You want a professional website live by the end of the weekend, you are based in the UK, and you are not a developer. This tutorial walks you through exactly that, using Sitejet Builder (bundled free with smartxhosting.uk Sitejet Builder hosting at £5/month inc. VAT). Seven structured steps: template, design, pages, SEO, shop, domain, launch — plus advanced code access if you want to go further, and a full first-month post-launch plan. No coding needed for steps 1–7; step 8 is optional for designers and developers.
What Sitejet Builder is · Before you start · Step 1: Choose your template · Step 2: Customise the design · Step 3: Add pages and navigation · Step 4: Set up SEO · Step 5: Add e-commerce (optional) · Step 6: Connect your domain and go live · Step 7: Post-launch first-month checklist · Advanced: full code access · FAQ
Sitejet Builder is a visual drag-and-drop website builder designed for non-technical owners. It runs in the browser, generates clean rendered HTML behind the scenes, and is included free with hosting at smartxhosting.uk. Unusually for a builder, it also exposes full code access (HTML5, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript) for developers who want to extend it. For UK SMEs it sits in a sweet spot: simple enough for a plumber to self-build, capable enough for a freelance designer to deliver agency-quality work inside.
Key capabilities used in this tutorial:
Spend ten minutes on Friday evening gathering these items. That is the entire preparation.
.co.uk domain at the same time if you do not already own one.Do not stall to write perfect copy. The builder's AI content assistant turns bullet points into readable prose, and you can polish later. Getting live beats being polished and offline.
Once hosting is active, open the Sitejet Builder editor from the hosting control panel — one click, no software download.
The template library has 18 industry categories: trades, construction, beauty, health & wellness, food & hospitality, retail, professional services, creative, education, real estate, non-profit, technology, events, fitness, home services, photography, business and agency. Filter to your sector and browse the 8–12 templates in that category.
What to look for:
Tip: do not overthink this. You can change every colour, font, image and layout later. The template is a starting point, not a prison. Pick the one that feels 70% right for the sector and iterate from there.
Click the template to preview, then “Use this template” to clone it into your editor workspace. Sitejet Builder loads the template with placeholder content. From this moment the site is yours to edit.
Fifteen to thirty minutes of work to make the template feel like your business.
Open the header element, click the placeholder logo, upload your own. SVG is preferred for crisp rendering on retina displays; high-resolution PNG with transparent background is the fallback. If you do not yet have a logo, use a text-based wordmark of your business name in a clean font — this looks more professional than an AI-generated logo.
Open the Style panel. Define a primary colour (buttons, links, accents), an accent colour (highlights, secondary actions) and a background tone (page background, section fills). Two or three colours is plenty. Consistency across pages is more important than quantity of colours.
If you do not have brand colours yet, use a tool like Coolors or Adobe Color to generate a palette. For UK trades, teals and blues read as trustworthy; for beauty, warm neutrals; for professional services, navy and slate. Avoid bright primary red for most sectors — it reads as aggressive.
Most templates ship with a solid font pairing. If the default feels right, keep it. If not, pair one heading font with one body font. Common UK-friendly combinations: Inter or Poppins for headings + Lora or Source Sans for body; Work Sans + Merriweather for editorial feel. Keep body font size at 16 px minimum for readability on mobile.
The hero image is the first thing visitors see. Replace the template placeholder with your own photograph — a good photo of your premises, finished work or team. If you must use stock, pick something specific rather than generic (a real UK street scene over a generic corporate handshake). Keep the hero image under 300 KB compressed to WebP for fast mobile load.
Throughout customisation, toggle between desktop, tablet and mobile views in the top toolbar. The template is responsive by default, but always check — occasionally a text overlay lands awkwardly over an image on mobile, or a long heading wraps poorly. Adjust per device if needed.
Most Sitejet templates ship with Home, About, Services, Contact and a couple of others pre-built. Edit what is there; add or remove pages as needed.
| Page | What to include |
|---|---|
| Home | Clear headline (what you do + where), one-paragraph summary, strong CTA (Call Now / Get a Quote / Book), trust signals (years trading, reviews snippet), service highlights, contact strip in footer. |
| About | Your story (why you started, what you care about, qualifications, team), photo of you or the team, service area and values. |
| Services | Each service in its own section with short description, who it is for, price or price range where appropriate, call to action. Trades should list service areas / postcodes. |
| Gallery / Portfolio | Photos of completed work (before / after pairs work especially well for trades). Let the images sell the service. |
| Contact | Phone (clickable), e-mail, physical address, embedded Google Map, opening hours, short contact form (name / e-mail / phone / message). |
Keep the top menu short — five to seven items. Longer menus become unmanageable on mobile. The standard UK SME menu: Home, About, Services, Gallery, Blog, Contact. Testimonials can live on Home; Privacy and Terms belong in the footer.
On mobile, the menu collapses into a hamburger icon automatically — test this in device preview before publishing.
Twenty minutes of SEO work makes the difference between “site exists” and “site ranks”. You do not need to be an SEO expert; you need to fill in the right fields.
