<aside> ☎️ Hey im Lauren im a designer, I have tried so many websites and paid for so many subscriptions because I didnt know what website host would be best for me. So I wanted to provide a free guide for other to know what website host they should use first. Its a lot easier to choose a website hosting if you know what its best for.

note some of these links contain affiliate links*

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Brainstorm your website ideas

The first goal is figuring out the goal of your website. What are you trying to use your website for? ex: blog, book appointments, purchase orders.

[ ] Blog
[ ] Portfolio
[ ] Portfolio
[ ] Book appointments
[ ] Drop Shipping
[ ] Build a community
[ ] E-commerce Shop
[ ] Print on Demand (POD)
[ ] Promote Service(s)/ product

<aside> 🖤 Write your reason here just to brainstorm:

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Next stop is to look at your skills on how you are actually going to make the website. Are you thinking about hiring a designer, or perhaps you want to make it yourself or even you are designer! Whoever is going to create it, its important to know so that you can determine which website host is best for you.
The cost and how much your willing to pay for a site is also important to you. When trying to figure out where to host your site its important to know how much you are willing to invest into making a good website. Do you want to pay monthly? All of these factor into it. Many sites have different plans determining what type of site you are trying to create this is why its important to know what are you using your website for.
After you have its time to get started! Make sure you have yourself organized weather typing all the text that you want to on your site, or having the images that you want in your folder. If your working with a designer its makes it easier when your organized because it makes it easier for us to place anything

Pro Tip: Another good idea to consider is templates! When you purchase a website template you can buy a premade website. From Etsy, Gumroad or use a template from a particular hosting site, when you purchase the template either you or a designer can add in the text and images and you you can make whatever you want!

☎️ Need a designer? I can help you.

If you are looking for a designer you can contact me on my website: HERE

Hosting sites

Below im going to give a list and description of sites that you can host your website on, these are not all of them but these are my personal favorites, these are ones that I have used or some that I have tried. Im going to be rating these from price, design, ease of use and give reasons on what these sites are best for.

Ease of use: ⭐️ 1 Star being hard/ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5 Stars being easy

Price: ⭐️ 1 Star being cheap /⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5 Stars being pricy

Design: ⭐️ 1 Star being bad design templates /⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5 Stars being great design templates

<aside> ✨ *Squarespace one of my favorites Link: https://squarespacecircleus.pxf.io/Qynb7a Ease of use: ⭐️ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Design: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: E-commerce, promoting services or products, blogs, booking appointments, places orders I personally use this and noticed that this is great for people trying to create both shops and portfolios also good for appointments baed off of the plan you use.

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<aside> ✨ *Shopify one of my favorites

Link: https://shopify.pxf.io/R5bZLv Ease of use: ⭐️⭐️ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: E-commerce, promoting services or products, Portfolio, Blogs Great for people who want to host stores, brands, or places to make orders. You can still create blogs but its more for e-commerce. Its also good for

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<aside> ✨ Wix Link: https://www.wix.com/ Ease of use:⭐️⭐️ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️ Best for: Portfolio, Blogs, booking appointments I think its good for simple blogs or portfolios but always check your sites when it comes to how it looks in mobile and desktop.

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<aside> ✨ Wordpress Link: https://wordpress.com/ Ease of use: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: Blogs, promoting services, e-commerce You can use plugins to add an e-commerce section, its great for blogs and connecting domains for a personal website.

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<aside> ✨ Showit Link Ease of use: ⭐️ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: Promoting services, blogs Great for small businesses trying to promote services or products or even great to use templates from.

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<aside> ✨ Webflow Link: https://webflow.grsm.io/lauren-lodesigns-studio Ease of use: ⭐️ Price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: Portfolio, Creating a blog, CMS features Its great for making portfolios and blogs, Great for web developers to make sites. They also have webflow university that teaches you how to use it.

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<aside> ✨ Cargo
Link: https://cargo.site/ Ease of use: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Price:⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: Portfolio, Artists Great for hosting a portfolio cool and fun templates that embrace creativity, also great for e-commerce and brand collectives.

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<aside> ✨ Adobe Portfolio Link: https://portfolio.adobe.com/ Ease of use: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Price: ⭐️ Design:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best for: Portfolios Hosting portfolios is the best platform, I think you have to have an adobe subscription to have one but if you use this but its a great place to host a portfolio.

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