Encontado help center
Short guides to building, editing, publishing and running your business website with Encontado.
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Getting started
Your first website takes a few minutes of answers and about 20 minutes of design.
Getting an account
New accounts are by invitation for now, a few at a time. Press Request access on the home page and give your name, your email address and your business name.
- We email you a link to confirm your address. Open it and press Confirm my email within 7 days to keep your place; the page then shows your place in line.
- When your spot opens, we email you a link to make your account (Create my account). It is just for you, works once and lasts 14 days. If it runs out, write to us for a new one.
- No email after a few minutes? Check your spam or junk folder. If you have not confirmed yet, asking again on the home page with the same address sends a fresh link and never takes a second place in line. If nothing arrives, write to us.
The interview
Choose New website in the studio menu and pick the kind of website you are making, such as a business website, a booking website or a portfolio. Then answer short questions one at a time, each on its own page with Next: your business name and your name, your contact details, what you do, who your customers are, what visitors should do, how the website should look and feel, what to keep from your current brand and anything to avoid.
- Every answer is needed, except your phone number, email address and street address, which you can skip if you would rather not show them, and your photos. The bar at the top shows how far along you are.
- Most questions have ideas written for your business and Show me an example. Short honest answers are better than long ones.
- Your answers are saved in your browser as you go, so you can come back later on the same device.
- The designer uses only the facts you give. It will not invent reviews, awards, staff or prices, so add the real ones.
- The look question shows a real website we built in each style. Press Demo site to look around one in its own window, then tap the style you like, or Surprise me.
- At the end, Check your brief and press Choose your colors. First choose a base color: tap one you like (a lighter or darker shade if you want), or type a color code, then press Build my palette. We build four colors around it: a background, a main color, a second color and a text color, always easy to read. Swap changes one for another that goes with the rest, Lock keeps one, Swap all (or the space bar) changes every color not locked, and tapping a color lets you pick it yourself. Your style shows in your colors as you go. Press Design my website, or Let the designer choose the colors. Your finished website is designed in full.
Importing your current website
If you already have a website, type its address in the Your current website card and press Read website. We read that page and up to five more pages on the same site: the text, headings, pictures, colors, fonts, phone number and email address. You can remove anything before the design starts.
Pages behind a sign-in, PDFs and some content that only appears with JavaScript may not come through. Add anything missing to your answers.
Photos, logos and documents
The last screen of the first question lets you add material the designer should use. All of it is optional.
- Logo and photos: up to 8 images (PNG, JPG or WebP, up to 15 MB each). Mark which one is your logo.
- Menus, brochures, and documents: up to 5 PDF, text or Markdown files. Scanned PDFs without real text may come back empty.
Where you have no photo, the designer picks stock photos from Pexels. Real photos of your work, your premises and your team are always better: add them later under Photos and swap them in. The only pictures the AI draws are logos, on the logo page.
While your homepage is designed
A homepage usually takes about 20 minutes. You can watch it take shape, ask to be told when it is ready, or close the page and come back: the work carries on without you. When it is ready you can Edit homepage, Build the rest of my website (about 20 more minutes), Ask for a change or Try another direction. Read What the designer checked before you publish.
Editing your website
Click anything to change it. Everything saves as you go.
Click to change
Open Edit website. Click a headline, paragraph, button, photo or background. A small card shows the controls for that piece. Type directly into words, or use the card for size, color and font. Photos have Replace. Use Position to line something up or change its size. Press More on the card for more controls. Undo takes back a change.
Open Edit at the top for Desktop, Tablet and Phone views, or use Preview to see the page without editing controls. The same menu holds Sections, Colors and fonts and Page settings. Colors and fonts apply to the whole website unless you choose This page. Check all three screen sizes after a large change.
The Grow handle opens your business tools beside the page. Switch a feature on or off there, or open its settings. For help finding a control, open Edit, then How do I…? or Show me around.
