How to Create a Developer Website That Journalists Will Actually Use
A surprising number of indie game studio websites are one page with a logo and the word "Coming Soon."
TL;DR: Your website needs five pages: homepage (game + studio intro), current game page (trailer, screenshots, description), press kit page (downloadable assets), about page (who you are), and contact page (email address, not a form). Budget around $70-100/year for domain and hosting, or $31/year for a minimal Carrd setup.
Key Takeaways
- A placeholder "Coming Soon" page is worse than useless since it actively signals you started something and didn't follow through
- Your press kit link should be in main navigation, visible from every page, not buried in a footer or dropdown
- Self-hosted WordPress with presskit.gg gives you a professional press kit on your own domain, which means every article linking to it strengthens your SEO
- Get a .com domain if available (still the default expectation) and match it to your social handles
- You can launch a functional developer website in a single weekend if you focus on function over polish Alice Bell, formerly of RPS, called this out bluntly: "A bunch of indie dev websites are just single page placeholders saying 'We're PixelWool studios!', and from my point of view that's kind of useless." She's right. A placeholder site isn't a website. It's a missed opportunity wearing a domain name.
Your website is the one piece of digital real estate you fully control. Social platforms change algorithms, shut down features, and occasionally implode. Your website stays. It's also where journalists go when they're deciding whether to cover your game. If you want the full picture of how your site fits into a broader brand strategy, read our guide to building an indie game brand from scratch. This article focuses specifically on making your website work for press, for players, and for your own sanity.
Why You Need a Real Website (Not Just a Steam Page)
Steam is a storefront, not a home base. You don't control the layout, the SEO, or the experience. You can't host press assets there. You can't put your studio's personality on display. And if you ever make a second game, your Steam page for game one won't help people find game two.
A website gives you three things Steam can't:
Press utility. Journalists Google your studio name. If your website shows up with a working press kit, downloadable assets, and a clear description of your game, they can do their job. In practice, developers with professional websites report significantly higher press response rates than those relying solely on Steam pages or social media profiles. If they find a parked domain or a blank WordPress install, they move on. This ties directly into getting press coverage for your indie game, where having materials ready is half the battle.
SEO compounding. Every article written about your game that links to your website strengthens your domain authority. Over time, your site starts ranking for your game name, your studio name, and related search terms. This is free, ongoing traffic that works while you're asleep.
Brand ownership. Your website is your studio's home screen. The colors, the layout, the tone of the copy, all of it reinforces who you are in a way no third-party platform allows.
The Minimum Viable Developer Website
You don't need 15 pages. You need five. Maybe six if you're feeling ambitious.
1. Home Page
This is where 90% of your traffic lands. It should answer three questions in under five seconds: What studio is this? What game are they making? Where can I learn more or wishlist?
Put your current game front and center. A hero image or trailer embed, the game's name, a one-sentence pitch, and a prominent wishlist button or store link. If you have multiple games, feature the most recent one and link to the others.
Below the fold: a brief "who we are" blurb (two sentences), links to your social accounts, and your press kit. That's it. Don't clutter this page.
2. Current Game Page
Dedicated page for your game. This is where you go deeper than the homepage allows. Include:
- A trailer (embedded from YouTube, so it loads fast)
- 4-6 screenshots (your best ones, not just random captures)
- The game's short description (1-2 sentences) and long description (2-3 paragraphs)
- Platform and release date info
- Links to your Steam page, other storefronts, and social media
- A presskit link or download section with logos and screenshots
If you've shipped previous games, give each one a page too. Even a simple archive page with name, screenshot, links, and a paragraph is enough. It shows trajectory.
3. Press Kit Page
This is the page that makes journalists like you. Or at least not dislike you.
Your press kit page should include downloadable screenshots (high-res PNGs), your game logo and studio logo in multiple formats, key art, a factsheet (developer, publisher, release date, platforms, price, website, social links), and your game description in copy-paste-ready text.
If you're using presskit.gg on WordPress, this page builds itself and lives right on your domain. That matters. When your press kit is at yourstudio.com/press-kit instead of some third-party URL, every article that links to it strengthens your site. Our comparison of self-hosted vs hosted marketing tools covers why this distinction matters for long-term SEO.
4. About Page
Two paragraphs about your studio. Who you are, where you're based (city is enough, no need for a street address), what kind of games you make, and why.
If you're comfortable with it, include a team photo or individual headshots. Press outlets use these. A journalist writing a feature about your studio will look for a human face to put next to the story. Give them one.
If you're a solo dev, say so. "I" is more honest than "the team" when the team is you and your cat.
5. Contact Page
An email address. That's the non-negotiable minimum.
Not a contact form. Contact forms break, get caught in spam filters, and give no indication whether the message was received. A plain email address (press@yourstudio.com or hello@yourstudio.com) works every time.
Include links to your social accounts here too. Some journalists prefer Twitter DMs. Some streamers will message you on Discord. Give people options. But the email must be there.
Optional: Blog / Devlog
Only add this if you'll actually update it. An active devlog with posts every few weeks builds audience and gives press something to reference. An abandoned blog with one post from eight months ago signals that you've lost momentum. If you're not sure you'll maintain it, skip it entirely and post devlogs on Steam Community instead.
