You built it on Saturday. Keep building.

Think before you build.

AI builds what you describe. It doesn't know your customers, your market or what makes you different. Answer these four questions first and the rest gets easier. Fill them in below and the Master Prompt writes itself.

Master Prompt builder

Build, then refine in plain English.

One good prompt beats five vague ones. After the first version, change things one sentence at a time. You're directing, not coding. Keep working in the same Claude chat so it remembers your site.

Rewrite the main headline so it speaks directly to [my customer] and the problem they have. Give me three options first and don't change anything else until I choose.

Add a Testimonials section after Services with these reviews, using the customer's first name and suburb only: [paste reviews]. Keep the same style as the rest of the site.

Add an FAQ section above Contact that answers these questions customers often ask me: [list questions and your answers]. Make each answer open when tapped.

On my phone, [describe what looks wrong]. Fix it for mobile without changing how the site looks on a laptop.

Use my own photos instead of the illustrations. The files will sit in the same folder as the site and are named hero.jpg, team.jpg, work-1.jpg. Put hero.jpg in the hero and give every image descriptive alt text.

Photos without the slow load

Phone photos are often 3 to 5 MB. Resize each one to about 1600 pixels wide before adding it (squoosh.app does this free in your browser), and keep file names lowercase with no spaces.

Publish on Cloudflare Pages.

Free hosting, with your site on a real web address. You do this once, then reuse the same loop for every change.

1. Download your site from ClaudeRename the file to exactly index.html.
2. Put it in a folder named after your businessThis folder is your website. Any photos go in here too.
3. dash.cloudflare.com → Workers & Pages → Create applicationSign up free. Ignore the Workers options at the top.
4. At the bottom: "Looking to deploy Pages? Get started"Choose to upload your files and name your project. The name becomes yourname.pages.dev.
5. Upload the folder, not the file, then DeployOpen the new link on your phone and tap every button.

The update loop

Connect yourbusiness.co.za.

The domain is the only thing you pay for, as a small yearly fee. Buy only the domain. Say no to hosting, email and website-builder add-ons, because Cloudflare hosts your site for free.

Part 1 · Buy and add

1. Buy the domain from a South African registrarFor example domains.co.za, Afrihost or Hostinger.
2. Cloudflare → Domains → Onboard a domainUse the same account that holds your site.
3. Type your domain, e.g. yourbusiness.co.za → ContinueNo www and no https. Leave DNS on the quick scan.
4. Choose the Free plan → ContinueScroll down if you don't see it at first.
5. Check the DNS records list → ContinueAlready use email on this domain? Make sure the MX records are listed, or your email can stop working.
6. Copy your two Cloudflare nameserversThey look like name.ns.cloudflare.com. Keep this tab open.

Part 2 · Connect it

7. At your registrar, open your domain → NameserversOften under "Manage domain" or "DNS". If DNSSEC is switched on, switch it off first.
8. Replace the existing nameservers with Cloudflare's two and saveCopy and paste them. They must match exactly.
9. Wait for Cloudflare's emailFrom a few minutes up to 24 hours. Your domain shows Active when it's ready.
10. Workers & Pages → your project → Custom domains → Set up a domainType yourbusiness.co.za and confirm the record Cloudflare shows you.
11. Repeat step 10 for www.yourbusiness.co.zaNow both addresses open your site.

This is my domain registrar's page. I need to replace my nameservers with these two Cloudflare nameservers: [paste both]. Tell me exactly what to click on this screen, one step at a time.

A professional email address, free

Once your domain is on Cloudflare, Email Routing can forward hello@yourbusiness.co.za to your existing Gmail at no cost. In Cloudflare, open your domain → Email → Email Routing, create the address and confirm your Gmail. This handles receiving. A full business mailbox, like Google Workspace, is an optional monthly subscription.

A website that works while you do.

Each addition is one prompt plus the update loop. Start with WhatsApp: it's the single biggest win for a South African business.

Add a floating WhatsApp button in the bottom right corner on every screen size. It should open https://wa.me/27XXXXXXXXX?text=Hi%2C%20I%20found%20you%20on%20your%20website in a new tab. Use WhatsApp green with a white WhatsApp icon, and make sure it never covers other buttons on a phone.

Write your number with 27 in front and without the first 0. So 084 123 4567 becomes 27841234567.

Replace my contact form with this Tally embed code, exactly as it is: [paste code]. Keep it full width on mobile. Under it add: "By submitting this form you consent to [business name] processing your information in line with our Privacy Policy."

Add a chatbot with Typebot

1. typebot.io → New Typebot → Start from scratchFive steps: welcome → your top 3 services as buttons → name → phone → thank you.
2. Click Test (top right) and run the full flowCheck every step before you publish.
3. Publish → Share → HTML & Javascript → BubbleSet the button colour to your brand and copy the code.
4. Paste the prompt below, then run the update loopConversations land in Typebot → Results.

