How to create a website in GoDaddy

For over 25 years, GoDaddy has been selling people a place to start their websites. Now they’re introducing the tools to build it, too. After a redesign of their Website and Marketing tool from 2019, their website builder offers start-to-finish GoDaddy website creation, from picking a domain name to launch.

The newly launched version has plenty of refurbished features to compete in today’s website builder market. If you’d like a tutorial on how to use the GoDaddy website builder, or just want to see if it’s usability is a good match for you, we have a step-by-step instructional guide on how to complete the basic tasks. But first, let’s discuss the pricing so you know what you’re getting into.

GoDaddy website builder pricing
—

GoDaddy website creation promises an all-inclusive process, but it’s not without its costs. It runs on a monthly subscription service (it’s GoDaddy, so watch out for the auto-renewal), which includes hosting, SSL, analytics and marketing tools (GoDaddy offers tools to manage social media posts and emails from your dashboard). Custom domain names—GoDaddy’s flagship product—are sold separately, but GoDaddy provides a xx.godaddysites.com URL to use for free.

The Basic plan has all the necessities, including use of their marketing tools for 5 social posts and 100 emails per month, plus of GoDaddy’s website and content templates. The Standard plan offers all that and built-in SEO, plus the use of their marketing tools for 20 social posts and 500 emails per month.

The Premium plan offers unlimited use of the marketing tools, as well as extra features for making appointments. The Ecommerce plan has all the perks of the Premium plan, plus online selling capabilities.

There’s also a free plan, which includes hosting, SSL, some access to templates and a limited use of their marketing tools.

Here’s a basic run-down of each plan’s price:

• Free
• Basic: $9.99/month
• Standard: $14.99/month
• Premium: $19.99/month
• Ecommerce: $24.99/month

Before settling on a plan, it’s best to shop around the other best website builders for small businesses. If you’re looking only for a free site, check out these 7 free website builders.

How to create a GoDaddy website
—

1. 1. How to set up an account and begin GoDaddy website creation
   2. How to choose a theme in GoDaddy
   3. How to add pages in GoDaddy
   4. How to customize your GoDaddy website
   5. How to edit images, buttons and text in GoDaddy
   6. How to use extra features in the GoDaddy Settings

1. How to set up an account and begin GoDaddy website creation

It’s helpful to review the pricing plan options from the start, but you can always start an account and play around a little to see if it’s the right website builder for you. To start an account with Godaddy…

1. Go to GoDaddy.com and click on Sign In in the upper-right corner. If you don’t have an account, click Create an Account.

2. You can log in whichever method you’re most comfortable with: Facebook, Google or email. This creates your own general GoDaddy account, which can then be used for their website builder.

3. When you’re ready to begin GoDaddy website creation, go to the GoDaddy website builder page and click Start for Free. This takes you to a quick, two-step onboarding questionnaire where you choose your industry and site name (which you can change later).

2. How to choose a theme in GoDaddy

The first step in GoDaddy website creation is choosing a theme. Whatever industry you chose in the onboarding questionnaire affects which options appear first, but you’re free to choose templates from any industry. Although you can browse themes directly in the website builder, if you want to come prepared, you can see what they have on their regular site’s website templates page.

1. You can change your theme and edit your color scheme, font and button styles from the Theme tab in the website builder. It’s the color wheel icon at the top of the right menu.

2. Clicking Try a new look takes you to the selection menu for theme templates. Feel free to browse until you find one you like. Keep in mind that you can change the colors, fonts and button styles for each theme, so make your decision based on style and composition (although you can change that as well). When you find one you like, click Select in the bottom left corner of its card.

3. Alternatively, you can choose a theme from the website templates page, outside of the website builder. This organizes themes by industry, and provides a little background for each, so it can be helpful if you really want to explore your options. If you hover over an entry, you can Preview how it looks or send it directly to your website builder with Start Editing.

4. Back in the website builder, click Preview in the upper-left corner to see how your template looks on both desktop and mobile.

3. How to add pages in GoDaddy

In the right menu of the GoDaddy website builder, the Website tab lets you manage your site pages.

1. To add pages, click the + icon in the upper-right corner of the Website tab. Click New Page to create a new site page. Additionally, you can add external links to your top navigation bar with New Link, or add a dropdown menu to your top navigation bar (to consolidate a few of your pages into one navigation item) with New Dropdown.

