How to Make a Bakery Website From Scratch in 10 Steps

This guide is for bakery owners who want to create their first website without a large budget or a dedicated IT team. It assumes comfort with online tools but no prior web development experience. We will cover every step from site structure and visual design to domain setup and web hosting. The guide also details site tests and the main tools you need to launch a beautiful, functional online home for your bakery.

Step 1: Plan Your Site Structure and Gather Content

Before you build, define your website’s purpose. Who are your customers? Decide the top actions you want them to take, like placing an order, viewing daily specials, or finding your location. These goals will shape your site’s design and priority pages.

Map your website’s navigation on paper. Most bakery sites need a Homepage, Menu, About Us, and Contact page. You might add a page for custom orders. Keep your main navigation to seven items or fewer to prevent a cluttered look for your visitors.

A common mistake is to use a single, long menu page. This forces customers to scroll endlessly, which is frustrating on mobile devices. Instead, organize your menu with clear categories like “Breads,” “Pastries,” and “Cakes,” perhaps on separate pages for easy navigation.

Gather Your Assets

Collect all your content before you start. A shared folder from a service like Google Drive or Dropbox keeps everything organized. This simple step prevents delays and makes assembling the site much smoother.

• Brand materials: Your logo and official brand color codes.
• Photography: High-resolution photos of your baked goods, shop, and team. Aim for a consistent style across all images to look professional.
• Written content: Your bakery’s story, menu descriptions, and answers to frequently asked questions.
• Credentials: Logins for tools you will connect, like social media or an online ordering platform.

Finally, write your core message. Articulate what your bakery offers and who you serve in a few clear sentences. This exercise forces clarity. A focused message ensures your website effectively communicates its purpose to every visitor from the start.

Step 2: Choose Your Design Approach

Your website's design is the first impression you make. It can build trust in seconds. You have three main paths to a great design, each with different costs, timelines, and technical needs. For most bakeries, a pre-built template is the best choice for its speed and affordability.

Templates offer a fast start. Marketplaces like ThemeForest or TemplateMonster have options designed for food businesses. Look for mobile-friendly designs with layouts for menus and photo galleries. A common mistake is picking a template for looks alone. This leads to problems if it lacks online ordering features. Instead, prioritize templates built for restaurants.

If you want more control, a UI kit provides pre-made components like navigation bars and footers that you assemble. This requires some comfort with code. Options like Tailwind UI or Bootstrap themes offer great flexibility. You can build unique pages without a blank slate, but it takes more time than a template.

A custom design offers a completely unique site but requires a larger budget. You hire a designer to create mockups in a tool like Figma before development. This process ensures the final site matches your vision perfectly but can add weeks or months to your project timeline.

Establish a Style Guide

Whichever path you choose, create a style guide first. This document ensures your brand looks consistent everywhere on your site. It is your single source of truth for all design decisions.

• Colors: Select a primary brand color, a secondary accent, and a neutral. Document the exact hex codes for each one.
• Typography: Choose two fonts at most. Google Fonts offers many free, web-optimized choices. A clean sans-serif font works well for body text.
• Spacing: Use a consistent system for margins and padding. This creates a clean, organized feel for your visitors.
• Image Standards: Define standard dimensions for your hero images, product photos, and team pictures to maintain a uniform look.
• Button Styles: Define styles for primary actions, like “Order Now,” and secondary actions, like “Learn More.”

Reference this guide for every page you build. A consistent website appears professional and trustworthy. Inconsistency makes a site look amateur and can confuse your customers.

Step 3: Set Up Hosting and Your Domain

Your domain is your website’s address, and hosting is the building where it lives. You must select both to get your bakery’s site online. This step ensures customers can find you and that your site runs smoothly.

Choose Your Domain Name

Select a domain that is short, memorable, and includes your bakery’s name. Prioritize a .com extension. A common mistake is a clever but hard-to-spell name. This sends potential customers to the wrong site or makes them give up entirely.

Instead, pick a simple name like “YourBakeryName.com.” Register it through a service like Namecheap or Cloudflare Registrar for about $10-20 per year. Enable auto-renewal immediately to avoid losing your domain when it expires.

Select Your Web Hosting

For most bakeries, platform-bundled hosting from builders like Squarespace or Wix is the simplest path. If you use WordPress, managed hosting from a provider like Kinsta is a strong choice because they handle all technical maintenance for you.

