About Me
Hi, I’m Nicky. I built this site because I wish it had existed when I needed it.
A few years ago, finding myself unexpectedly out of work, I decided to do something I’d been putting off for years – build a website.
I had no design background. No technical training. No idea what WordPress even was beyond the name. What I did have was time, a stubborn streak, and a very strong feeling that the internet should be able to answer the question “how do I build a website” without making me feel like I needed a computer science degree to understand the answer.
Spoiler: it couldn’t. Not really.
What I found instead was a sea of contradictory advice, review sites that all seemed to recommend whatever paid the highest commission, and tutorials that skipped three steps without warning, leaving me staring at an error message I didn’t understand.
I got there eventually. Then I built another site. Then another. Each one a bit faster, a bit less painful, a bit more like I knew what I was doing.
What I’ve learned from building websites the hard way
The thing nobody tells you when you’re starting out is that there isn’t one right answer. The best platform for a photographer is different from the best platform for someone selling handmade candles, which is different again from the best platform for someone who wants to blog about their allotment.
Most of the advice out there ignores this completely. It picks a winner and tells everyone to use it – usually the one with the best affiliate payout rather than the one that’s genuinely the best fit.
That frustrated me enough to build Start Your Website.
The whole point of this site is to ask you the right questions first – what do you actually want to build? What’s your budget? How technical are you really? – and then give you a recommendation that’s based on your answers, not a one-size-fits-all opinion dressed up as expertise.
A bit more about me
When I’m not writing about website platforms, I run several other websites covering careers, personal finance, and seasonal living – so I’m very much still in the trenches with you. I’m not someone who built one website five years ago and now writes about it as a distant memory. I’m actively building, testing, and occasionally breaking things.
I’m based in the UK, which means some of my pricing references are in pounds – but the platform and hosting recommendations on this site are relevant wherever you are in the world.
A note on affiliate links
Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. If you sign up to a platform or service through one of our links, we may earn a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
I want to be straightforward about this because I think it matters. Affiliate income is what keeps this site free and independent. But it also creates an obvious incentive to recommend whatever pays the most rather than whatever’s actually best.
I’ve tried hard to make sure that never happens here. You’ll find honest assessments of platforms I have genuine reservations about, and recommendations that steer you away from higher-commission options when a lower-commission one is a better fit for your situation.
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