What Front Step Sites Does, Who It's For

Updated October 2, 2026

Front Step Sites is a done-for-you website service for small businesses in the US. You answer a few questions about your business, a website gets built for your trade, and the $99-a-year Launch plan includes the domain, hosting, and local SEO setup with no separate setup fee. It fits a business owner who wants a real website live this week without learning a page builder; it's not the right fit for a business that needs a custom design, an online store, or a booking system built from scratch.

What does Front Step Sites actually build?

Front Step Sites builds a website specific to your trade, not a generic template with your logo dropped in. A plumber's site and a salon's site ask for different information up front and end up with different pages, because a plumber's customer wants to see service area and emergency availability, while a salon's customer wants to see services and booking. After the initial build, you don't touch any code. You sign in to your account, write what you want changed in plain English, like "update my Saturday hours to 9 to 2" or "add a page for water heater installs," and the change gets made and published.

How much does it cost, and what's actually included?

The Launch plan is $99 a year with the domain included and no setup fee. That covers hosting, the domain registered in your own name, and local SEO setup, plus 2 change requests a month completed within 2 business days. A Grow plan is also available at $29 a month or $290 a year, for businesses that want unlimited change requests turned around the same business day, plus their Google reviews shown on the site.

For comparison, as of September 2026 a Wix Light plan billed yearly runs $17 a month, or $204 a year, and Squarespace's Basic plan runs $19 a month. Both of those prices get you a page builder you still have to build and maintain yourself. The Front Step Sites vs. Wix comparison walks through that tradeoff in more detail: a lower starting price against hours of your own time spent building and fixing the site.

Who is Front Step Sites actually for?

Front Step Sites fits a small business owner who wants a working website without becoming the person who maintains it. That's often a trade business, plumber, electrician, locksmith, HVAC company, or a local service like a salon, auto detailer, or cleaning company, where the owner's time is worth more spent on the job than on a page builder. About 73% to 83% of small businesses in the US now have a website, with the share rising from 64% in 2018, according to figures compiled by Network Solutions' 2026 small business website statistics, which leaves a meaningful share of owners who still don't, often because building and maintaining one themselves never made it to the top of the list.

It's not the right fit for a business that needs a full custom design with a unique layout, an online store with inventory and checkout, or a booking and payments system built into the site itself. Front Step Sites quotes that kind of work separately rather than pretending a $99-a-year plan covers it.

How do you actually get changes made?

You sign in to your account and write the request the same way you'd describe it to a person: what you want changed, and where. A request like "swap the homepage photo for this one" or "add Saturday hours" gets made, published, and you get a reply when it's live. Launch includes 2 of those requests a month, done within 2 business days; Grow is unlimited and same-day. Every change is saved, so anything can be undone, and anything larger than a small change, a full redesign or a new feature, gets a price quote before it costs you anything.

Do you own your domain and your site?

Yes. The domain is registered in your own name, not Front Step Sites' name, which matters more than most new customers realize at first. The guide to choosing a domain name and the guide to who actually owns your domain both cover why registrant ownership is the detail that decides whether you can leave a provider cleanly later. With Front Step Sites, you can leave any time and take your domain with you, with no transfer fee, aside from the standard 60-day registry lock that applies to any domain right after it's registered or moved, which is not specific to this service.

What happens if you already have a domain or want to leave later?

If you already own a domain, it moves into your account at no extra cost and stays registered in your name, or it just gets pointed at your new site if you'd rather manage it elsewhere. If you decide to leave Front Step Sites later, you take the domain with you and there's no fee for doing so.

Frequently asked questions

Is Front Step Sites the same company as FRONTSTEPS?

No. Front Step Sites (frontstepsites.com) is unrelated to FRONTSTEPS, the property-management and HOA software company. They happen to share a similar name.

Who actually builds and updates the site?

Front Step Sites does, working under written rules for how your site can change. That's part of how the $99-a-year price stays possible instead of requiring an hourly rate for every small edit.

Can I get a custom design instead of the standard trade template?

A full custom design is outside the $99-a-year plan, since that plan depends on a consistent, trade-specific starting point. Larger design work gets quoted separately before it costs anything.

What if I need an online store or booking system?

Those aren't included in the base plan. Front Step Sites will quote that kind of feature separately if you need it, rather than trying to squeeze it into a $99-a-year site that wasn't built for it.

Is there a contract or a cancellation fee?

No long-term contract beyond the plan term you're on, and no fee to leave. The only real constraint is the standard 60-day domain lock that applies right after a domain is registered or transferred, which every registrar enforces.

The short version

Front Step Sites is a $99-a-year, done-for-you website for small businesses, domain included, with changes made for you instead of by you. It fits an owner who'd rather spend time on the job than on a page builder, and it's not built for a business that needs a custom design, a store, or booking software from day one. The "Get started" button on this page shows a sample site for your trade before you decide.