How to start a website: from an AI-assisted idea to a live business

AI has made it quick to build a website. It hasn’t made it any easier to decide what the business is for, who it’s for, or what you need to put in place before someone gives you money. Those are the parts people skip, and they’re the parts that cost the most to fix later.

So this is the order I’d do things in, for a small budget. My view: spend your first week thinking, your first £10 ($13) on a domain, and nothing else until a real customer needs it. Payments, a company and a database all matter, but each one can wait until the moment it’s needed.

Why have a website at all?

Fair question, because plenty of businesses start with just an Instagram page or a WhatsApp number. That’s fine for testing an idea. The trouble starts when you want strangers to find you, trust you and pay you.

My opinion: a website is the one online asset you actually own, so it’s worth having as soon as you want customers you don’t already know. Social media then becomes a way of sending people to it, instead of the only place you exist.

The path in six steps

Step 1: A name, and who it’s for

Before you buy anything, write one sentence: “I help [who] to [do what].” A barber in Leeds who wants fewer missed appointments and a florist in Austin who wants Valentine’s Day orders online are two very different websites, even if both are “a booking page”.

Then choose a name that’s short, easy to say over the phone and easy to spell. Check it three ways before you fall in love with it: is the domain free, is the name already taken as a company (Companies House in the UK, your state’s business register in the US), and does another business already trade under something similar?

Use AI as a sparring partner, not a market researcher

An AI audit is a quick way to find the holes in an idea: who the competitors are, what you’d charge, what could go wrong. I’d use it for exactly that. What I wouldn’t do is treat its numbers as research. It can sound sure about a market size it has no source for.

Then do the one thing AI can’t: talk to five real people who fit your audience. If three of them say they’d pay, you have something. If none do, you’ve saved yourself a lot of money.

Which AI subscription is worth paying for?

The three big ones, Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini, all have a free tier and a paid plan at around $20 a month. For a small business that’s enough. The expensive tiers ($100 and up) are for heavy daily use, and you can add one later if you hit the limits.

My opinion: pay for one, not three. I’d lean towards Claude for planning a business and building a site, but the gap between the three is small and changes every few months. Use the free tiers for a week, see which one answers in the way you like, and pay for that one. Unused subscriptions are the easiest money to waste.

Step 2: Buy a domain (it’s your address)

A domain name is your address on the internet, like yourname.com. Without one, people have to type a long address supplied by your host, and you can’t have email like you@yourname.com. You rent it by the year, usually for £6 to £15 ($8 to $20) depending on the ending, from a company called a registrar.

Which ending? I’d choose .com if you want customers worldwide or in the US, and .co.uk if you’re local to the UK. Either is fine. Buy the one that matches where your customers are, and turn on auto-renew so it doesn’t lapse.

A domain on its own does nothing. To make it show a website, you point it at a web server (also called hosting), which is a computer that is always on and sends your pages to visitors. You do that by adding a record in your domain’s DNS settings, and your host tells you exactly what to enter.

Step 3: Set up a business inbox, and where your forms go

Once you own a domain, set up email on it. An address like hello@yourname.com looks far more trustworthy than a Gmail address, and customers are more likely to reply to it. You need this before the website goes live, because your contact form will send its messages here.

There are two sensible choices. Google Workspace (Gmail on your own domain) starts at $7 a user a month on an annual plan, or $8.40 monthly. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is $7 a user a month in the US and about £5.75 plus VAT in the UK. For a solo business I’d pick whichever you already use day to day. Prices for both were rising during 2026, so check them.

You don’t need a paid seat for every address. Extra addresses such as hello@ or bookings@ can usually be set up as free aliases that land in your one inbox. Check your provider’s settings before you pay for more users.

How the contact form reaches you

When someone fills in a form on your site, your site sends you an email. Use an email-sending service such as Resend (free for 3,000 emails a month) rather than your own mailbox, and add the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records it gives you to your domain’s DNS. That proves the messages come from you, so they land in your inbox and not in spam. I explain this in what your app actually needs.

A form collects personal information such as names and email addresses, so you’ll need a privacy policy that says what you do with it. UK businesses should also check the ICO data protection fee, and US businesses should check state laws such as California’s CCPA.

Step 4: Put a first version live

If you’re short of money, this is where I’d stop for now: a domain, an inbox and free hosting get a professional-looking site online for very little. The step-by-step is in how to connect a Claude Artifact to the web.

Step 5: Taking payments with Stripe

If your site takes money, use a payment provider like Stripe and send customers to its hosted checkout. Card details never touch your own site, which removes most of the risk and paperwork. Stripe charges per payment rather than a monthly fee: 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards, and about 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards, so check its pricing page for your country.

Here’s where I’d push back on a common assumption. You don’t have to form a company before you can use Stripe. It lets individuals and sole proprietors sign up, using your own name and a bank account. A company is something you choose for tax and legal reasons, not something Stripe forces on you on day one.

My opinion: start as a sole trader or sole proprietor while you test the idea, and move to a limited company or LLC once money is coming in regularly or the work carries real risk, such as injury, data or contracts with bigger clients. In the UK, you generally need to tell HMRC once your self-employed income passes £1,000 in a tax year. Check the exact rule on GOV.UK.

Do you need an accountant?

Yes, I’d get one early, and yes, it costs money. Tax, VAT (UK) or sales tax (US), and the choice between a sole trader and a company all depend on your situation. A good accountant pays for themselves by telling you what you can claim and what you must register for.

Online accountants for a sole trader typically run from about £25 to £100 ($30 to $130) a month, and for a small limited company about £40 to £250 ($50 to $320) a month. Those are indicative figures from accountants’ own sites, so get two or three fixed quotes.

Step 6: A database, once it’s live

Once the site is live, ask one question: does it need to remember anything? If people create accounts, book appointments or send you information you need to keep, you need a database to store it, and a login system to keep each person’s information private.

If it doesn’t, leave both out. A simple brochure site doesn’t need either, and every extra service is something you pay for, secure and keep updated. For most projects I’d use a hosted PostgreSQL database such as Supabase, which has a free plan and a paid plan from $25 (about £20) a month. Use an established login service rather than building your own.

Collecting personal information brings legal duties. In the UK you may need to register with the ICO and pay a data protection fee, and in the US, state laws such as California’s CCPA can apply. You’ll also need a privacy policy. The detail is in what your app actually needs and the pre-launch checklist.

What it costs, in pounds and dollars

Prices were checked in November 2026 and the exchange rate is rounded, so confirm on each company’s page before you pay.

So the bare minimum to get a credible site live is the price of a domain. An AI plan and a business inbox are the next sensible spends, and everything else is added as the business earns.

Your next steps

1. Write your one-sentence pitch and run the audit prompt.
2. Speak to five people in your audience.
3. Check the name: domain, company register and social handles.
4. Buy the domain and set up your business inbox.
5. Put a first version live and test the contact form.
6. Add Stripe when you’re ready to sell. Talk to an accountant before your first sale.
7. Add a database and login only when the site needs to remember people.
8. Then get found and start selling. That’s part two: social media, ads, bookings and shops.

If you’d rather have someone take this off your hands, that’s what I do. Tell me what you’re starting and I’ll tell you what I’d build, what I’d leave out and what it costs. See my services, or get in touch for a free 20-minute call.