2. Choose the page template for your new page. To customize your own, choose Blank. When you’re ready, click Create Page.

3. To delete a page, click on the gear icon next to its name in the Website tab and then click the red Delete Page. Here, you can also rename and duplicate the page, as well as change its visibility settings, such as whether it appears in the navigation bar or footer.

4. You can also reorder the pages by clicking the icon to the left of the + icon. This affects the order in which they’re listed in the navigation menu and footer.

4. How to customize your GoDaddy website

You can (somewhat) customize how your pages appear, such as the images, text and composition to a degree. GoDaddy website creation uses what they call “sections,” which are block elements on the page roughly equally to a single screen. You can rearrange and edit these sections to make the site your own.

1. Choose the page you want to edit in the Website tab and click on the corresponding element in the preview window to make changes.

2. Hovering over the upper-right corner of a section opens the editing menu. Click on the Layout icon (which looks like three stacked blocks) to change the style of that section. You can also use the arrow keys to move the section up or down, rearranging a page’s sections in the order you want—keep in mind though you can’t move the top section.

3. To add a new section, hover on the area you want to add it in, before or after an existing section. Click on the + with a circle that appears.

4. This opens the section menu. On the left are categories, and on the right are preview sections. Choose the new section you want and click Add.

5. How to edit images, buttons and text in GoDaddy

Just like when editing sections, choose the page you want to edit and click the part you want to change in the preview window.

1. To edit a standalone image, click on it in the preview window. This brings up the editing menu on the right of your screen. Here, you can:

• change the image with Change image
• add filters, effects and cropping by clicking Edit
• zoom the image in or out with the zoom scroll bar
• add a quick black-and-white filter with the Black & White switch
• revise the textual image description
• add a link to the image by clicking the Add Link switch

2. Unlike standalone images, background and header images can only be edited in the section editing menu. These images are an integral part of the section, so they have extra editing options, like changing the layout or alignment. For example, the cover image can only be edited in the right menu when the entire section is selected.

3. Editing text is much easier. Just click on the text you want to change in the preview window, and change it in the editing window, or delete it altogether by clicking the trash icon. You have the basic text editing options at your disposal: italics, bold, bullets, numbered lists, and slight variations on text size. (To change the font of your whole website, click on the Theme tab next to the Website tab.)

4. Likewise, you can edit a button by clicking on it in the preview window. Here you can change the button text, where it links to and sometimes its location on the page. You also have a shortcut to change the button’s style, which you can also do from the Theme tab.

6. How to use extra features in the GoDaddy settings

Now that you know the basics of GoDaddy website creation, let’s dive into the more advanced features.

How to add popups

1. Click on the Popup button at the bottom of the Website tab.

2. The popup editor lets you build a popup window from scratch. Choose or edit your image, write your own text, choose where the links go and change its location on the page.

How to add an appointment scheduler

1. Click on the Services button at the bottom of the Website tab (near the Popup button).

2. In addition to other features like customer reminders or setting your business hours, you can also add an appointment scheduler by clicking Add Service.

3. Everything you need is on this form page. Just fill in each field how you want it and click Save when you’re ready. There are options for images, pricing, staff availability, Zoom integration and settings for things like rescheduling or booking in advance.

The settings tab

In the upper-right corner next to the Theme and Website tabs, the Settings tab has some pretty useful features. Let’s quickly run through what you can find there.

• My domain—here is where you connect a custom domain name to replace the generic xx.godaddysites.com one if you’re using a paid plan
• Basic information—business information like your site name, email address, physical address and phone number
• Social media links—connect your social media account URLs
• Favicon—upload the photo for your favicon (that little square picture that appears next to your site name or URL in some browsers)
• Search engine optimization—enter your basic information and keywords for indexing in search engines
• Site history—reload backups from the GoDaddy website builder in case you decide against the changes you’ve made
• Analytics and tracking—if you’re using trackers or certain analytics, this is where you add their IDs. Here you’ll find options for Facebook Pixels, Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and meta tags for Facebook and Pinterest. Additionally, you can edit your cookie banner to get the proper permissions from visitors.

Building a site is easy; designing a site, not so much
—

Just because you can design a website yourself doesn’t mean you should. GoDaddy website creation is highly user-friendly so you can make and launch a site in just a few hours, but learning the ins and outs of web design—color theory, conversion tactics, UX design—takes years.

If you want to truly optimize your site, hire a freelance designer to build it for you.