Program: Weebly
Website: www.weebly.com
Price: Plans ranging from absolutely free to $25/month
Rank: 90/100
Intro – What is Weebly?
Launced in 2007, Weebly created its service to help individuals easily build websites, blogs, and online stores without using a single line of code. Unlike other website builders that try to cater to everyone under the sun – Weebly separates itself by focusing solely on first time business owners.
The company simply wants to make it easier for budding entrepreneurs to get online so they could launch their business, sell their products, and build their personal brands in a unique and interesting way. In order to make this happen, Weebly keeps their features list simple and effective, consisting of an intuitive drag and drop website builder, a solid eCommerce platform, and responsive themes that work beautifully across all devices.
This simple nature of the website has turned out to be a huge success, leading to 30 million users – making Weebly one of the best website builders on the marketplace.
If you’re thinking about signing up to use Weeby – this article will help
answer all your questions, so you can make a better informed decision regarding whether the site will meet your unique needs and preferences.
What types of features do you get at Weebly?
One of the great things about Weebly is they differentiate themselves from generic website builders by offering a long list of features – you’ll find everything you need from simple eCommerce tools to SEO tools, and everything in between.
Below are screenshots of the prominent features you’ll come to enjoy:
It’s clear from the long list of features that Weebly is so much more than just a website builder – they go above and beyond by giving you access to high quality features that are crucial to your businesses success. Whether it be the App Center, the SEO tools, or the multiple video hosting options – you can rest assured knowing that Weebly provides you with the exact tools you need to take your business idea to the next level.
How does it work?
Using Weebly is very simple and easy – you won’t be facing much of a learning curve, considering the site is very user-friendly.
I recommend browsing through the list of themes available. Depending on whether you want to create a website, build an online store, or design a personal site – you need to ensure you can find a theme that fits your needs. There’s no point in signing up, only to find out that you dislike all the themes.
Luckily, Weebly’s simple and clutter free website makes it easy for you to discover whether or not the themes are worth your time. Simply visit the themes section of the website, and glance through the available themes – make sure to filter your results by your category of interest (Weebly does a great job at differentiating themes according to online store, personal site, and business).
If you like what you see – the next step is to create a free account. Creating your account is very fast and effective – you won’t have to fill out long forms, instead you can simply sign up using your Facebook or Google account.
After you have signed up and created your account – you can begin customizing and designing your website using the drag and drop builder. It’s
quite easy and simple to use – you just have to drag and drop text, images, and layout to match your needs.
Once you’re done designing your website, I highly recommend integrating third party apps, using the SEO tools, and branding your own domain – this will help take your site to the next level.
Pricing
Whether you’re a casual website builder or you’re a serious business owner – you’ll find a pricing option that fits your exact needs. The service offers a range of pricing options that cater to just about anybody.
The free plan is designed for casual non-professionals who simply want to launch their website on Weebly’s domain. Keep in mind, however, that these websites come equipped with advertisements promoting Weebly – meaning your site isn’t actually yours to fully control.
If you want greater power over your site – you’ll have to upgrade options or simply purchase your own domain.
As far as the pricing options go – you have a choice between the Starter Plan, the Pro Plan, and the Business Plan.
Each plan is listed below:
Free – $0, but will have a Weebly domain, limited options and have their ads displayed on your site
Starter – $8/month
Pro – $12/month
Business – $25/month
What are the advantages of using Weebly?
There are a lot of website builders out on the marketplace – making your choice a difficult one, regarding which one will best serve you. So what makes Weebly special and why should you consider using it?
Weebly separates itself from other website builders by doing an exceptional job at providing the following advantages:
Simple and very user-friendly – One of the things that struck me right away about Weebly is how user-friendly and simple it is to use. The site has absolutely no clutter, consisting of just the basics you need to kick start your website. This is a huge plus in my eyes, since it makes it very easy to bring your new website to life.
You can edit the code for templates – The majority of the website builders don’t actually let you edit the code for templates – they want to preserve templates as they are, so you can’t really customize the templates to match your needs. With Weebly, however, you can edit the code – allowing you to tailor the templates to fulfill your unique needs. This is a huge plus, especially if you’re familiar with HTML.
SEO friendly – The service comes armed with everything you need to ensure your site is SEO friendly – you’ll be granted easy access to changing the title, meta, and description tags.
Competitive pricing – Weebly’s price is very competitive and affordable. Price isn’t everything, but it’s definitely an important factor to consider when choosing between different types of website builders.
Full access to both simple and complex features – The downfall of major website builders is they cater to making the site as simple as possible – meaning you only get access to basic features. With Weebly, however, you’ll have full access to not only the basic features, but also more complex features that will greatly improve both the design and quality of your site.
Exceptional customer service – If you’re having problems, you can reach out by email, chat, or phone – Weebly has very fast response times.
The main issues with Weebly…
Like with any website builder – Weebly has its fair share of issues. The most prominent of which are discussed below:
Minimum number of themes available – Compared to other website builders, Weebly doesn’t actually have that many themes to choose from. Considering design is one of the most crucial aspects for you to consider, you may be better served choosing another website builder with a larger number of themes.
Lack of organization – Although Weebly does a pretty great job at effectively managing the display of content – it can improve its services by creating a better system that allows you to easily filter, edit, and create new pieces of content.
High switching costs – Once you’ve chosen Weebly as your website provider, it can be difficult switching to your own domain, or to another website builder. Weebly makes this exceptionally difficult, since you’ll have to manually export your content.
Who’s it for?
Although the service is marketed towards first time business owners – the site can be used by just about anyone looking to create a website.
It’s a great tool for non-tech savvy individuals who want an easy and simple way to bring their ideas to life.
You can use Weebly to create simple pages and shops – if you’re desiring something much more complex, however, you probably want to stay clear of using Weebly. There are better options out there for you.
What are users saying?
According to reviews from WhoIsHostingThis, the main complaints were:
Ineffective customer service related to individual coding issues – One of the drawbacks of Weebly letting you edit the source code for design templates is they cannot attend to each and every issue related to individual codes – meaning if you choose to edit the code, you’re pretty much on your own.
Using the drag and drop editor can prove to be challenging at times – The drag and drop editor can be a pain to deal with for certain design needs.
Conclusion – Is this service right for you?
If you’re in need of a simple website builder that you can use to create your site, grow it by using SEO, and integrate third party applications – Weebly is an option to consider. It has great functionality and offers a very cool and pleasant user experience. Weebly may be good for some, but definitely not everyone.
If, on the other hand, you’re more into design – you need to realize that Weebly falls behind its competitors in terms of design. If design is a strong priority for you – you probably want to choose another website builder altogether.
If you are thinking Weebly may not be a good fit for you, check out my #1 recommendation for beginners to build and host their websites.
Leave a Reply