Add this Typebot chatbot bubble just before the closing body tag: [paste code]. Position it on the left side so it doesn't overlap the WhatsApp button.

Get paid, booked and selling.

Your site stays simple and the add-on brings the power. Every add-on works one of two ways: a link out to the provider's page, or an embed code that Claude places on your site.

Add a "Pay Now" button to my [Services / Pricing] section for [product or service, price]. When clicked it should open this payment link in a new tab: [paste your Yoco / iKhokha / PayFast link]. Match my brand colours. Underneath add small text: "Secure card payment via [provider]".

Selling a few products

For a handful of products, product cards with their own payment links are free and work perfectly. There's no shopping cart, so it's one product per checkout.

Add a Shop section with a card for each product: [name, price, one-line description, payment link]. Each card has a Buy now button that opens its payment link in a new tab. Under the cards add: "After payment we confirm your order and deliver by WhatsApp or email."

Bookings

Add a new section called [Shop / Book a session] below [section name], and add it to the menu. Paste this embed code inside it exactly as it is: [paste code]. Keep it full width on mobile.

A blog on your own website

Want your blog to look and feel like the rest of your site? Each post becomes its own page in your website folder, and one blog page lists them all. The quick alternative is a free Substack or Medium linked from your menu.

my-business/
  index.html         home page
  blog.html          lists every post
  blog-first-post.html
  blog-next-post.html

Set up the blog once

1. In the same Claude chat you built your site in, paste the setup prompt belowStarted a new chat? Attach your index.html first.
2. Download all three filesYour updated index.html, the new blog.html and your first post.
3. Check every file name matches exactlyLowercase, hyphens instead of spaces. Rename any download that came out differently, such as "blog (1).html".
4. Put all three in your website folderReplace the old index.html. The two new files sit next to it.
5. Run the update loop and test the linksCreate a new deployment, upload the folder, then on your phone tap Blog, open the post and tap back.

Add a blog to my website as separate pages in the same design as my home page.
1. Update index.html: add "Blog" to the menu, linking to blog.html.
2. Create blog.html: a page that lists my posts as cards with title, date and a short summary, each linking to its post.
3. Create my first post as blog-[short-topic-name].html using this article: [paste article]. Give it its own SEO title and meta description.
Every page uses the same menu and footer as index.html, with a link back to the blog. Give me the three complete files separately with their exact file names.

Add every new post after that

1. Paste the new-post prompt belowUse the same chat, or attach your blog.html and one existing post in a new chat so Claude matches the style.
2. Download two files: the new post and the updated blog.htmlYour index.html stays as it is.
3. Add the post to your folder and replace blog.htmlThen run the update loop. The new post appears at the top of your blog list.

Write a new blog post page called blog-[short-topic-name].html in exactly the same design as my other posts, using this article: [paste article]. Give it its own SEO title and meta description. Then give me an updated blog.html with this post added at the top of the list. Don't change index.html.

Legal basics and getting found.

What a South African website needs depends on what it does. Work out which of these apply to you.

Create a POPIA-compliant privacy policy page and a terms of service page for [business name], a [type of business] at [physical address], South Africa. We collect [name, email, phone via the contact form / payments via Yoco]. Information Officer: [name, email]. Link both in the footer, and add under my contact form: "By submitting this form you consent to [business name] processing your information in line with our Privacy Policy."

Get found on Google

Add an SEO page title under 60 characters and a meta description under 155 characters for [business name] in [area], aimed at people searching for [service + area]. Make sure there is one main H1 heading, and add descriptive alt text to every image.

Add Open Graph tags so my site shows a proper preview when shared on WhatsApp, Facebook and LinkedIn. Title: [title]. Description: [one line]. Image: https://[my address]/share.jpg (I'll add a 1200 x 630 image called share.jpg to my folder).

Keep it safe.

1. One folder is your websiteKeep it in one place and never rename it. Every update replaces the file inside.
2. Update with the same loopPrompt → download → rename → replace → new deployment → upload folder.
3. Back up to Google Drive after every changeSave a dated copy, for example index-2026-10-12.html. If anything breaks, you have the last good version.
4. Cloudflare keeps your history tooIn your project, open Deployments. You can roll back to any earlier version.
5. Keep your Claude chatRename it to your business name and come back to it for every change.

When things break.

Most problems come down to a file name or a folder. Check these first.

What do you build next?

You can now put an idea online in an afternoon. Test the side project, the new service or the event before you spend real money on it.

What's free and what costs money

If you'd like to build sites for others

A starting point for pricing. Your tool cost is close to zero; your cost is time, about 3 to 5 hours for your first site and around 2 by your fifth.