Is a one-pager website right for you?

Running your own side hustle through Etsy or TikTok? Making money through third-party marketplaces like social-media? Got a YouTube channel with a following that keeps growing?

Strengthen your brand, don't change it

Making money through websites like Etsy is awesome, but the reality is you’re still at the mercy of another platform's rules.

We’re not here to suggest changing how you sell your goods. We’re suggesting you consider building on top of what you already have to make your brand even stronger in the long run.

Running your own small one-pager website with your own domain gives you something that you can fully own and control.

What is a one-pager website?

Not every website needs to be filled with menus, blogs, and product pages. A single-page website, often known as a one-page website or a one-pager, is a website with (you guessed it) only one page.

It’s like having all the most important information about you or your business wrapped up on one fancy print out. You don't always need to write a whole book about everything. There’s no need for a second page because you can cover the most important elements on the home page.

One-pagers are perfect if you're just starting out or are new to building websites. And for people who’re doing business on other platforms already, a one-pager will more than likely be enough.

Your digital insurance policy

Platforms come and go. Their rules, preferences, and policies can change overnight (and often do). One algorithm update or account flag could dry up your income overnight.

A change like that would still be a massive shakeup to your business, but if you're running your own website on the side it wouldn’t have to completely wipe you out. Your audience and followers would still be able to find you by Google searching your name. When they land on your website you can provide updates of what's happened.

You can treat a one-pager website as an insurance policy; the cost of not having one when something goes pear-shaped could be massive. You want a backup place to direct your followers that you can guarantee will always be there.

A trust-building exercise

Part of the appeal of Etsy and TikTok is that anyone anywhere in the world can sell and share their crafts and talents.

It also means imposters can make accounts that intentionally try to imitate yours. Sure, platforms sometimes have features like account verification badges, but these are usually reserved for really popular accounts (for example, Youtube only verifies accounts with over 100,000 subscribers). It helps to have something to point at to prove your authenticity beyond any doubt.

One way to build credibility amongst a sea of accounts is to have a small website with your branding verifying your identity. We’re not talking about making huge complicated websites. A simple, clean, professional one-page website with a relevant domain signals credibility that other platforms can’t replicate.

Control your image

On TikTok and Etsy, your content is displayed to users by the platform in the way that the platform likes, rather than you way you'd necessarily want. You appear right alongside your competitors, and are only shown to customers when an invisible algorithm decides to highlight you.

A one-pager website lets you highlight your brand exactly as you see fit. You can present a clean and focused message, completely curated by your own vision.

How do I make a one-page website?

Since your third-party account will still be your main source of traffic and income, you won’t want to be spending too much money or energy on a side project like a website.

Thankfully, modern technology and web dev tools make one-pager websites really easy to set up.

MyHost has a Website Builder that’s designed for users wanting to build sites quickly without any code. One-pager websites are the exact kind of project that Website Builder makes super easy.

If you need some reassurance, we gave one of our least technical team members two hours to build an example website using Website Builder. You can read through her process, but the TLDR of it is: it was way easier than she expected.

If you’ve been putting off building a website because it seems too technical, with Website Builder you can do it. It's as simple as dragging, dropping and tweaking until you've designed something that looks great.

Got the domain?

Every website needs a domain name. Because this is one of the best ways to prove your authenticity, you’ll ideally be grabbing a domain that resembles your creator name as closely as possible.

For the top-level domain (the bit at the end of the domain name, like .com or .com.au), you’ll have to decide if your market is more local or global. If you’re an Etsy retailer based in Sydney selling crafts to customers all over the world, then you’ll probably want a .com domain. On the other hand, if you’re based in Melbourne and mainly selling to people within Australia, then it’s probably wise to go for a .com.au domain.

Check out our domains page to see if your ideal domain is still available.

Room to keep growing

There are plenty of other services that help you create one-pager websites. One of the perks of using MyHost’s Website Builder is the room to keep growing if your site becomes a point of attention. Perhaps your business ambitions grow and you want to start selling products directly from your website.

Some other popular platforms make getting your first page up cheap, but don’t offer any path to keep expanding (or if they do, they’ll charge you through the roof). Website Builder keeps costs and time investment low, while also leaving the door open to expand your website for a bigger purpose if you later decide to. You won’t have to pay more to add features like ecommerce or newsletter sign-ups—they’ll be waiting for you there if the time comes.

When to try something else?

If you’ve landed here and already have a bit of experience making websites, or you’re pretty confident behind a computer, then you may want to consider looking at our Web Hosting plans. These plans make it easy to get a WordPress website up and running. It’s the next step up in scope from Website Builder sites, but does take a bit more manual setup. For most one-pager sites it’s probably easier to just use Website Builder and get something up and running quickly.

Take control

A one-pager website is a low-cost way to legitimise your digital identity that you can build without spending much time on it at all. It doesn’t have to be a big ordeal, and can be set up and good to go in just a couple of hours.

If you’ve been putting off making a website because it seems like too much technical work, then a one-page Website Builder is a good place to start. Making a great looking one-page website with Website Builder is something anyone can do.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash