You no longer need an iota of code training or knowledge to build your own website! Of course, knowing code will never hurt, but no learning of code is necessary when it comes to building your own beautiful, stylish, amazing website! In fact, for those boffins among us who do know code, many of the website builders could frustrate you because they may not be flexible enough for you. This is such great news for the likes of me who has no knowledge, or interest in learning, code! It’s fascinating and all, just not for me. So let’s get into it – Top 10 Online Marketing Tools – Website Builders, here we come …
Learning To Build A Website
I have built this very site with my fair hands under the training of the most amazing online platform ever, My #1 Recommendation – I have to mention that upfront because, for me, that has been the “short cut” to learning how to build a website and create the opportunity for online success – training, incredible community of successful online entrepreneurs and affiliate marketers!
I digress, the purpose of this page to to discuss the amazing variety of website builders available to us today. This wat of marketing has literally exploded in popularity, and why not? The online business model is an awesome one to pursue! Thanks to the world wide web, we have access to so many more opportunities than ever before! We just need to know how to build our websites and how to access the attention of 4 billion people online. (Thought I should mention the number in case you are doubting the opportunity or viability of taking your business online or creating your own online business). This is a very business focussed conversation but the truth is, websites are also being created for hobbies, family albums (special occasions such as 21st celebrations, weddings, holidays, christenings and more), civic clubs, NPO’s, sports clubs, book clubs … you name it! As you can imagine, there are website builders who cater to all the different markets too. Hence all the research I have done to bring you a host of reviews! I’ve said “Top 10 Online Marketing Tools – Website Builders” in the heading, the truth is that there are many more than 10 on the market and they do not all serve the same purpose or function. You will see as we walk our way through the territory.
Tips To Assist You With Choosing Your Website Builder
- Free Trial – This is essential. Ensure that you have access to a free trial period. I have yet to encounter one website builder that does not offer a free trial of some sort. At the very least, look for a money-bafck guarantee policy.
- Support – There are different levels of support offered, be sure you are comfortable with the one you sign up for. To give you an idea, some offer phone support, others online chat, then there are online forums that may be available. My preference is a website builder that offers 24/7 site support, even if it is online chat or email only. You make a decision for yourself on that.
- Pricing – this can be a minefield. There are loads of different pricing plans on offer, many of them do not detail the extra costs (for example, buying your domain, I have seen pricing of up to $25 per annum for a domain). Some website builders include the integrations with their pricing, others allow you to choose whether you want or need to pay for the integration. Keep these in mind, again, it is dependent on your needs.
- Features – Different websites will have different needs, as can be expected. There are some common features you may be on the market for:
- a solid blogging system
- SEO offerings which are customizable
- Mobile optimization
- Shopping cart
- Access to an image gallery
- Site security – this is becoming even more important “as we speak”. The search engines are specifically looking for site security now, that is your https:// (note the “s”) and also SSL
- Domain access – The freedom to purchase domains elsewhere and point it in the direction of your website builder, or purchase it within the website builders framework.
Reviews Conducted To Date:
Below you will find a list of the website builders I have reviewed to date, a brief overview and a link to the actual review too. Having all the information in one place is my way of making the job of finding the perfect website builder easier for you. Each of the reviews opens in a new tab which means it will be easy for you to navigate back to this page and find your way to the next review that piques your interest. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Wix Website Builder – Wix have more than 100 million users from what I have gathered. Their sites rank well in search engines and they offer an exceptionally flexible website builder proposition. Wix development speed is very high. They are rated highly for ongoing developments and features, their templates are very well designed (hundreds of them) and they offer a great App Market (for the likes of newsletters, events etc)
Weebly – Exceptionally user-friendly. One of the easiest website builders around. More than 40 million website have been created with Weebly. they offer great features, for example their online store and membership area. The content management system supports large websites (150 pages+). Their paid plans do not dictate storage or bandwidth limits. Weebly themes are stylish and mobile optimized. The template system enables you to further customize to your needs should you wish. The App Center offers a lovely wide range of extra’s made by Weebly and 3rd parties.
Strikingly – is a single page website offering. I have to say, their designs are exceptional and you can do so much more with a one page website than I had any expectation of. The name “Strikingly” certainly is apt when it comes to this website builder! Strikingly offer an online store functiionality, this is limited to 500 products at their highest plan level (VIP). There is also their free plan of course, so you really can head over there and have some fun without committing yourself financially. Just be aware that the free plan, like others, includes their branding on your site.
WordPress / SiteRubix – Part of my #1 Recommendation, there is so much I can tell you about with this amazing platform. It certainly has everything I need – and more! Please don’t take my website as an example of these best you can do with WordPress / SiteRubix, my skills are still extremely limited so I cannot possibly do justice to what they have to offer. Suffice to say though, if I am able to build this website, you have to know that everything offered here is exceptional! Have a read of the review, you’ll understand when you do.
Simplesite – This website builder really excels and lives up to its name when it comes to ease of use. SimpleSite offers it’s users a user-friendly way to create basic websites. It is a pleasure to build a website with the simple editor. As mentioned earlier in this article, there are website builders that do not offer a lot of creative freedom, Simplesite is one. This can frustrate those looking for creative freedom. Having said that, the user-friendlines of SimpleSite will be an absolute blessing to the technically challenged.
Squarespace – I had loads of fun with my Squarespace review, that’s not to say it was more fun than the others – you will see what I mean when you view it. Squarespace has been in existence since 2003 and millions of websites have been created on their platform. The deigns of their site is clean and the aesthetics are absolutely gorgeous. Squarespare is not inexpensive and their offering may just be worth it for you. The extremely beautiful themes are all mobile optimized and they claim to have one of the best blog functions around – second to WordPress.
Webnode – a unique website builder offering in that Webnode provides a platform for multilingual websites AND they offer support in 20 languages! That is unique to webnode, I have not encountered another multilingual website builder offering as yet. In the review you will be exposed to some of the templates offered by Webnode and witness the website builder in action as I create my pet and housesitting website for demonstration purposes. I am sure you will enjoy the review and encourage you to take a look. In terms of the platform, only you can decide if webnode offers everything you need. They are somewhat short when it comes to app integrations, but if multilingual is your primary requirement, then the lack of apps is something you will find your way around.
Well folks, that is a much as I have to share with you right now when it comes to Website Builders. Be assured though, I am working on reviews consistently and you can expect to see even more in the very near future.
I am very interested to know which Website Builders you would like me to review – drop a comment in the section below!
Blessings always
