This is the practical version. No options, no comparisons — one path from nothing to a live page, in the order you'd actually do it.

Step 1: Write it down on paper

Before you open any website tool, write these on a sheet of paper. This is the whole content of your site:

• Business name — the one customers use.
• What you do — one sentence, plain words.
• Towns you serve — a list.
• Phone number — and whether you take texts.
• Hours — and what happens when someone calls during a job.
• Pricing basics — free estimates? minimum charge? flat rate?
• One proof point — insured, licensed, 12 years, whatever is true.
• Email address — if you want one shown.

Do this away from the computer. Tools make it easy to start rearranging boxes instead of deciding what to say, and the deciding is the hard part.

Step 2: Decide on an address

Two choices, and both are fine:

An address you don't own — like fastpages.online/daves-plowing, or a free builder's davesplowing.wixsite.com/home. Costs nothing, works immediately, looks slightly less established. Perfectly adequate for a first site, and much better than no site.

Your own domain — davesplowing.com. About $10–$20 a year. Worth it if you'll print it on a truck or a sign, because a domain you own can move with you. See how to buy a domain name.

If you're unsure, start with the free address. You can add a domain later and keep the page — that's a normal thing to do.

Step 3: Pick the tool and stop shopping

Set a rule for yourself: fifteen minutes to choose. Any of these will produce a perfectly good page.

• Free, form-based: you answer questions and the page is built. Fastest route, least control.
• Builder, $10–$30/month: Squarespace, Wix or similar. You pick a template and type over it.
• WordPress: only if you want to run software. More work than the other two.

The comparison shopping is where weeks disappear. The differences between these tools matter far less than whether your page says what you do.

Step 4: Fill it in

Order of importance, in case you run out of patience:

1. Name and the one-sentence description.
2. Phone number, big, tapping to dial.
3. Towns.
4. Hours and call-back expectations.
5. Pricing basics.
6. Photos.

Photos: use your phone, take them in daylight, avoid the sun behind the truck. Three is plenty. Don't wait for a professional shoot — you can swap them later in five minutes.

Step 5: Publish, and check it like a stranger

Publish. Then:

• Open the link on your phone, on cellular data, not your home wifi.
• Open it in a private/incognito window, so you're not logged in as the owner.
• Tap the phone number — does it start a call?
• Read the first screen out loud. Does it say what you do?
• Send the link to one person and ask: "what do I do, and where?"

If those pass, you're done. Don't keep fiddling with the layout.

Step 6: Put the link everywhere

A website nobody has the address for is a business card in a drawer. Put it on:

• Your Google Business Profile — the single highest-value place (see what a Google Business Profile is).
• Your business cards, the truck, the invoice.
• Your Facebook page, if you have one.
• Your email signature, if you have one.

What to do after it's live

Almost nothing. Check it once a season: are the hours right, is the phone number right, are the photos still yours? Change them when they change.

Resist the urge to redesign. The second-best website in the world is one that's accurate and boring. The worst is one that's half-finished because someone kept starting over.

If you want a business email address too, that's a separate, simpler job: how to create a business email address.