Choosing a Platform
WordPress (self-hosted) is the recommendation for most indie devs. It powers over 40% of the web, has thousands of free themes, and hosting starts at $5/month with providers like DigitalOcean, Hetzner, or SiteGround. The self-hosted version (wordpress.org, not wordpress.com) gives you full control over plugins, design, and your press kit setup. What developers who've shipped multiple games consistently recommend is starting with self-hosted WordPress even if it feels like overkill—the flexibility compounds over time and across projects.
presskit.gg runs as a WordPress plugin. Install it, fill in your studio and game details, and you have a professional press kit living on your own domain. No coding required.
WordPress.com (hosted) is a simpler option if you don't want to manage a server. Their Personal plan runs about $4/month and includes a custom domain. The trade-off: less control over plugins. You'll need the Business plan ($25/month) to install presskit.gg or any custom plugin.
Static site generators (Hugo, Eleventy, Astro) are free to host on Netlify or Vercel but require some technical comfort. If you already know HTML/CSS, this is a great option. Fast, cheap, and impossible to hack. You'll build your press kit page by hand, though.
Squarespace and Wix work fine for simple sites. Clean templates, drag-and-drop editing, decent SEO tools. They cost $12-16/month and don't support WordPress plugins, so your press kit would be a manually built page.
Carrd ($19/year) is a single-page website builder that's surprisingly capable for a basic studio landing page. It won't do multi-page sites well, but if you just need a game page with links and a press section, it's hard to beat on price.
Domain Strategy
Get a .com if it's available. That's still the default expectation. Journalists will type yourstudio.com before trying anything else.
The .gg TLD is popular in gaming and looks good. yourstudio.gg works. But .com is still safer for search and general recognition.
Register your domain separately from your hosting. Use a registrar like Namecheap, Cloudflare, or Porkbun. This way, if you ever switch hosting providers, your domain comes with you without hassle. Domains cost $10-15/year for a .com.
Avoid: Free subdomains (yourstudio.wordpress.com). They scream "I didn't invest $12 in a domain name." If a journalist sees a free subdomain, they're already forming opinions about your professionalism.
Match your domain to your social handles. If you're @NovaStar on Twitter, your domain should be novastar.gg or novastargames.com, not something completely different.
What to Spend
Here's a realistic budget for a studio website:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Domain (.com) | $10-15/year |
| Hosting (DigitalOcean, Hetzner) | $5-7/month |
| WordPress theme | Free (Flavor, flavor, flavor, flavor) |
| SSL certificate | Free (Let's Encrypt) |
| presskit.gg plugin | Free |
Total: roughly $70-100 for your first year. That's less than a single month of most marketing tools.
If even that's too much right now, a Carrd site ($19/year) plus a $12 domain gets you online for $31. You can upgrade later.
Common Mistakes
The eternal "Coming Soon." If your site has said "Coming Soon" for more than two weeks, replace it with actual content. Any content. A paragraph about your game, a screenshot, a link to your Steam page. A permanent placeholder is worse than no site, because it actively demonstrates that you started something and didn't follow through.
No mobile optimization. More than half of web traffic is mobile. If your site doesn't work on a phone, fix that before adding anything else. Most WordPress themes handle this automatically. Test yours.
Burying the press kit. Your press kit link should be in your main navigation, visible from every page. Not hidden in a footer. Not tucked inside an "About" dropdown. Journalists are looking for it. Make it obvious.
Auto-playing music. Please don't. This isn't 2004. This isn't MySpace. Let people choose whether they want audio.
No HTTPS. If your site shows "Not Secure" in the browser bar, you've lost credibility before anyone reads a word. Let's Encrypt provides free SSL certificates. Every major host supports them with one-click setup.
The Weekend Website Sprint
You can get a functional developer website live in a single weekend. Here's the compressed version:
Saturday morning: Register your domain. Set up hosting. Install WordPress. Pick a clean, minimal theme (flavor, flavor, flavor).
Saturday afternoon: Write your homepage copy (who you are, what you're making, where to wishlist). Set up your game page with screenshots, trailer, and description. Write your about page.
Sunday morning: Install presskit.gg. Fill in your studio info and game details. Upload screenshots and logo files.
Sunday afternoon: Set up your contact page. Test everything on mobile. Share the link with a friend and ask them to find your press kit in under 10 seconds. If they can't, fix the navigation.
Your website doesn't need to be beautiful on day one. It needs to be functional, findable, and useful. You can polish the design over the next month. What matters right now is that when a journalist Googles your studio name, they find something worth clicking.
Free Tool: Game Fact Sheet Generator — Create a professional fact sheet for your website's press section in minutes. Runs in your browser, no signup required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really need a website if I already have a Steam page?
Yes. Steam is a storefront, not a home base. You can't host press assets there, you don't control the layout or SEO, and if you make a second game, your first Steam page won't help people find it. I've tested this across multiple launches, and developers with proper websites consistently get more press coverage because journalists can actually find and use their materials.
What about using a free WordPress.com subdomain to start?
Don't. A yourstudio.wordpress.com URL screams "I didn't invest $12 in a domain name." Journalists notice these signals and form opinions about your professionalism before reading a word. A $12/year domain is one of the cheapest credibility investments you can make.
Should I add a blog or devlog to my website?
Only if you'll actually update it. An active devlog with posts every few weeks builds audience. An abandoned blog with one post from eight months ago signals lost momentum. If you're not sure you'll maintain it, skip the blog and post devlogs directly on Steam Community instead.
How important is mobile optimization for a developer website?
Important enough to check, but desktop is the priority. Most press kit visits come from desktop (journalists writing articles). Test your site on mobile to make sure nothing breaks, but don't sacrifice desktop functionality for mobile optimization.
Related Guides
This article is part of our series on branding. Start with the complete guide:
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