Build your own small-business website in an evening.

A short, free playbook for replacing your $20–$45/mo Squarespace, Wix, or GoDaddy subscription with a real, professional site you own outright. Plan on about 90 minutes the first time. Total cost: $0 (or ~$12/year for your own domain).

What you actually get

Build your own

Real Google Analytics on every page
Unlimited pages, no per-page fees
Any layout, any features, no template lock-in
Lives on your own domain (real SEO compounds)
$0–$5/mo to host
Edit any sentence in 60 seconds via Cursor

Squarespace / Wix / GoDaddy

Their analytics dashboard, missing key data
Templates only — same look as everyone else
"Premium" features locked behind higher tiers
$240–$540/year, every year
Stop paying = site disappears; migration is hard
Every change goes through their slow builder UI

What you'll need

A laptop (Mac, Windows, or Linux)
Your business name, address, phone, hours, and a one-sentence pitch
2–5 photos of your business, work, or yourself
A short list of services you offer
About 90 minutes

The 7 steps

Install Cursor (free)

~3 minutes

Cursor is a free code editor with AI built in. Download it from cursor.com, install it like any other app, and sign in with email or Google. The free tier is plenty for this guide.

Make a free GitHub account

~3 minutes

GitHub is where your site's source code will live. Sign up at github.com/signup. Pick any username. Free tier is fine.

Make a free Netlify account

~2 minutes

Netlify is what makes your site actually live on the internet. Sign up at app.netlify.com/signup — click Sign up with GitHub so the two are linked. Free tier hosts your site forever, no credit card needed.

Open Cursor and create a project folder

~2 minutes

In Cursor, go to File → Open Folder, create a new folder on your Desktop named after your business (e.g. parker-welding), and open it. Open the chat panel (⌘ L on Mac, Ctrl L on Windows).

Paste this prompt into Cursor's chat

~10 minutes (Cursor builds while you watch)

Copy the prompt below into Cursor's chat, fill in your business info where indicated, and hit enter. Click Accept on each change Cursor proposes.

Please build me a small-business website in this folder. Business details: - Name: [YOUR BUSINESS NAME] - Type: [WHAT YOU DO — e.g. "welding & fabrication", "neighborhood cafe", "auto repair"] - City: [YOUR CITY] - Tagline (one sentence): [YOUR TAGLINE] - Phone: [YOUR PHONE] - Address: [YOUR ADDRESS] - Hours: [YOUR HOURS] Use plain HTML, CSS, and a tiny bit of JavaScript — no frameworks, no build step. Use Tailwind CSS via the CDN for styling. Build 5 pages, all linked from a shared sticky top nav and shared footer: 1. index.html (Home) — hero with the business name, tagline, and a Contact CTA. Three highlight tiles for the top services. A short "About in 60 seconds" block. 2. about.html — the story of the business, who runs it, why it exists. Use placeholder copy I can edit. 3. services.html — a list of 3 services with a sentence each. Use placeholder copy I can edit. 4. contact.html — a contact form using Formspree. Use action="https://formspree.io/f/PASTE_FORMSPREE_ID_HERE" so I can swap in my real endpoint. Show the phone, address, and hours next to the form. 5. reviews.html — a 3-card placeholder grid I can fill in later with real Google reviews. Each page should have: - A consistent footer with hours, address, phone, and a copyright line - A favicon.ico - Real meta titles and meta descriptions for SEO - Mobile-first responsive layout - A warm, professional palette (warm neutrals + a single accent color) Save with sensible filenames (index.html, about.html, services.html, contact.html, reviews.html). Add a README.md that explains how to deploy on Netlify and how to swap the Formspree placeholder.

Push to GitHub and deploy on Netlify

~5 minutes

Ask Cursor: "Please initialize a git repo, create a new GitHub repository for this site, and push the code." It'll walk you through every step. Then on Netlify, click Add new site → Import an existing project → Deploy with GitHub, pick your repo, click Deploy. Your site is live in about 60 seconds at your-business.netlify.app.

(Optional) Hook up your own domain

~10 minutes — only if you want one

Buy a domain at Namecheap or Cloudflare for ~$12/year. In Netlify, go to Domain management → Add a domain you already own and follow the prompts. Netlify handles SSL automatically. Your site is now at yourbusiness.com.

Editing it later

Open Cursor, open your business folder, and ask in chat:

"Update the hours on the contact page to add Saturday 10–2"
"Add a fourth service tile on the home page for emergency callouts"
"Swap the hero photo for img/new-photo.jpg"
"Add a new page for testimonials and link it from the nav"

Accept the changes, then ask Cursor: "Please commit and push these changes to GitHub." Netlify will redeploy automatically in about 30 seconds. That's the entire workflow — forever.

Want help instead of doing it yourself?

Start with a free 30-min conversation.

A website is one piece of a bigger picture. Book a free 30-minute call — no obligation — and we'll figure out what your online presence should actually look like. From there, the two paid options are a $3,500 7-Day Online Liftoff (full small-business site, 30-day money-back guarantee), or a $5,000 30-Day Owner Bootcamp (everything in the Liftoff plus 30 days of one-on-one training so you can run, update, and grow the site yourself).

Book a free call: cal.com/cohoonconsulting/cohoon-consulting-call

Or email tyler@cohoonconsulting.com.