How to create a website from your phone

Photos: your phone's biggest advantage

A phone camera is often the best tool for this job, because it is already in your hand at your business. Take photos in daylight where possible, hold the phone steady, and photograph what a customer would actually want to see: your shopfront, your products laid out clearly, and finished work rather than work in progress.

Writing content on a small screen

• Draft your business description in your notes app first, where it is easier to edit
• Keep sentences short so they read well on a narrow screen
• Copy your services and prices from a price list you already have, rather than retyping from memory
• Save your WhatsApp number in the format you want customers to use

Building the site through guided steps

MatSiteBuilder's seven guided steps were designed to work on a phone, asking for one piece of information at a time rather than a cluttered form. You move through your business name, description, photos, services and contact details in turn, and can save progress and come back later if you get interrupted, which happens often when you are running a business at the same time.

Checking the result on the device that matters

Since most of your customers will also visit on a phone, checking the site on your own phone as you build it is more useful than checking on a computer. Look for text that wraps awkwardly, buttons that are too small to tap comfortably, and photos that take a long time to load on mobile data.

Publishing and sharing

Once you are happy with it, publish the site and copy the link straight into your WhatsApp Business profile and status, and into your Google Business Profile. You can keep editing from your phone afterwards whenever prices or photos change.