How to: Create a website in 5 minutes

Get a free site up and running in the five minutes it takes to make your morning cuppa, with this quick-start guide… Don’t know your HTML from your CSS? ‘Coding’ seem like a foreign language? With Moonfruit’s website builder, you don’t need to be a web designer or developer to create your own online presence – our easy-to-use drag-and-drop software gives you complete design control. What’s more, it only takes a few minutes to get a basic site started.
Before you start:

If you need to create a site quickly – we recommend using one of our templates, which you can cutomise and add to over time. Visit the gallery on our homepage to view the templates we offer. You can search for sites based on your needs, e.g. ‘Shop’, ‘Photography’, ‘Craft’, ‘Porfolio’ and so on
Note:

For more on starting your Moonfruit website, read our full Beginner’s Guide
Now let’s get started…

Create an account
Step 1.

Go to the Moonfruit homepage.
Step 2.

Click Login in the top right-hand corner of your screen.
Step 3.

A pop-up window will appear, click the ‘Or, sign up’ option.
Step 4.

You’ll be asked to provide an email address and to create a username and password for your account.

Step 5.

You’ll then arrive at your account dashboard, where you’ll be able to preview your site (once it’s created) and view your plan/subscription information.
Note:

You can also access the Support forum and view recent content from the Moonfruit blog from here – it’s a good place to keep an eye out for updates and news from Moonfruit HQ.
Start your site
Step 1.

Once you’ve reached your account dashboard, click Add a site in the centre of the preview window.
Step 2.

You’ll then be taken back to the Moonfruit homepage where you can choose a template to base your site on.

Step 3.

To select the template of your choice from the homepage gallery, click on the plus sign in the top-right hand corner of each template, which will preview a larger image of the design.
Note:

If you later want to change templates, you’ll have to delete your site and select a new one – click Admin > Delete site.
Step 4.

At the bottom of the enlarged image select Click to build.
Step 5.

A pop-up window will appear asking you to create a site name and site address for project/business or online shop and click Launch my site – your site address will be the URL you type into your Internet search bar.

You can purchase a non-branded domain name (i.e. without ‘moonfruit.com’ in the URL) or transfer an existing domain you own to your site if you want to. You’re now ready to start customising…

You can continue for free or upgrade by clicking the links in the top right hand-corner of the Site-Builder editor or from your Account dashboard, underneath the site-preview window.
Next steps…

You’ve got a basic site, so now what? Well, almost anything really. When it comes to crafting your website, there are plenty of options – whether you’re a small business in need of an online shop or a budding designer looking to create an digital portfolio. Here are some tips on where to start… For more on starting your Moonfruit website, read our full Beginner’s Guide
Visit the forum

You’ll find a wealth of information in our support forum – our FAQs and guides include advice on site editing tools, ShopBuilder, SEO and much more…
Explore the Moonfruit Lounge

Take a time to follow and upvote for more How To… guides as well as product updates, community features like My Moonfruit Experience and our site showcase, Made with Moonfruit. We also write features aimed at the many different groups within our community, from photographers and bakers to charities and graduates.