Hi, I'm Geeky! Let's get your website online, and I'll explain everything in plain English.
Free, plain-English help for your own website
A website on your own name needs three things: a domain name, a place to keep your site's files, and a host that shows it to the world. They're three different companies, and they all need to be connected. Geeky explains what each one does, helps you pick them, and walks you through linking them together, step by step.
Meet Sam. Sam has a brilliant business idea: fancy dog biscuits.
There are two ways to make a website. This site is about the second one.
An all-in-one service: you drag and drop your pages in their editor, and they host it for you. Easy, but usually $15–40 a month, and your site lives inside their system, so moving it later means rebuilding it. They each have their own steps for connecting your domain, so follow theirs. Our domain name and registrar advice still applies.
Your site's files are yours, kept on GitHub, and a host shows them to the world, often for free. You or a web designer makes the pages (or an AI helper like Claude). It's a little more to set up, and that's exactly what Geeky walks you through here.
Not sure which you have? If you edit your site by logging in to Squarespace, Wix or Shopify, it's a website builder. If someone gave you a folder of files, or your site is "on GitHub", it's a custom site.
The big picture
Prices are typical. We'll explain each part, then show you how to make both connections.
How it works
Start with picking a name. It's the part you'll live with longest.
Getting started
Do these in order. Each one takes about ten minutes, and you can stop between them.
Step 1
Your domain name is the part you'll live with longest. It goes on your cards, your van, your email address and every link anyone ever shares. A website can be redone in a weekend; a name is much harder to change. So it's worth ten minutes now.
Most good names come from one of these. Write down five or six ideas before you fall in love with one.
The obvious choice, and usually the best. People who know your name can guess your website.
Great for local businesses. Easy to remember and tells people what you do before they click.
Good for freelancers, artists and anyone whose work is personal. It moves with you if your business changes.
Memorable and easy to trademark, but you'll have to teach people how to spell it.
A new name means new cards, signs, email addresses and links, and you lose the place you've earned in Google. Pick something you can grow into.
bobsbikerepairs.com is awkward once you also sell scooters, and leedsbakery.com is awkward when you open in York.
If another business has trademarked the name, they can make you give it up. Search the UK or US trademark register before you buy.
Register it with your own name and an email address you'll always have. If a web designer registers it for you, they legally hold it, which causes trouble if you part ways.
You rent a domain a year at a time. Turn on auto-renew. If it expires, someone else can grab it, often to sell it back to you.
Cheap first-year deals often renew at double the price or more. Check the renewal price before you pay. More on this below.
Type a name and I'll check the common endings for you.
This is a quick guide: it checks public records from your browser, and nothing is sent to us. A name that shows as free almost always is, but the registrar has the final word on availability and price. Want more ideas? Most registrars suggest similar names when you search.
Taken doesn't always mean gone. Someone may be willing to sell it.
Step 2
A registrar is the company you buy (strictly, rent) your domain name from and renew it with every year. They all sell the same names; the differences are price, add-ons and how easy they are to use.
Cloudflare if you're comfortable with a slightly technical-looking dashboard: it charges what the name costs it, with no mark-up on renewals. Namecheap if you'd rather have the friendliest screens. Either is a good choice.
| Registrar | A .com, first year | A .com, renewal | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | About $10–11 | About $10–11 | Sells at cost with no upsells, and privacy is free. You must use Cloudflare's own DNS settings, and it doesn't sell every ending. |
| Namecheap | About $7–12 | About $15–19 | Friendly and popular with beginners. Free privacy. Watch the renewal price and the offers at checkout. |
| Porkbun | About $10–12 | About $11–12 | Low, steady prices and free privacy. Smaller, but well liked. |
| GoDaddy | Often a low deal | About $22–25 | The best-known name and easy to use, but the dearest to renew, with lots of extras offered at checkout. |
| Squarespace | About $20 | About $20 | Took over Google Domains. Simple and includes privacy. Handy if your website is on Squarespace too. |
Prices are rough guides for a .com in US dollars and change often. Country endings like .co.uk are usually cheaper. Always check the renewal price at checkout.
You'll pay the renewal price every year for as long as you keep the name. A $1 first year that renews at $25 costs far more than a steady $11.
Hides your name, address and phone from the public lookup of who owns a domain. It should be free. Don't pay extra for it.
The screen where you'll later point your domain at your host. Some registrars make this much clearer than others. We have guides for each one.
You can move a name to another registrar: unlock it, ask for a transfer code, and give that code to the new one. You can't move a name in its first 60 days, and the move usually includes a year's renewal.
Email (get it from Google or Microsoft, see EmailSetupGeek.com), website builders, SEO tools, "premium DNS" and SSL certificates. You don't need any of them for this.
Some hosts sell domains too. It's convenient, but keeping your domain with a separate registrar makes it easier to change hosts later.
Step 3
GitHub is a free website for keeping files, made for code but perfect for a website's pages. Think of it as a stockroom with a perfect memory: it holds your site's files and remembers every version, so if a change goes wrong you can put it back. Your host fetches your site from here.
Where one website's files live. One website, one repository.
A saved change, with a short note saying what changed. GitHub keeps every commit, so nothing is ever lost.
