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.
It still helps to know what “free” covers here. You get a real website, built from a template and shown through a preview link; you do not get an address in your name, nor a place to leave your content sitting for months. If you are torn between this and a full website from day one, the comparison free website or full website: which to choose? helps you decide for your project.
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, with nothing to install. The language it displays in is covered further down.
Prepare your content before opening the editor
It is tempting to pick a template right away and fill in the boxes as you go. Yet preparing the content in advance is what saves the most time, and what makes the website look truly finished. A template brings structure, colours and layout; it does not know what you do, for whom, or how to reach you.
Gather your material in a separate document, on your computer or your phone. It serves twice: to fill the website without hesitating, then as a safety copy, since the free website is not backed up. Also ask yourself who will open the link, on which screen, and what they should be able to do next — call you, visit you, write to you: the answer decides what must appear at the top of the page.
The list to prepare
- A tagline that says what you do and for whom, for example “Custom carpentry workshop for homes and shops”.
- A short introduction: your background, your approach, what sets you apart, in a few lines rather than several paragraphs.
- Your offers or services, each with a short title and one or two sentences of explanation.
- Sharp, recent photos of your premises, your work, your team or your products, ideally taken in daylight.
- Your full contact details: phone, email, address if you receive the public, links to your social networks.
- Your opening hours, with closing days or special periods.
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. Pick the one whose structure is closest to the content you prepared, rather than the one whose colours you like: colours can be changed, structure drives everything else. Then 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 those from your document, change the images, adjust the colours, add the sections you are missing and remove the ones you do not need. Everything happens in the browser, with nothing to install. A short, complete website beats a long, half-filled one.
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.
The editor's language, and your website's
The editor 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. This only concerns the interface you work in, its menus and buttons: you write your website's texts yourself, in the language of your choice.
So ask yourself before writing: in which language do your clients look for you, and in which do they write to you? Pick one main language, stick to it across the whole website and proofread carefully. For content examples by trade, see the guide on a website for a restaurant or café.
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.
First decision: the extension. The .ma is Morocco's national extension, the .com a generic one; the right choice mostly depends on your audience, local or wider, and the article .ma or .com domain: which one to choose? details the criteria. As for budget, a .ma is billed from 118 DH/year, a .com from 139 DH/year, and web hosting starts at 239 DH/year (indicative prices, excluding promotions and renewal terms). You can compare extensions on the domain names page.
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: it has done its job. The full move, step by step, is detailed in from your free website to your own domain.
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, that no sample image is left on screen, that every phone number and email address works and that your opening hours are current. A preview that still shows the template's content gets noticed faster than a typo.
Then have the website read by someone who does not know your business: if they understand at a glance what you do and how to reach you, the website is ready to share.
