So Easy A Child Can Do It

The Complete Beginner's Curriculum for Independent Web Publishing

When Todd Pettee launched Websites Made Simple in 2011, he tested every tutorial with his two young sons, Masa (age 9) and Taka (age 7). By watching Masa build live websites using Squarespace and self-hosted WordPress, we eliminated technical jargon and distilled website creation into repeatable, frustration-free modules.

Step 1 & Step 2 Blueprint

Plan & Build Your Website From Scratch

3-Module, 7-Step Curriculum - Namecheap, HostGator & WordPress

Most beginners fail because they skip planning and jump straight into theme customization. Our 2-Step Blueprint walks you through defining your site architecture first, followed by our 3-Module, 7-Step technical rollout.

"Module 1 covers domain registration with Namecheap, web hosting signup with HostGator, and DNS nameserver transfer. Module 2 covers WordPress installation, themes, and plugins. Module 3 finalizes permalinks and security configuration."

Includes full summaries of our three free ebooks and seven real-time screencast lessons.

Todd Pettee Open Start Guide
TablePress #14 Matrix

Wix vs Weebly vs Squarespace vs WordPress

38-Row Feature, Pricing & Ownership Comparison

Should you use a hosted drag-and-drop website builder or self-hosted WordPress.org? We benchmark Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Strikingly, and Jimdo across 38 objective data points including monthly vs annual pricing, storage, bandwidth, template counts, and export portability.

"Squarespace delivers refined responsive templates out of the box, Weebly offers clean beginner drag-and-drop simplicity, and WordPress provides 100% code ownership and unlimited plugin extensibility."

Review our consolidated archives for Squarespace pricing breakdowns and head-to-head platform tests.

Builder Matrix Compare Website Builders
TablePress #1 Matrix

Web Hosting Providers & cPanel Essentials

SiteGround, Bluehost, HostGator, InMotion & DreamHost

Your web host determines your site speed, uptime, and backup reliability. Our 25-row hosting comparison table evaluates 10 leading shared and managed WordPress hosts across monthly, 1-year, and 2-year billing cycles, renewal rates, SSD storage, Cloudflare CDN integration, and cPanel administration.

"Pay close attention to first-term promotional pricing versus second-term renewal rates, and verify daily automated backups before committing your domain."

Includes our foundational guide to managing emails, databases, and 1-click installers inside cPanel.

Hosting Lab Compare Web Hosts
35+ Archival Tutorials

WordPress Plugins, Dropbox Backups & Web Design

StudioPress Genesis, Pytheas Theme, MailChimp & SEO

Explore our complete archive of practical tutorials authored between 2011 and 2020: backing up WordPress to Dropbox for free, building email opt-in forms with MailChimp, moderating comments, deleting and resetting a WordPress blog, and mastering responsive CSS design.

"Features Cid Carver's exploration of Parallax web design, the 10 essential plugins every WordPress install needs, and our live client showcase portfolio."

Browse the tutorial archive or inspect live production sites in our Runway Domains portfolio.

Tutorial Archive Browse Blog Tutorials