How to Create a Website for My Business in Nigeria for Free

You have heard it many times: "You need a website." Then a web designer quotes you a price that could restock your shop, and you close the chat. The good news is that you can create a business website in Nigeria for free, or for the cost of a domain name each year, and do most of it on your phone.

This guide explains whether you actually need a website, what a domain costs in naira as of October 2026, which free and cheap builders work for Nigerian businesses, what to put on each page, how AI can write the words for you, and how to avoid being cheated by a web designer.

In short:

• Many small businesses can sell well with WhatsApp, Instagram and a Google Business Profile. A website helps when customers need to trust you, see full prices or find you on Google.
• Free builders such as Google Sites, Canva and Wix give you a site at no cost, on their own web address.
• A .com.ng domain costs a few thousand naira a year; a .com costs more. Always check the renewal price, not just the first-year price.
• Four pages are enough to start: Home, Products or Services, About, and Contact.
• Own your domain in your name, and never pay a designer 100% upfront.

Do you need a website at all?

Before spending money, be honest about what you need. For many small shops, a website is nice but not urgent.

You mainly need to...	Best free tool	Website needed?
Chat with customers and take orders	WhatsApp Business	No
Show new stock and reach new buyers	Instagram, TikTok, Facebook	No
Be found by people nearby on Google Maps	Google Business Profile	No
Look trustworthy to big clients, schools or companies	Website	Yes
Show a full price list or menu in one place	Website	Helpful
Take payments while you sleep	Online store or payment link	Helpful
Rank on Google for "caterer in Abuja"	Website plus Google Business Profile	Yes

If you are not yet on Google Maps, do that first. It is free and brings walk-in customers. Our guide on setting up a Google Business Profile in Nigeria shows you how.

Domain names in plain words

A domain is your website's address, the name people type to visit, such as mamatolu.com.ng. You rent it yearly from a registrar, a company licensed to sell domains. Hosting is the space on a computer (a server) that stores your website so people can see it. Free builders include hosting; you may only need to buy the domain.

.ng and .com.ng vs .com

• .com.ng and .ng are Nigerian domains. They tell customers you are a Nigerian business. The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) manages .ng domains, and you buy them through accredited registrars.
• .com is global and familiar to everyone, but short, good names are often taken.

For a business that only sells in Nigeria, a .com.ng is cheap and clear. If you sell to Nigerians abroad, a .com may be worth the higher price.

What a domain costs

Prices change often and many registrars run first-year offers. As one example, Truehost Nigeria's domain price list shows the following as of October 2026:

Domain	First year	Renewal each year
.com.ng	₦6,500	₦7,000
.ng	₦9,000 (offer)	₦15,000
.com	₦13,000	₦20,000

Other Nigerian registrars such as Whogohost, QServers and DomainKing set their own prices, and some include a free domain when you buy a yearly hosting plan. Compare at least two, and look at the renewal price. A cheap first year with an expensive second year is a common trap.

Free and cheap website builders

A website builder is an online tool that lets you make a website by choosing a design and filling in your words and pictures, without writing code. Here are the options that make sense for Nigerian small businesses, as of October 2026.

Google Sites (free)

Google Sites is free with any Gmail account. Designs are simple, but clean and fast to load on phones, which matters when your customers are on mobile data. You can connect your own domain to a Google Site at no extra cost.

Best for: service businesses that need a simple information site: tutors, tailors, repairers, consultants.

Canva websites (free)

If you already design flyers in Canva, you can turn a website template into a live site. Canva's help page on publishing websites for free explains that free users can publish on a free canva.site address. Using your own domain needs a paid Canva plan, as of October 2026.

Best for: one-page sites, event pages and portfolios.

Wix (free plan, paid to remove ads)

Wix has a drag-and-drop builder (you move text and pictures into place with your finger or mouse) and many designs. Wix's own guide to its free plan explains that free sites use a long wixsite.com address and carry Wix branding, and sometimes ads. Connecting your own domain and removing the branding need a paid plan, priced in dollars (from $17 a month as of October 2026).

Best for: testing a design before you decide to pay for anything.

Payment storefronts (free, fee per sale)

Paystack and Flutterwave let you build a simple online store where customers pick products and pay by card, transfer or USSD. There is no monthly fee; you pay a small fee on each sale. These are not full websites, but for many online sellers they are all the "website" they need. We compare the fees in our guide on how to accept payments online in Nigeria.

Best for: Instagram and WhatsApp sellers who want customers to pay before delivery.

Selar (fee per sale)

Selar is a Nigerian platform for selling digital products, courses, tickets and some physical items. It charges a commission (a percentage of each sale); TechCabal reported a 4% to 6% fee for African currencies in 2024. Check Selar's current fees before you sign up.

Best for: coaches, trainers and people selling e-books or templates.

Bumpa (paid, with a free trial)

Bumpa is a Nigerian app for managing sales, stock and a simple online store. Bumpa's pricing page lists the Starter plan at ₦15,000 per quarter (about ₦5,000 a month) with a business website, and the Pro plan at ₦30,000 per quarter (about ₦10,000 a month), which includes a free .com.ng domain for the first year (you pay the renewal), as of October 2026. Both offer a free trial, and plans are billed every three months or longer, not monthly.

Best for: shops with many products that also want stock and sales records in one app.

Quick comparison

Builder	Cost as of October 2026	Your own domain?	Can take payments?
Google Sites	Free	Yes, free to connect	Add a payment link
Canva	Free on canva.site	Paid plan only	Add a payment link
Wix free	Free with ads	Paid plan only	Paid plan only
Paystack / Flutterwave store	Free; fee per sale	Limited	Yes
Selar	Commission per sale	Limited	Yes
Bumpa	From ₦15,000 per quarter	Yes	Yes

How to create a business website in Nigeria: step by step

Take Chika, who runs an illustrative cake and small chops business in Enugu. She wants corporate clients to take her seriously.