Pages and menu tabs
Click the page name at the top of the editor to choose another page. Choosing a page saves the one you are on and opens the other in the same editor. A page that is still being designed is marked. To add a page, open Website overview, choose Add a page, give it a title and say what it should cover, then press Design this page (about 10 minutes).
To change the navigation visitors see, open Edit, then Menu tabs: add, remove, reorder. You can rename, arrange or hide tabs, add a link, and choose which tabs go under More. These menu changes apply throughout the website.
Ask the designer
Ask the designer changes the page for you from a plain request. To change one part only, click it first: the note says Only this part will change, and the rest of the page stays exactly as it is. Otherwise the request applies to the whole page. A small change usually takes a few minutes, a whole page longer. You see Before and After, and choose Switch to the new version if you like it.
Requests that work well are specific:
- "Make the headline shorter and say that we deliver on weekends."
- "Move our opening hours up so they are the first thing people see after the photo."
- "Use a darker background for the reviews section so it stands out."
- With a button selected: "Make this say Book a table and link it to the booking page."
- "Add a short section about our catering service, using the details in my brief."
Requests that do not work well: "make it better" (say what you do not like), new facts the designer has no way to know (type them into the request), and new pictures. The designer cannot draw or find photos: upload your own under Photos, click a photo on the page and choose Replace. For a logo, use the logo page.
Undo and saved versions
Undo and Redo (or Ctrl+Z / Cmd+Z, with Shift to redo) step back through your last 40 changes. Under the Edit menu, History lists your saves of this page and the designer's versions of it, and Bring it back restores one of your saves. Original design returns to the designer's first version. History on the website overview lists every version of the whole website.
Publishing and your own domain
Put your website online at a free address, then add your own name.
Publishing
Press Publish in the editor, or Publish my website on the overview, and choose your address (name.encontado.com, 3 to 40 letters, numbers or hyphens). We check every page before it goes live, which usually takes a minute or two, a little longer for a website with many pages. The new address can take a few minutes to start working the first time; meanwhile it works at encontado.com/s/name/. After changes, press Publish my changes. Take offline removes the website from the internet without deleting it.
Connecting a domain you own
Your own domain comes with the paid plans, which are not on sale yet.
Publish first. Then open Your own web address and, under Connect a name you already own, type it as www.yourbusiness.com and press Connect. Copy each record we show (Type, Name and Value) into the DNS settings at the company where you bought the name. Two checks must pass, ownership and the security lock. That usually takes less than an hour and can take up to a day. Check now checks again, and Stuck? lists the usual fixes.
Buying a new domain
Buying a name comes with Plus and Pro, which are not on sale yet.
On plans that include it, Get a new name lets you search for a name, choose one and pay with Stripe. Name.com, Inc., an ICANN-accredited registrar, registers it in your name for one year, with privacy protection where the registry allows it, and we connect it to your website for you. If the registration cannot be completed, the payment is refunded automatically. If you ever delete the website, the domain stays yours.
After you buy, check your email: the registry asks you to confirm your address, and the name stops working if you do not within 15 days. A name does not renew on its own; we remind you before it expires. Every fee is on the domain prices page. On your domain page you can Update owner details and Get a transfer code to move the name elsewhere. The terms have the details.
Customer accounts
Let customers sign in on your website to see their orders and check out faster.
Turning accounts on
Open Grow your business, then Customer accounts, and choose Off, Optional or Required for some things (checking out, booking a time, getting event tickets or joining a membership). Customers sign in at /account/ on your website with any email address, using a password or a link sent by email. Sign in with Google and Apple appear as Not set up yet until they are available. Accounts belong to your website only, and Remove deletes one from your customer list.
Bookings
Take appointments on your website.
Setting up bookings
Card payments are not switched on yet. Anything here that takes a card payment will work once they are.
Open Grow your business, then Bookings. Set your Days and hours and What people book, then switch bookings on. New bookings appear on the Bookings tab. Deposits need Stripe to be connected.
Events and tickets
List events and let people sign up or buy tickets.
Adding an event
Card payments are not switched on yet. Anything here that takes a card payment will work once they are.