• SSL Certificate: This shows your site is secure. Without it, browsers warn visitors, which hurts trust and stops orders. Most hosts provide this for free.
• Automatic Backups: Daily backups are your safety net. If your site crashes during a holiday rush, a backup restores your menu and ordering system without losing business.
• Reliable Support: When online ordering fails on a busy Saturday, you need help fast. Look for hosts with 24/7 support to resolve problems and keep sales flowing.

After purchase, connect your domain and hosting by updating the nameservers. Your host provides instructions for this. The connection can take up to 48 hours, after which your website will be live on your domain.

Step 4: Build Your Site With Replit

Replit offers a unique way to build your website. Instead of drag-and-drop templates, you use plain language to describe your needs. Its AI Agent then writes the code, sets up the backend, and deploys your site automatically, giving you a custom web application without manual coding.

How to Direct the AI

You direct the build with simple instructions. For example, tell the Replit Agent, “Build a bakery website with a menu page, a custom cake order form, and a photo gallery.” The AI generates the complete site, from visual design to database connections.

A common mistake is to give vague instructions. This leads to generic results that miss your brand’s feel. Instead, provide specific details like, “Add a contact form that sends inquiries to my email” or “Connect the order form to Stripe for payments.”

Key Features for Your Bakery

This approach moves beyond simple templates. It allows you to build dynamic features like a custom cake builder or a wholesale order portal. The platform tests its own code, which reduces bugs and lets you focus on your bakery, not on technical problems.

• Instant Build and Deployment: Start a new project on Replit and describe your site. The AI handles the code, server setup, and deployment, putting your site live on a Replit subdomain immediately.
• Iterative Refinement: Review the result and give feedback. Use commands like, “Make the ‘Order Now’ button orange” or “Add a section for daily specials on the homepage.” The AI will update the code for you.
• Custom Domain and Integrations: Connect your custom domain through the project settings. You can also integrate tools like Figma for design or add secure user accounts for wholesale customers without manual configuration.

Step 5: Integrate Key Services

Your website rarely stands alone. It connects to specialized services that handle functions like payments and scheduling. Set up accounts for these tools first, then connect them to your site to add powerful features without building them from scratch.

Collect Orders and Payments

To sell baked goods directly, you need a payment processor. For most bakeries, a service like Stripe is a great start. If you also have a physical shop, Square unifies your online and in-person sales. These platforms handle all secure transaction details and PCI compliance.

A common mistake is to use a simple contact form for custom cake orders. This creates a messy back-and-forth over email to confirm details and collect payment. Instead, use a form builder like Jotform or Tally that integrates with your payment processor to capture everything at once.

Understand Your Audience

Install analytics on day one. A free tool like Google Analytics 4 shows you how visitors find your site and which menu pages get the most views. This data helps you refine your offerings. For a privacy-focused option, consider Plausible.

Build a customer list with an email marketing platform. Add a signup form from a service like Mailchimp or ConvertKit to your footer. You can then send newsletters to announce holiday pre-orders or weekly specials, which helps drive repeat business.

• Appointment Scheduling: For services like cake tasting consultations, embed a tool like Calendly. It lets customers book a time slot directly from your site, which avoids phone tag.
• Social Media Links: Add icons in your footer that link to your social media profiles. Avoid embedding live feeds, as they slow your site and distract from your main goal, which is to secure orders.

Step 6: Build and Populate Your Core Pages

Build your site one page at a time, starting with the most important ones. Each page must have a clear purpose and guide visitors toward a single action, like viewing your menu. This systematic approach creates a functional and effective website for your bakery.

Your homepage is your digital welcome mat. It needs a beautiful photo of your best-selling items and a clear headline. Add prominent buttons like “Order Online” or “View Menu” to guide visitors. You can also feature testimonials from happy customers to build credibility from the first click.

A common mistake is to use low-quality, unappetizing photos. This undermines the perceived quality of your baked goods and can lose you a sale. Instead, use bright, clear photography that makes your bread and pastries look as delicious as they taste. Good photos sell food online.

After the homepage, create these supporting pages to provide details and build customer trust. Each one should have a specific job to do.