Step 1: Choose your domain

She checks two registrars and buys chikabakes.com.ng for one year. She registers it in her own name, with her own email.

Step 2: Pick a builder

She chooses Google Sites because it is free and lets her connect her domain.

Step 3: Gather your materials

• Five to ten clear product photos taken in daylight.
• Prices or "starting from" prices.
• Her WhatsApp number, address, opening hours and delivery areas.
• Her CAC business name registration number, if she has registered, for trust. CAC is the Corporate Affairs Commission, the government agency that registers businesses.

Step 4: Build four pages

1. Home: one line saying what she sells and where ("Birthday cakes and small chops, delivered across Enugu"), a photo, and an "Order on WhatsApp" button.
2. Products or Services: photos, short descriptions and prices.
3. About: a short story of the business, with a photo of Chika at work. People buy from people.
4. Contact: WhatsApp link, phone, email, address, map and opening hours.

Step 5: Connect the domain and publish

She follows Google's steps to connect a custom domain, which may include proving to Google that she owns the domain. Then she tests every page on her own phone with mobile data, not Wi-Fi.

Step 6: Share it everywhere

The link goes in her Instagram bio, WhatsApp Business profile, Google Business Profile, email signature and flyers.

Use AI to write your website content

Many people get stuck on the words. An AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Meta AI can write a first draft in seconds. Our guide on how to use ChatGPT for your business covers the basics.

Try a prompt (the instruction you type) like this:

I run a cake and small chops business in Enugu, Nigeria. We deliver
across Enugu and take orders 3 days ahead. Write short, friendly text
for my website's Home, About and Contact pages. Use simple Nigerian
English. Keep each page under 120 words.

Then edit it. Check every price, phone number and promise. Remove anything you do not actually offer. For product pages, our guide on writing product descriptions that sell with AI gives ready-made prompts.

Basic SEO so people find you

SEO (search engine optimisation) simply means making your website easy for Google to find and understand. You do not need an expert for the basics:

• Say what and where. Put your main service and city in the page title and first line: "Wedding cakes in Enugu".
• Use words customers use. People search "small chops price in Enugu", not "premium confectionery solutions".
• One page, one topic. Give each main service its own page or section with a clear heading.
• Name your photos. Rename "IMG_2034.jpg" to "red-velvet-cake-enugu.jpg" before uploading.
• Keep it fast. Use few, small photos. Slow sites lose visitors on mobile data.
• Link your Google Business Profile to your website, and your website back to it.

For the wider plan, see how to market a small business in Nigeria without a big budget.

How to avoid web designer scams

If you decide to pay a designer, protect yourself. These problems come up again and again:

• Domain in the designer's name. If they register the domain in their own name, they control your website forever. Insist the domain and hosting accounts are in your name and email, and that you get the passwords.
• Full payment upfront. Pay in stages, for example a part to start and the rest when the site is live and you have checked it.
• No written agreement. Get the price, the pages, the deadline, who pays renewals and how many changes are included, in writing. A WhatsApp message counts, but a simple signed document is better.
• Hidden yearly fees. Ask: "What will I pay next year, and to whom?" Renewal surprises are common.
• Copied templates sold as custom. Ask for past work and call one or two of those businesses.
• Disappearing designers. Make sure you can log in and edit basic things yourself, so you are not stuck if they vanish.

Mistakes to avoid

• Building a website before fixing WhatsApp and Google Maps. Those bring sales faster for most local businesses.
• Old prices. An outdated price list causes arguments. Use "from" prices if yours change often.
• No clear button to contact you. Every page should have a WhatsApp or call button.
• Letting the domain expire. Turn on auto-renew or set a calendar reminder a month before.
• Collecting customer data carelessly. If your site has a contact form (boxes where visitors type their name and message), only ask for what you need and keep it safe. Our guide to what the NDPA means for your business explains Nigeria's data protection rules.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to create a business website in Nigeria?

You can build one free on Google Sites or Canva. With your own .com.ng domain, expect a few thousand naira a year; Truehost listed ₦6,500 for the first year and ₦7,000 to renew as of October 2026. Paid builders and designers cost more, depending on what you need.

Is .com.ng or .com better for a Nigerian business?

A .com.ng is cheaper and shows you are Nigerian, which suits local businesses. A .com is better known abroad. Some businesses buy both and point one to the other.

Can I build a website on my phone?

Yes. Canva and Google Sites work on a phone browser, and Canva has an app. A laptop makes editing easier, but it is not required.

Do I need to register my business before getting a website?

No. Anyone can buy a domain and build a site. Registering your business, though, adds trust, and corporate clients and payment providers may ask for it. See our guide on how to register a business name in Nigeria.

Words to know

• Domain: your website's address, such as yourshop.com.ng, rented yearly.
• Registrar: a company licensed to sell domain names.
• Hosting: the online space that stores your website so people can visit it.
• Website builder: a tool for making a website without writing code.
• SEO: search engine optimisation, making your site easy to find on Google.
• Prompt: the instruction you type into an AI tool.
• Commission: a percentage of each sale that a platform keeps as its fee.

Next step

This week, write down what job you want a website to do for your business. If the answer is "take payments", start with a free store from a payment provider. If it is "look professional", buy a .com.ng and build four pages on Google Sites. For other free tools that help you run the business, see our guide to the best free tools for small business in Nigeria.