solopreneurs who value speed, performance, and SEO optimization, and have the budget to invest upfront.
Pros: Fastest load times, best SEO performance, exactly what you want with no bloat, no monthly platform fees beyond hosting ($10-30/month), stands out from template-based competitors.
Cons: Higher upfront cost, you'll need a developer for major changes, requires more planning before building.
Regarding "Can ChatGPT actually create a website?" Technically yes—AI can generate code for simple websites. But you'll still need to know how to host it, update it, and troubleshoot issues. It's not a magic "free professional website" button. For most solopreneurs, a proper website builder or hiring a developer makes more sense.
Free Options (Carrd, Google Sites, WordPress.com free)
Best for: Testing an idea or absolute bare minimum placeholder.
Pros: Actually free, quick to set up, good for validating an idea before investing.
Cons: Limited features, often looks basic, platform branding on your site, no custom domain without paying, not great for credibility long-term.
Free websites for solopreneurs work if you need something right now and have zero budget, but plan to upgrade within 6 months if your business is serious.
What to Actually Spend
Let's talk real numbers because nobody wants to be vague about this:
- $0 option: Carrd or Google Sites with free subdomain (yourname.carrd.co). Works for testing, but doesn't look professional long-term.
- $100-200/year: Domain name ($15/year) + basic WordPress hosting ($85-150/year) + free theme. Good if you're comfortable with some DIY setup.
- $200-500/year: Squarespace or Wix with custom domain included. This is the sweet spot for most solopreneurs who want professional without massive investment.
- $1,500-4,000 one-time: Custom website built by a developer. Higher upfront but better performance, and you own the code. Ongoing costs are just hosting ($10-30/month).
How much does it typically cost to hire someone to build a website? For a basic professional solopreneur website, expect $1,500-3,000 for a freelancer or small agency. Cheaper than that and you're often getting template customization (which is fine, just know what you're paying for). More expensive usually means an agency with more overhead.
Budget advice: If you're making less than $30K/year from your business, stick with Squarespace or Wix. If you're making $50K+, consider investing in custom. If you're just starting and validating your idea, Carrd for three months is perfectly fine.
Common Mistakes Solopreneurs Make
After watching dozens of solopreneurs build (and rebuild) their websites, here are the mistakes that waste the most time and money:
Overthinking Design
You spend six weeks debating fonts and color palettes. Meanwhile, your competitor with an ugly-but-clear website has landed three clients. Design matters, but clarity matters more. Pick a clean template and move on.
Waiting for Perfect
Your website will never be perfect. You'll always want to tweak something. Launch with 80% done and improve based on actual feedback from real visitors. I promise the imperfections you're worried about are invisible to everyone else.
Spending on Features You Don't Need
Live chat widgets, advanced booking systems, membership areas—all before you have your first client. Start simple. Add features when you actually need them. Every plugin or feature is something else to maintain and potentially break.
Ignoring Mobile
Over 60% of website visits come from phones. If your website looks great on your laptop but is impossible to navigate on mobile, you're losing more than half your potential clients. Always check mobile view before launching.
No Clear Call-to-Action
People land on your homepage and think "this looks nice" but have no idea what to do next. Every page should have a clear next step: "Schedule a call," "View my work," "Get in touch." Don't make people guess.
The One Thing That Actually Matters
Here's what I tell every solopreneur I work with: your website needs to answer three questions clearly and quickly:
- Who are you?
- What do you do?
- How do I hire you?
Everything else—the fancy animations, the perfect color scheme, the blog you might write someday, the premium plugins—is noise. If a potential client lands on your site and can answer those three questions in under a minute, you've built a successful solopreneur website.
The "7 C's" of websites (Content, Credibility, Connectivity, Communication, Community, Customization, Convenience) are fine as a framework, but honestly? Most solopreneurs just need: clear content, basic credibility markers, and easy communication. Start there.
The platform doesn't matter as much as you think. Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, custom—they all work. What matters is that you actually launch something, get it in front of real people, and iterate based on what works.
Stop researching. Stop comparing. Pick a platform that fits your budget and skill level, build those four essential pages, and ship it. You can always improve it later. But you can't get clients from a website that doesn't exist yet.
Need help figuring out the right approach for your specific situation? We work with solopreneurs to build fast, effective websites that actually convert visitors into clients—without the overwhelm or unnecessary complexity.