Every Guide Says Start Somewhere Different, So Start Here
If you have no clear starting point, pick the smallest task that ends with a published page and do it today. Everything else on your list can wait, because one live page teaches you more than another week of comparison tables.
That sounds too simple, so here is why it works.
Why does every guide start somewhere different?
Each guide begins where its author’s attention sits. The keyword person says start with keywords. The design person says choose a theme. The hosting person says buy hosting first, the email person says build a list, and the strategy person says define your niche before you touch anything.
All of them are right, in their own order. None of them know where you are standing, so none of them can tell you which first move is yours.
That is why this is rarely a lack of information. You probably have plenty. What you have is a pile of first moves that all sound equally sensible, and when nothing is clearly worse, nothing gets eliminated. You can’t pick the best one because there isn’t one. The question “which is best?” has no answer, so it needs replacing with one that does.
Spot the weeks of choosing trap
Comparing tools feels like work. You have twelve tabs open, a spreadsheet with a pros column and a cons column, and a growing sense that you understand page builders better than most people alive.
Each comparison pays a small reward. You learn something, you feel informed, and you feel closer. Then you close the laptop and look at what exists. A spreadsheet exists. A page does not.
Try a plain test at the end of any session. Could a stranger visit something you made today? If the answer is no, you were shopping, and shopping is pleasant, which is why it can fill a month.
There is a second problem with early tool choice. The differences between tools mostly show up once you have content to run through them. With zero pages, you are comparing features you cannot yet use, and you are doing it for a site that does not yet say anything. The spreadsheet may be color coded. It is still not a page. ☕
Pick the first move by its ending
Stop asking which first move is best and ask what each one ends with. A good first move finishes with a published page. A bad first move finishes with a preparation task that feels productive and leaves the site empty.
Here is how a few common first moves score.
Only one row finishes. If two candidates both finish, take the smaller one, because the smaller one is more likely to get done before dinner.
This rule also settles the argument between the guides. The keyword guide, the theme guide and the hosting guide can all be right and you can still ignore them for the afternoon, since none of their opening moves pass the test.
Steal this starting point
Take this one as it is. It has three parts.
One page. Choose one question your reader would type into a search box and answer it. Put the answer in the first two sentences, then use the rest of the page to add detail. Vloggers can do this with a video. Embed one you have already made, write a short intro above it and a few paragraphs of useful detail below it.
One tool you already have. Use whatever editor your site already gives you. If you have an almost-website, use the editor you are already logged into, even if it is not the one a review told you to love. Tools can be swapped later, and a page moves with you more easily than you might expect.
One afternoon. Set a block of time and treat the publish button as the finish line. Your page needs these things and nothing more.
- A title that says what the page answers
- A direct answer in the opening
- Two or three headings that break up the detail
- One image or video you already own
- A click on publish
The page will not be perfect. It does not need to be. It needs to exist at a real address where a real visitor, or a search engine, can find it. Everything you learn from that point comes from a live page rather than from a plan for one.
Ignore these for now
Some tasks will keep calling to you, and each of them has a sensible argument. Here is the list to set aside for the afternoon.
- The logo
- The color palette
- The perfect theme
- A plugin hunt
- Social media accounts for a site with no pages
- Email list software for an audience that has not arrived yet
- Analytics dashboards with nothing to measure
- A paid keyword tool subscription
- Rewriting the About page for the fourth time
None of these are bad ideas. Each of them is a bad first move, because each one can be done after page one and is more useful once it exists. A logo is easier to design when you know what the site is about, and an analytics dashboard has something to show once there is traffic.
There is a quiet pleasure in this. Close the tab with the theme comparison. Close the one with the plugin roundup. Watch the browser breathe. You have not given up on any of them, you have scheduled them for later, which is a different and much calmer thing…
Once page one is live, go here next
Now you have something to build on, and the next move gets easier. Apply the same rule again and write the next page that answers the next question. Repeat until the choices stop feeling equal, which tends to happen once you have a few pages and can see what your site needs.
When you want the whole path, from a blank site to a first commission, the affiliate marketing roadmap lays it out in order. This post only gets you unstuck on day one, and the roadmap covers the rest. If the hosting and setup side is what you are still unsure of, the website setup guide walks through the basics so the page you just published has a solid home.
If you want a guided place to build that first page instead of another week of comparing tools, have a look at Wealthy Affiliate through my referral link, and Kre8or too if you make videos.
Now close the spreadsheet and go publish something small. The tabs will still be there tomorrow, and so, with luck, will your page. 😏
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