On each page, open the Page Settings panel and fill in:
/boiler-repair-leeds beats /page-12.In Site Settings configure:
For each image, add descriptive alt text. Instead of IMG_4521.jpg, write “Completed bathroom installation in Leeds LS6, chrome fittings and walk-in shower”. Helps accessibility and Google Image search. Sitejet's AI can suggest alt text if you ask.
Not technically part of the site build, but high-impact. Go to google.com/business, claim or create your profile, fill in every section, verify your address (usually by postcard). Add your new site URL. For local UK search, GBP often generates more enquiries than the website itself. Deep dive in our local SEO on Google guide.
After launch, verify the site in Google Search Console and submit the XML sitemap (Sitejet generates this automatically at /sitemap.xml). Google typically begins indexing within 48 hours. Without this step you wait on organic crawl.
If you sell products — even a handful — add a shop. Sitejet integrates with Ecwid, which gives you up to five products on a free tier, with paid upgrades for larger catalogues.
In the Sitejet editor, drag the Ecwid block onto your Shop page. It embeds your entire catalogue with product grid, individual product pages, cart and checkout — all styled to match your template.
Ecwid handles up to a few hundred products comfortably. For larger catalogues, complex variants (size × colour × material matrices), subscriptions, wholesale pricing or multi-warehouse stock, WooCommerce on WordPress or Shopify become better fits. See our online shop without Shopify guide.
When the site is ready, connect your custom domain.
The domain is already in your account. In Sitejet Builder's Publish settings, pick the domain from the dropdown, click Publish, and the site is live at yourbusiness.co.uk within minutes.
Point the domain's DNS to smartxhosting.uk's nameservers (provided in the hosting welcome e-mail), or add an A record pointing to the Sitejet hosting IP. Propagation takes 15 minutes to 48 hours; most UK domains resolve within an hour. Once DNS resolves, your site is live.
Free Let's Encrypt SSL activates automatically once the domain resolves to the Sitejet server. The padlock appears in browsers within 15 minutes of DNS propagation. No configuration needed.
When everything ticks, click Publish.
Going live is the start, not the end. The first four weeks set the site up to start delivering enquiries.
Unusually for a builder, Sitejet exposes full HTML5, CSS/SCSS and JavaScript. You never have to use it — the visual editor is perfectly capable — but it is there if you want to go further or if a UK freelance designer needs to deliver custom work.
In the Sitejet editor: Site Settings > Custom Code for site-wide additions (head / body), and per-element “Edit HTML” options for granular tweaks. CSS/SCSS has its own panel for global and scoped styles.
At any time you can export the entire site as a ZIP containing clean HTML, CSS and JavaScript. This is your insurance against lock-in — if you ever move to a different host or stack, the files come with you. Very few builders offer this; Sitejet is unusual in making it a core feature. For the broader context on lock-in risk, see our website builder lock-in UK guide.
Q: How long does it take to build a site with Sitejet Builder?
A: With content ready, 4–8 hours for a first-time user to go from template selection to published site. Set aside a weekend for comfortable pace. Experienced users can ship a five-page site in an evening.
Q: Do I need any technical skills?
A: No. If you can write an e-mail and post on social media you have the skills. The AI content assistant handles the blank-page problem. Full code access is entirely optional.
Q: How much does Sitejet Builder cost in the UK?
A: £5/month inc. VAT via smartxhosting.uk, bundled with hosting. That price covers the builder, hosting, SSL, daily backups and a mailbox. A .co.uk domain adds £10–£15/year.
Q: Can I sell online with Sitejet Builder?
A: Yes, via Ecwid integration. Up to 5 products free; scale up as the shop grows. Full payment, shipping, tax and order management included. For large catalogues (thousands of products), WooCommerce or Shopify remain better specialist fits.
Q: What if I want to leave Sitejet later?
A: Export the entire site as a ZIP at any time. No lock-in. Unique to Sitejet in the bundled-hosting builder market.
Q: Does Sitejet Builder work for a UK charity or non-profit?
A: Yes. Add a donation CTA linking to JustGiving, PayPal Giving or Stripe, list Charity Commission registration in the footer, configure an accessibility statement. The standard template library includes non-profit options.
Q: Can I build a multilingual site?
A: Sitejet supports multiple languages via duplicate page structures or subdirectories. Sitejet's AI can translate pages from English into Welsh, Polish, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil and other languages common in UK cities.
Q: How does the AI content generator compare to ChatGPT direct?
A: Sitejet's AI uses the ChatGPT API inside the editor, with prompts pre-shaped for web copy tasks (page headlines, service descriptions, meta, alt text, blog drafts). Output quality is comparable to a direct ChatGPT conversation but faster to use because you do not jump between tabs.
Q: Can a freelance designer work in Sitejet Builder?
A: Yes. Full HTML/CSS/JS access makes it a credible tool for designers who want to deliver agency-quality work without building a bespoke WordPress theme. Client-handover is clean (the client can then self-manage in the visual editor).
Q: What is the difference between this tutorial and the weekend build guide?
A: Our build a website in a weekend guide is a generic Saturday-Sunday plan for any builder. This tutorial is Sitejet-specific with the exact steps inside the Sitejet editor. Same underlying approach, different depth of platform specificity.