A website customers can use before they contact you
A social profile can introduce your business, but important information is easily buried in a feed. A website gives your services, photos, opening hours and contact details a stable address. Start with the questions customers ask most: what you offer, where you work and how to enquire. A short, accurate website is more useful than a large one filled with unfinished pages.
Built for service businesses and independent creatives
A repair business can explain its services and invite quote requests. A studio can show completed work in a gallery and tell its story. A salon can describe treatments, list opening hours and collect enquiries. A café can share useful visiting information and photographs of its space. These are starting points for presenting your own business, rather than claims that every business needs the same layout.
Build with a computer, or start with the phone you already have
On desktop, edit beside a generous website preview and check your layout at different screen sizes. On your phone, work on one section at a time, upload photos and switch between editing and previewing. Save your progress and continue on either device. You do not need to finish in one sitting, and phone editing does not limit your website to mobile visitors.
Give your services, story and contact details their own pages
Begin with a clear homepage, then add pages when they help customers find information. An About page can explain your experience and approach. A Services page can show what is included and how to get a quote. A Contact page can combine an enquiry form with the public details you want customers to use. Shared navigation connects the pages, and unfinished additional pages can stay private.
Use a template as a starting point, then make it yours
Choose a layout suited to your content, replace sample text and add photos you have permission to publish. Mix image sections, service lists, FAQs, opening hours and contact sections. Adjust your colours, fonts, spacing and image cropping without rebuilding everything. Beginners can use sensible defaults; advanced design controls let you develop a more individual style as your confidence grows.
Help search engines understand your actual business
Portaly generates search metadata, canonical addresses, a sitemap and business structured data for published sites. Set a useful title and description for each page in the SEO workspace. Describe the services and areas you really serve, add meaningful image descriptions and connect Google Search Console. Good information helps both people and search engines; SEO settings alone do not guarantee Google rankings.
One monthly site subscription, with clear boundaries
The Base subscription is R75 per month for each site. Your Portaly subdomain, hosting, HTTPS, website editing, media library, SEO controls and private enquiry inbox are included. The included address looks like your-business.portaly.co.za; it is not a separately registered custom domain. Portaly supports presenting your business and collecting enquiries, rather than promising a shopping-cart checkout or an automated appointment-booking system.
Review your website, then keep it useful
Check your spelling, prices, links and contact details in desktop and mobile previews. Review the website and complete checkout when you are ready. Once payment is verified and the site is published, share its address in your business profiles and customer communications. Return to your workspace to update services and photos, manage SEO, read enquiries and manage the site's subscription.
Useful answers before you start.
Do I need a website designer?
You can build and maintain your Portaly website yourself without coding. A designer can still help with branding or content if you want one, but using the builder does not require hiring a developer.
Can I show prices in South African rand?
Yes. Write your own service prices and explain what they include. If a price depends on the job, give useful details and invite customers to request a quote instead of publishing a misleading fixed price.
Is email hosting included?
Portaly includes website hosting and enquiry forms, not a hosted business mailbox. Use a working contact email address; a separate email provider may charge for its mailbox service.
Can my website appear in Google?
Published pages can be crawled and have SEO foundations and a sitemap. Original service information and relevant links help discovery. Google decides whether pages are indexed and which searches they appear for.