Public means anyone can see the files. That's fine for a website, which is public anyway. Never put passwords in it.
website.index.html.Step 4
A web host is the building at your address: it's the computer that's always on and shows your website to anyone who visits. The hosts below all fetch your site straight from GitHub, so when you change a file there, your website updates by itself a minute later. For a simple site, they're free.
| GitHub Pages | Netlify | Vercel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free plan with monthly limits; paid plans for bigger sites | Free for personal use; about $20 a month for business use |
| Business sites | Yes | Yes | Paid plan only |
| Extra sign-up | None | Sign in with GitHub | Sign in with GitHub |
| Your own domain | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free padlock (HTTPS) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Contact forms | No, you'd add a form service | Yes, built in | No, you'd add a form service |
| Best for | Simple sites, portfolios, small businesses | Small business sites that want forms and extras | Sites built with modern coding tools, like Next.js |
All three can only show "static" sites, meaning pages that are the same for every visitor. That covers almost every small business site. Online shops usually use a shop platform such as Shopify instead. Check each host's current plans before you commit.
Next, see how they fit together, then connect them.
How it connects
Your website depends on a few companies that each do one small job. Once you see who does what, the setup stops being mysterious. Think of it like a shop: you need an address, a building at that address, and a stockroom where everything is kept.
Your registrar, your host and GitHub are three separate companies. Two connections tie them together: GitHub to your host, so your host always has your latest files, and your domain's DNS settings to your host, so visitors who type your name end up there. The green boxes are the parts this site covers. Email is optional, and Geeky sets it up for you at EmailSetupGeek.com.
The name people type, like mybusiness.com. You don't own it outright; you rent it a year at a time.
The company you rent your domain from, such as Namecheap, GoDaddy or Cloudflare.
A short list of settings for your domain that tells the internet where to find your website and where to deliver your email. Usually managed at your registrar.
A DNS setting that points your bare domain (mybusiness.com) to your host, using a number called an IP address.
A DNS setting that points a name like www.mybusiness.com at another name, such as your host's address for your site.
The company whose computers show your website to visitors, such as GitHub Pages, Netlify or Vercel.
Where your website's files are kept. It remembers every version, so you can always go back.
Where one website's files live on GitHub.
One saved change to your files. Your host notices each commit and updates your site.
When your host takes your latest files from GitHub and puts them live. Usually takes about a minute.
Means the connection to your site is private. All three hosts give it to you free once your domain is connected.
After a DNS change, it takes a little while for the whole internet to notice. Usually within an hour, occasionally up to two days.
Typical prices, so you know what to expect. Always check the provider's current price.
| What | Who you pay | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name (.com) | Your registrar, e.g. Namecheap, Cloudflare or GoDaddy | About $10–25 a year |
| DNS settings | Usually included with your domain | Free |
| Keeping your files | GitHub | Free |
| Web hosting | GitHub Pages | Free |
| Web hosting | Netlify | Free plan; paid plans for bigger sites |
| Web hosting | Vercel | Free for personal sites; about $20 a month for business |
| The padlock (HTTPS) | Included with all three hosts | Free |
Example: a small business site on GitHub Pages costs only the domain, about $10–25 a year.
Step-by-step guides
Two connections and your site is live: link GitHub to your host, then point your domain at your host. Pick what you use and we'll show you every click.
Tell me what you're using, and I'll tailor every step below.
Your web host
Where you bought your domain
Connection 1
This tells your host where your files are. After this, every change you save on GitHub goes live by itself.
Connection 2
Two parts: tell your host which domain to expect, then change the signpost at Namecheap so visitors end up at your host.
Hosts like Netlify and Vercel offer to look after your DNS for you. That means moving your whole signpost from Namecheap to them. Our advice: keep it where it is and add the records below yourself. It's only a few records.
Your email settings stay exactly where they are, so there's nothing to break. Moving to a different host later means editing a couple of records. And Email Setup Geek's one-click email setup keeps working.
Handy for a brand-new domain with no email on it: no records to type. But every other setting, including your email records, must be copied over first, or your email stops. Changing host later means moving your DNS again.
| Type | Name (or Host) | Value (or Points to) |
|---|
Either the change hasn't spread yet, or the registrar's original record is still there. Check that you deleted the old A record for @ and the old www record, then give it an hour. Opening the site in a private window avoids your browser showing an old copy.
Your host can only create the padlock once the DNS change has spread, which can take up to a day. On GitHub Pages, tick Enforce HTTPS once it's available. On Cloudflare, make sure the cloud next to your records is grey (DNS only), not orange.
You need both records from the table: the A record(s) for @ and the CNAME for www. Check for typos, and that there isn't an old record for the same name.
Give it a minute or two, then refresh. Check your host's list of deploys (on GitHub, the Actions tab) for a red cross, which means something went wrong. Your browser may also be showing an old copy: try a private window.
Your home page must be called exactly index.html, in lower case, and sit at the top of your repository, not inside a folder.
Not if you left the MX and TXT records alone. Website and email settings are separate lines on the same signpost. If your email has stopped, Geeky can check it for you, free, at EmailSetupGeek.com.
GitHub saves your domain in a file called CNAME in your repository. If you upload your site again and it deletes that file, re-enter the domain under Settings, then Pages.
Now that your domain is set up, you can have email like you@mybusiness.com too. Come and meet Geeky at EmailSetupGeek.com, and Geeky will get your email working in about 10 minutes, free.