You’re ready. Here’s the exact order.
What follows is the complete build order what to set up first, what each tool actually does, and what everything costs before you spend anything.
Still figuring out whether this is for you? The New Here page is the better starting point.
Who are you going to help, and with what?
Not your niche. Not your funnel strategy. Just that one question. Once you can answer it clearly, everything else the content, the tools, the setup follows a logical sequence. Without it, you’re configuring infrastructure for a business you haven’t defined yet.
This isn’t a mindset exercise. It’s a practical prerequisite. The tools documented on this site are genuinely useful but only once you know what you’re building them for.
Three things. In this order.
Once you know who you’re helping and what you’re making for them, the build follows a simple logic.
Somewhere to send people. Something simple one page, one message, one thing you’re asking them to do. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It needs to be clear.
Somewhere for that page to live. A real web address that belongs to you, not a platform’s subdomain. Everything else connects to it.
A way to follow up. Not social media, not comments, not followers. An email list is the one thing you own regardless of what any platform decides to do next.
That’s the whole build at the beginning. Everything else is an upgrade you make when the basics are working. The tools below handle all three.
Three tools. The correct setup order.
Each one is used on real projects. Setup guides cover the full configuration in the correct order, including the steps most tutorials skip.
🌐 Hostinger
Set up first- Domain registration
- Web hosting
- DNS infrastructure
- WordPress hosting
- Domain purchase
- DNS configuration
- Connecting domains to Systeme.io
- Troubleshooting DNS propagation issues
- Website hosting fundamentals
Your domain is foundational. Everything else connects to it. Set this up first.
🔧 Systeme.io
Set up second- Landing pages and sales funnels
- Email sequences and automations
- Payment systems
- Customer journey infrastructure
- Account setup
- Domain connection
- Funnel and landing page configuration
- Email sending setup
- Automation setup
- Payment integration
- Deliverability essentials
Systeme.io handles your landing pages, email, and automations from one free account. Requires your Hostinger domain before the connection can be made — which is why it comes second.
📧 AWeber
When you’re ready- Standalone email list management
- Subscriber nurturing
- Campaign infrastructure
- Advanced email segmentation
- Account setup
- Domain authentication
- SPF/DKIM configuration
- Deliverability optimisation
- Campaign systems
AWeber is a standalone email platform for when you want more control over your list than Systeme.io provides. It can be set up independently but still requires your Hostinger domain for authentication. This is a nice-to-have at the start, not a day-one requirement.
No buried pricing. No surprises after you sign up.
Every tool, every plan level, every free plan limitation, every upgrade trigger — documented before you commit to anything.
| Tool | What it does | Entry cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Domain and web hosting | ~$2–4/mo | Billed annually. Domain often included first year. Renews at standard rate after promotional period. |
| Systeme.io | Landing pages, email, automations | Free | Free plan is real. Limits hit at 2,000 contacts and 3 funnels. |
| AWeber | Standalone email platform | Free | Free plan covers up to 500 subscribers. Paid plans from $15/month. |
| WordPress | Website CMS | Free | Open source. Installed via Hostinger in minutes. |
| Twenty Twenty-Five | WordPress theme | Free | Default WordPress theme. Free version is sufficient to start. |
| Rank Math | SEO plugin | Free | Free version covers all SEO essentials. |
| Kinsta | Premium managed hosting | $35+/mo | Not a starting point. Upgrade when traffic and revenue justify it. |
| ClickFunnels | Advanced funnel software | $97+/mo | Not a starting point. For advanced funnel builders with specific requirements. |
You can start with Hostinger, WordPress, Systeme.io, and everything else on this list for under $5 a month. Kinsta and ClickFunnels are upgrade paths for when the basics are already working not starting points.
Three mistakes that show up consistently.
Signing up for platforms before knowing who you’re helping means you’re building infrastructure for a direction you haven’t committed to yet. The tools are free to start but the time you spend configuring them for the wrong purpose isn’t.
Every platform has setup steps that happen in the background connecting your domain, authenticating your email sending, making sure the right records are in place. Most tutorials skip these because they’re harder to film. They’re also the steps that determine whether your emails land in inboxes or spam folders. They aren’t optional and they aren’t complicated they just need to be done in the right order.
Your landing page needs your domain. Your email needs your domain. If you try to set either up before your domain is configured correctly, each step creates a problem the next step can’t solve without going back. The correct order is in the setup guides follow it once and you won’t need to redo it.
Choose the path that matches where you are right now.
The technical setup documented on this site is one layer of building an online business not the whole thing. Once the infrastructure is in place, the work becomes content: making things that help the specific person you identified before you started.
That’s not covered here in detail because it depends entirely on who you’re helping and what you’re making for them. What is covered here the setup, the costs, the correct order is the foundation that makes everything else possible.
If you want to see how the full system works in practice, the case study documents a complete build from zero using these exact tools, in this exact order, in a niche that has nothing to do with online business.
See the case study →