Open Grow your business, then Events and tickets. Free sign-ups work straight away. Paid tickets need Stripe; until it is connected your website shows that tickets are available soon. You can email everyone with a ticket, and cancelling an event refunds paid tickets automatically.
Quotes and invoices
Send a quote or an invoice and get paid.
Sending an invoice
Card payments are not switched on yet. Anything here that takes a card payment will work once they are.
Open Grow your business, then Quotes and invoices, and press New invoice. Email it sends it to your customer. Card payment needs Stripe; cash or cheque payments can be recorded with Record a payment.
Email newsletter
Write to the people who subscribed on your website.
Sending a newsletter
Open Grow your business, then Email newsletter. Add your mailing address in its settings (the law requires one in marketing email). Write it for me drafts an issue, Send a test to me checks it, and Send now or Schedule it sends it. Every newsletter carries an unsubscribe link, and people who unsubscribe are never emailed again. Only write to people who agreed to hear from you.
Billing and plans
Start free, and move to a paid plan when you want more.
Plans
Plus and Pro are not on sale yet. Free is available today.
Every website starts on Free: the full website, every page, a name.encontado.com address, the business tools, and publishing whenever you like. The plans page shows the paid plans, Plus and Pro, and whether they are on sale yet. Paid plans are billed monthly through Stripe, and you can cancel at any time; a cancelled plan runs to the end of the month you paid for. There are no refunds for part of a month unless the law requires one. If a payment fails and is not fixed within the grace period (currently 7 days), your websites move to the Free plan's limits and nothing is deleted. The terms have the details.
Content guidelines and reporting
What may be published, and what to do when something is wrong.
The rules
Every brief, upload, change and page is checked against the content guidelines. In short: tell the truth about a lawful business, use material you have the right to use, and nothing that harms or tricks the people who visit.
Reporting a website
Anyone can report a website built with Encontado, without an account, from the link at the bottom of every published website. Give its address and say what is wrong. A person reads every report.
If your brief or page was refused
Automatic checks sometimes get it wrong. Open Grow your business, then Blog, inbox, contacts and team, and the Content checks tab. Press Ask for a review, explain why, and press Submit appeal. A person reviews it.
Troubleshooting
Most problems fix themselves. Here is what to do when they do not.
A design is taking a long time
A homepage usually takes about 20 minutes, and a busy moment can make it longer. Your work is saved at every stage. If a design stops part way, Encontado notices and resumes it by itself from the saved draft, and the screen says Picking up where we left off. There is nothing you need to do, and you can close the page.
The designer could not finish
If a design still cannot finish, you see The designer could not finish this one, with Your work is saved. Press Continue the saved draft or Try again. If it happens again, try Edit my answers to shorten or simplify the brief, and tell us so we can look.
Publishing was stopped
Before a page goes live we check it on phones, tablets and computers. Only measured problems stop publishing: text that runs off the screen, text too faint to read, or a missing picture. The studio tries to fix these itself first. If it cannot, the message says which page; open it, fix or replace the item, and publish again. Check my pages on the overview runs the check without publishing. "The page changed during review" means an edit landed while we were checking: just publish again.
Signing in
You sign in to the studio with your email address (or your username) and your password. If you forget your password, choose Forgot your password? on the sign-in page: we email a 6-digit code to the address on your account, and you choose a new password. That signs you out on every other device. You can change your email and password under Account; changing the password signs out your other devices.
Your account and your data
Deleting a website, closing your account and privacy requests.
Deleting a website or your account
To delete one website, open its overview and choose Delete this website at the bottom, then type delete to confirm. It goes offline at once and its pages, versions, shop and customer records are removed for good; your photo library stays. A domain you bought stays registered to you. To close your whole account, ask us. Download anything you want to keep first. The privacy policy explains exactly what is removed.
Contact support
A person reads every message.
Write to us
Use the support form. If you are signed in to the studio, we see your username automatically, so you do not need to explain which account. You can also email support@encontado.com. To report a website that breaks the rules, use the report form instead.