• Menu Page: Organize your offerings into categories like “Cakes” and “Breads.” Include a mouth-watering photo, a short description, and the price for each item. This makes browsing easy and encourages customers to add more to their cart.
• About Page: Tell your bakery’s story. Share your passion for baking and introduce your team with friendly photos. This helps build a personal connection and turns casual visitors into loyal customers who appreciate your craft.
• Contact Page: Provide your address with a Google Maps link, phone number, and hours. For legal protection, add a Privacy Policy using a generator like Termly or TermsFeed.

Step 7: Test Across Devices and Get Real User Feedback

Testing reveals problems that are invisible during development. Budget time for this step. A rushed launch with broken features damages the credibility you worked hard to build. Your site must work flawlessly for every potential customer, on any device they use.

Check All Devices and Browsers

Your site must work on mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. Check it on both iOS and Android. A common mistake is to only test on your own new phone. This leads to a poor experience for customers with older devices, who may abandon their cart if the site is unusable.

Instead, test on an older model or use your browser’s developer tools to simulate different devices. For more comprehensive checks, services like BrowserStack or LambdaTest let you test on real remote devices. This ensures your menu is readable and your order buttons are tappable for everyone.

Confirm Functionality and Accessibility

Next, confirm every part of your site works as expected. A broken link or a form that fails to submit can cost you a sale. This is also the time to check for basic accessibility so all customers can use your site, which is an ethical and often legal requirement.

• Click every link and submit every form. Verify your custom cake order form sends all details to your email correctly.
• Test interactive elements like photo galleries. Ensure your embedded map displays the correct location and that all images have descriptive alt text.
• Check that your site is navigable with a keyboard. Also, use a tool like the WebAIM Contrast Checker to ensure your text is readable.
• Check your site’s load speed. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix score performance and offer fixes.

Get Real User Feedback

Automated tools miss what actual humans notice. Ask three to five people who are unfamiliar with your site to test it. Give them specific tasks, like “Find the price for a birthday cake” or “Place an order for a dozen croissants.”

Watch them without help. Note where they hesitate or seem confused. Their struggles reveal navigation problems or unclear information. This feedback is invaluable to fix issues before your grand opening online. For ongoing insights, consider a tool like Hotjar.

Step 8: Launch and Establish Ongoing Maintenance

A successful launch maximizes visibility, and a maintenance plan keeps your site effective long-term. Launching is not the finish line. It is the start of your website’s life, where it begins to attract customers and drive sales for your bakery.

The Pre-Launch Checklist

Before you announce your new site, perform one final walkthrough. Check every page, link, and form. This final review ensures that a customer trying to pre-order for a holiday finds a working form, not a broken page that costs you a large sale.

• Confirm all placeholder text is replaced with your final content.
• Verify your address, phone number, and hours are correct.
• Test that all forms send submissions to a monitored email inbox.
• Ensure all images load properly and have descriptive alt text.
• Check that your SSL certificate is active so the site uses HTTPS.

Announce Your New Website

Coordinate your launch announcement across all your channels. Send an email to your customer list, post on social media, and update your print materials. This ensures your loyal customers are the first to know about your new online home and menu.

A common mistake is to forget your Google Business Profile. This sends customers looking for your hours to an old, broken link, which causes frustration and lost foot traffic. Instead, update your website URL on Google Business the moment you launch.

Create a Maintenance Plan

A website needs regular care to remain effective. Set a recurring schedule to check your site’s health and update content. This prevents outdated information, like advertising a seasonal special that is no longer available, from confusing your customers and hurting your brand’s credibility.

• Weekly: Test your order forms and review analytics for any unusual activity.
• Monthly: Update time-sensitive information like weekly specials or holiday hours.
• Quarterly: Review all pages for outdated content and refresh your bakery photos.
• Annually: Perform a full content audit and renew your domain registration.

Use a free service like UptimeRobot to get an alert if your site goes down, which is vital during peak order times. Finally, submit your sitemap to Google Search Console to help search engines find your new site and menu pages faster.

Want a shortcut?

Replit offers a faster path. Instead of manual building, you describe your bakery website in plain language. Its AI Agent writes the code, sets up the backend, and deploys your site. This approach allows for custom features beyond templates, like a detailed cake builder or a wholesale portal for cafe partners.

The AI handles all technical details, from database connections to deployment, so you can focus on your business. You get a custom, production-ready website without needing to be a developer. Sign up for free and describe the bakery site you want to build.