I recently wrote a fine story called “Why You Shouldn’t Have Your Own Website”.

While the title is self-explanatory, I want to give a short step-by-step process to figure out if you really want or need a website.

First things first

What do I mean by website exactly?

Every page on the web is a website. If you create a Medium account, your profile is your website. If you create a Substack newsletter, your Substack home page is a website. And so on…

That’s not what I mean. When saying website, I’m talking about a web page living on a custom domain you purchased for you.

This means you are responsible for it, you’re legally obligated to run it correctly.

What can you do instead?

People quickly jump to creating such a website.

They buy a domain, pay for a web builder, and publish a site. These sites can go into the hundreds per year. For starters. And easily into the thousands later on.

Think about the following free options first:

#1 One-page designs

If you want a simple landing page with links to all your stuff, like social media, content, contact, etc., do you really need a website or is a free landing page builder enough right now?

Great landing page builder:

1. Carrd
2. Bio.link
3. Linktree
4. Zaap

And many more.

You can even create a landing page from a Notion page.

#2 Multi-page layouts

If you need a multipage website with a landing page, contact page, additional pages for info, copy, or other things, do you need a custom website & domain? I highly recommend one simple tool instead:

1. Carrd*

#3 Blogs

You want a blog? Do you need to fiddle around with WordPress, or pay for builders like Squarespace? Or are these enough:

1. Medium
2. Substack
3. Hashnode
4. Payhip

#4 Shops

Need a shop? Don’t try to integrate one into your site from the get-go. Try these first:

1. Payhip
2. Lemon Squeezy
3. Flurly
4. Gumroad

Need a custom domain?

Free tools are everywhere. Feature-rich and wonderful free tools. You don’t have to pay a penny to get started. I’ve been doing this for years. I’m still not paying a dime.

If the above tools are not enough, then yes, you probably need your website on a custom domain.

But you can add a custom domain to most of the tools mentioned above as well. No need to go through the hassle of actually building a site with no-code builders, WordPress, or from scratch.

1. Need a landing page on a custom domain, use Carrd* and connect a custom domain.
2. Need a multi-page design on a custom domain, use Carrd* and connect a custom domain.
3. Want a blog on a custom domain, connect a custom domain to Medium or Substack, Hashnode or Payhip.
4. Need a shop on a custom domain? Connect a custom domain to Payhip (for free).

The bottom line

I run my blog on Medium, my newsletter on Substack, my shop on Payhip. I used to use Carrd* for my landing page. I don’t even have a landing page anymore.

I write blogs, publish newsletters, and sell products. And I don’t pay for the tools.

It works.