A website online before you have hosting
Many projects start with the same need: a website presenting a business, an event or an offer, to show quickly to a client, a partner or a first audience. Starting from scratch for that means choosing hosting, a tool and a structure before you even know what the website should say.
“Build my website” turns the order around. You start with the content, from a template that is already laid out, and you only decide on the final address once the website is ready. There is nothing to install: everything happens in your browser, from your ServOrbit account.
What “Build my website” includes
- A professional template as a starting point, already laid out: you never face a blank page.
- An online editor, in the browser, to change texts, images, colours and sections.
- A preview link to share, to show the website before publishing it.
- Up to 3 active free websites per account, to try several templates or several projects.
- A path to your own domain when you are ready, from your client area.
What you need to get started
A ServOrbit account with a confirmed email address: that is the only condition for building your website. If your address is unconfirmed, confirm it first from the email you received when you signed up. An account can hold up to three active free websites at the same time; to create a fourth, you need to delete one.
The online editor opens directly from your account. It appears in the language of your visit when it offers it — French, English or Spanish — and in English otherwise, including when you visit the site in Arabic.
Building your website
Choose a template
Open the Build my website page and browse the templates. Each one can be previewed before you choose it. When one fits your project, click « Choose this template ».
Sign in to your account
Sign in to your ServOrbit account, or create one, then confirm your email address if needed. Your website is then created and the online editor opens.
Customise the website
Replace the template's texts with your own, change the images, adjust the colours, add or remove sections. Everything happens in the browser, with nothing to install.
The 30-day rule, and why it matters
Your free website is meant to move forward, not to sit idle. It is deleted automatically after 30 days without the editor being opened. Every time you open the editor, the countdown starts again: a website you work on regularly does not disappear.
The scheduled deletion date is shown in your client area, next to each website. A deleted website is gone for good: no backup is kept, neither of the website nor of its preview link.
Keep your content on your side
Since no backup is kept, write your texts in a separate document and keep your original images in a folder. At worst you lose a layout, never your content. And if a website matters to you, open its editor at least once a month, or publish it on your domain.
Moving to your own domain name
A preview link is enough to show a website. It is not enough for a lasting presence: the address is not yours, and nobody remembers it. Your own domain name, on the other hand, reads well on a business card, can be typed into a browser and belongs to you.
To publish your website under your own address, you need two things: a domain name and web hosting. Both can be ordered from ServOrbit — prices and what each plan includes are set out on the web hosting plans page. Once the hosting is active, copying your website happens from your client area.
Publishing the website on your domain
Order a domain and hosting
Choose your domain name and a web hosting plan, then wait for the hosting to be active.
Open « Publish on my domain »
In your client area, under « My websites », click « Publish on my domain » next to the website you want, then choose the destination hosting.
Copy the website's sharing code
Open your free website in the online editor and copy its sharing code.
Paste it into your site's editor
Open the editor of your domain's site and paste the sharing code there: your website is copied into it.
Publish
Go back to your client area and start the publication. Your website goes live on your domain, and the free version is then deleted.
Free website or website on your domain
Scroll the table
| Criterion | Free website | Website published on your domain |
|---|---|---|
| Address | A preview link | Your domain name |
| What you need | An account with a confirmed email | A domain name and web hosting |
| Retention | Deleted after 30 days without the editor being opened | No longer depends on the free version, which is deleted |
| Use | Try, show, get approval | A lasting presence, in your own name |
Review the website on a phone as well as on a computer: that is often where it will be opened first. Check that every template text has been replaced, and that no sample image is left on screen. A preview that still shows the template's content gets noticed faster than a typo.
