Free challenge · 5 days
Launch a personal website in 5 days
About two hours a day for five days, from one clear sentence to a site on your own domain that you can still edit next month.
- Day 1 Define it, then choose what to show
- Day 2 Structure the smallest useful site
- Day 3 Build it plainly
- Day 4 Publish it on your domain
- Day 5 Cut, then share
- Finish line A stranger understands what you do without asking you
At the finish line, you have
Not notes about a plan: things that exist, that you can show.
- A stranger understands what you do without asking you
- Your best work is one or two clicks away
- Your own domain points to the live site, which works on a phone
- A site you can edit next month without rebuilding it
The site you keep postponing
Most personal sites are not unfinished because they are hard. They are unfinished because there is no end: one more page, one more project, a better typeface. Meanwhile the people who could hire you, read you or work with you find a profile on someone else’s platform, or nothing.
Five days, about two hours each
The goal is not the perfect website. It is a clean site that makes your work understandable, on your own domain, built in a way you can still change next month. Each day has one job and a checklist; the order matters more than the hours.
What you have on day 5
A sentence that says what you do, your best work one or two clicks away, a site that works on a phone and loads quickly, and five people who have seen it. Everything you cut along the way is in a list, for the next version.
The plan, step by step
Each step is a short read and a checklist. Tick everything, then move on.
- Step 1Day 1 Read it now
Define it, then choose what to show
One sentence that says who you are, what you do and what a visitor should understand in ten seconds. Then keep only the work and proof that deserve to be public now.
Done when: the sentence written and read aloud to one person; three to five pieces of work chosen; everything else parked in a list for later.
- Step 2Day 2
Structure the smallest useful site
Home, work, writing, about, contact. Write the words of each page before any design. Add a page only when it earns its place.
Done when: the list of pages, five or fewer; the text of the home page written; one line per piece of work.
- Step 3Day 3
Build it plainly
One typeface, one spacing system, one accent colour, and a layout you can maintain. Make the phone work before polishing anything else.
Done when: every page built with real text; checked on a phone; nothing on the site you could not change yourself.
- Step 4Day 4
Publish it on your domain
Connect the domain, deploy, then check the title and description of each page, the favicon, the 404 page, every link, the speed and the basics of accessibility.
Done when: your domain shows the site, with HTTPS; titles and descriptions set on every page; every link clicked once; speed checked on a phone.
- Step 5Day 5
Cut, then share
Remove anything that makes the site slower to understand, then send it to the people who should know about your work.
Done when: one thing removed; sent to five people; a date in your calendar next month to update it.
It's for you if you are
- Freelancers and job seekers whose work is scattered across platforms
- Makers who keep postponing their site until it is perfect
- Anyone whose current site no longer says what they do
It's not for
- Online shops and sites with a member area
- Agencies redesigning a client's brand
Written by Ben Morin. I design, build and run software on my own: a platform for independent bike shops, lyric films for songwriters, a private journal that becomes a book, a planner, and a handful of free tools. These steps are the ones I follow.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Leave your email address and every day opens. That address gets a link to open the challenge on your other devices, and nothing else unless you tick the box.
Which tool should I build it with?
The one you already know. A website builder is fine; so is a static site written with an AI assistant. The steps are about what goes on the site, and they work with any of them.
I do not have a domain.
Buy one on day 1 so it is ready on day 4. Your name, or your name plus what you do, is enough.
Do the five days have to be in a row?
No. Two hours a day is the budget. Keep the order, and keep the end date fixed.
Free · 5 days from now
Set the end date, then start.
A stranger understands what you do without asking you.