How to Create a Website

Congrats! You've created your Website.com account and you're ready to build your website.

Our website builder is designed so that you can get your website online in 3 simple steps:

1. Choose a template

2. Customize your content

3. Publish your website

• 1 Choosing a Template

  As the saying goes, "the first step is always the hardest" and it's no different when building a website. We've created over 500 website templates to help you get past this hurdle.

  You do have the option of building your website from scratch, but we don't recommend it unless you're experienced with web design.

  To choose a website template for your website:

  1. Log into Website.com and click Edit Site. This will take you into the Website Builder.

  2. Click Site in the top toolbar, and click Reset Template.

  3. You can browse through the library of templates. When you've decided on a template, point your mouse cursor over it and click Select.

  4. Click OK and then Continue to confirm your selection.

  

  
• 2 Tips on Choosing a Template

  Our templates are fully customizable, meaning you can change everything including the content, styling, and layout.

  When you're choosing a template, focus on choosing a layout that you like rather than the images or colors.

  When you have a layout that you like, all you have to do is replace the dummy text with your custom content.

The website builder is where you will be creating and editing your website.

The main area -- or the canvas -- is the working area of your website. This is where you can move your page elements around, edit your text, and make any changes you like to your web page. The toolbar is at the top of the page. Page design features and app page management are to the left.

• 1 Toolbar

  You can find these functions in your toolbar.

  Undo & Redo

  You can use these functions to undo or redo any of the changes that you're making to your canvas. Changing pages or ending your session will reset undo and redo, so make sure you're satisfied with what you have before you navigate away.

  
  Copy & Paste

  This function lets you copy and paste elements between pages on your website. To copy and paste elements:

  1. Select the element you wish to copy by clicking it. If you want to copy multiple elements, you can select them by holding the CTRL key on your keyboard.

  2. Copy the selected elements by clicking the Copy Icon, or by pressing CTRL + C on your keyboard.

  3. Paste the elements by clicking the Paste Icon, or by pressing CTRL + P on your keyboard.

  
  Delete

  This function will delete the selected elements from your canvas. Just select what you want to remove and click the delete icon.

  
  
  
  Change Layer Order

  This will show you which elements are stacked on top of or beneath the selected element. The crosshair icon indicates the element that is currently selected. You can drag the currently selected element up and down the list to change how it's layered with relation to the other elements in the stack.

  
• 2 Design Functions

  All of the website design functions are located to the left.

  Add

  Use this to add various elements like text, images, etc to your website. Just click the element type to see a list of preset styles, and then drag the style you want onto the canvas. When you drag the new element onto the canvas below another element, you'll notice a green line appear. The green line indicates that when you drop the element, the elements below the green line will move down to create space for the new element. If you would rather have the element overlap with another element, be sure to drop the element on another element when you do not see a green line appear.

  

  Here are some step-by-step instructions on how to add some of the most popular elements:

  Adding and Editing Text

  Adding Video

  Adding and Editing Forms

  Using Custom Code

  Adding Images

  Adding and Editing Buttons

  Adding Social Widgets

  
  Design

  This is where you can change the overall color palette and font styles for your website.

  Color Palettes

  The colors for your website elements are linked to a color palette by default. You can drastically change the look and feel of your website by changing to a different color palette.

  Font Styles

  Like color schemes, the fonts for your text elements are linked to a font style by default. Any changes you make here will be applied to all text that is linked to that font style.

  
  File Manager

  This is where you can manage the image, audio, video and other document files that you've uploaded.

  
  Saving Your Work

  The website builder will automatically save your work so you don't need to worry. To see the Site History of saved versions of your website, you can go to Site > Site History.

  

The page management function in the website builder gives you pretty much complete control over your pages. Not only does it let you add and remove pages, it also allows you to rearrange your site menu and set up your meta tags.

You can access the page management function by clicking on the page name drop-down menu in the toolbar.

• 1 Pages
  Add new web pages

  You can add additional web pages to your website by clicking Add Page.

  Learn more about adding pages

  
  Navigate to a different page

  You can jump to a different web page and work on it by clicking on the page name from the list.

  Delete pages

  You can delete unwanted pages by hovering on the page name and clicking the Garbage Icon that appears on the right of the page name. Deleting the page will also remove it from the site menu.

• 2 Website Menu

  You can edit your website menu by opening the Pages dropdown, and then clicking the Edit Site Menu button.

  
  Rearrange your site menu

  To rearrange the order of the site menu items, click and drag on the dotted rectangle to the left of the link name.

  Set a page as a subpage

  You can set a page as a subpage of another page by clicking and dragging on the dotted rectangle below that page and to the right.

  
  Change Site Menu Page Links

  To edit the name of the web page link in the site menu, click Edit Site Menu and change the Link Name in the Link Name field.

  
  Remove menu links

  You can remove unwanted links from the site menu by hovering on the link name and clicking the X Icon that appears on the right of the page name. Removing the site menu link will not remove the page, but will simply remove it from the menu. The web page will still be active and visitors can still access the page by going to its URL.

  
• 3 Page Settings and Properties

  In the Pages dropdown, you can edit your page settings. If you are editing the Site Menu, you can manage site pages by clicking the Edit Site Pages button.

  The page settings and properties is found by clicking the gear icon that's to the right of the page name.

  The settings are split into five categories: Info, Layouts, Permissions, SEO, and Custom Code.

  
  Info

  Language

  You can set your page language in this dropdown.

  Page Name

  You can change the name for your page here. This page name will be used to reference this page in the website builder. Note that changing your page name will not automatically change the name of the page link that appears on your site menu. To edit the page name that appears on your website menu, click the Edit Site Menu button, and change the link name for that page.

  

  

  URL Address

  This is the URL or web address for the web page. By default, this will be set to your page name in lowercase, with any spaces being replaced by dashes.

  Make This Your Homepage

  Selecting this will set this web page as the homepage for your website -- that is, the default page your visitors will land on when they go to your domain name. A website can only have one homepage.

  Enable Page

  If Enable Page is unselected, your page will be disabled and will become unreachable by the public.

  
  
  Layouts

  Standard Web Page Layout

  The standard layout has a header at the top and a footer at the bottom.

  No Header and Footer Layout

  You can hide the header and footer from your entire website with this option.

  
  Permissions

  All Visitors

  Selecting All Visitors will allow anyone to access your published web page.

  Password Holders

  Selecting Password Holders will restrict public access to this web page. You can enter a password for your web page, and only site visitors with the password will be able to view your web page.

  

  All Members

  Selecting All Members will restrict access to this page to all Site Members and Store Customer Members. Only members will be able to view your web page when they log in. You can add and manage Members on the left.

  Selected Member Groups

  Choosing Selected Member Groups will restrict page access to selected Site Members and Store Customer Members, based on your Member Groups. Only selected member groups will be able to view your web page when they log in. You can add and manage Member Groups under Members on the left.

  Selected Members

  Choosing Selected Member will restrict page access to a single Member.

  SEO

  Page Title, Description, Keywords

  These are meta tags that are used by search engines.

  Learn more about meta tags and SEO

  
  Custom Code

  Header and Body Code

  If you're using any 3rd party scripts or conversion tracking services (like Google Analytics or Google Adwords) and you need to add custom code to your page, you can do it here.