A weekly snapshot of rising stars, new launches, and what everyone's buzzing about.
Buyer's Guide: Website Builder
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Canva, finding it user-friendly and helpful with many templates.
Users love the variety of templates in Canva, appreciating their ease of use for various projects.
Users love Canva for its user-friendly interface and diverse features, enabling efficient professional design and collaboration.
Users find Canva's limited features frustrating for professional printing and font options, impacting design quality.
Users face limited options in Canva, struggling with specific charts and bulk creation limitations, affecting usability.
Users find Canva's premium pricing model frustrating, limiting access to essential features and templates for free users.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Google Workspace to be easy to use, enabling seamless access and integration across multiple platforms.
Users value the seamless team collaboration of Google Workspace, enhancing organization and easing communication across tools.
Users value the seamless integration of Google Workspace with other tools, enhancing efficiency and workflow management.
Users express frustration over missing features in Google Workspace, particularly lacking AI tools and simple email options.
Users find the limited features of Google Workspace restrict its effectiveness compared to other collaboration tools.
Users find Google Workspace lacking features for freelancers, with limited advanced meeting options and insufficient support.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of Webflow, enjoying its intuitive interface and fast publishing capabilities.
Users value the design flexibility of Webflow, enabling quick site creation and advanced customizations with ease.
Users appreciate the quick build speed of Webflow, enabling rapid page creation and client empowerment.
Users find the learning curve steep, requiring guidance and familiarity due to Webflow's complexity.
Users find Webflow's limited features frustrating, especially for complex content management and e-commerce capabilities.
Users perceive missing features in Webflow, including limitations on CMS nesting and file uploads affecting usability.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the extensive features of HighLevel, which help streamline their business organization and community integration.
Users value the helpful support team and appreciate the all-in-one organization features of HighLevel.
Users praise the exceptional customer support of HighLevel, making it invaluable for business growth and management.
Users find the steep learning curve challenging initially, impacting the ease of use while mastering HighLevel.
Users note the lack of advanced features in HighLevel, particularly regarding workflow and third-party dialer integration.
Users face a steep learning curve that requires consistent effort to keep up with changes and features.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users commend the ease of use of Wix, allowing quick and simple website creation for everyone.
Users love the easy creation process with Wix, making it perfect for first-time website builders.
Users value Wix for its user-friendly features, allowing easy site building and efficient updates for all skill levels.
Users find the limited customization in Wix frustrating, particularly when switching templates or managing device views.
Users find Wix's expensive pricing structure discouraging, especially for newcomers and unclear renewal cost policies.
Users find the pricing issues with Wix frustrating, particularly with high costs and unclear renewal policies.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find HubSpot Content Hub to be incredibly easy to use, streamlining sales and membership management seamlessly.
Users love the ease of organizing content with HubSpot Content Hub's intuitive drag-and-drop CMS.
Users love the beautiful interface and AI-assisted features of HubSpot Content Hub, enhancing efficiency and user experience.
Users find limited customization in HubSpot Content Hub, restricting the creation of tailored templates and mobile apps.
Users note a learning curve for HubSpot Content Hub, especially for those who are not very tech-savvy.
Users find the lack of customization in HubSpot Content Hub limits their ability to create tailored solutions.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users love the ease of use of Wix Studio, enabling effortless website creation and management for clients.
Users love the modern and visually stunning design of Wix Studio, which simplifies website creation for everyone.
Users appreciate the complete creative control and seamless adaptability of Wix Studio for all project scales.
Users find the limited customization options challenging, especially when using templates and trying to implement advanced features.
Users find Wix Studio has limited features that can hinder efficiency and complicate the website building process.
Users find limited options in Wix Studio for advanced features and integrations, requiring workarounds for complex projects.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use of CRMOne, benefiting from its modern interface and efficient task management.
Users value the shared customer database, streamlining lead management and automating follow-ups for better efficiency.
Users appreciate the personalized customer journeys in CRMOne, enhancing targeted communication and customer engagement effectively.
Users find the learning curve steep, requiring time and expertise for effective setup and customization of CRMOne.
Users are frustrated by the limited customization options in CRMOne, especially for advanced users seeking tailored solutions.
Users find the steep learning curve of CRMOne challenging, especially for advanced features and tool setups.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users find Duda to be exceptionally user-friendly, allowing quick website creation without technical expertise.
Users highlight the fantastic customer support of Duda, appreciating the quick and helpful responses for agencies.
Users value the easy creation process of websites with Duda, enabling seamless updates and customization for their clients.
Users find Duda's limited customization options frustrating, lacking integrations and flexibility in design features.
Users note limited features in Duda, specifically fewer integrations and templates compared to competitors like Wordpress.
Users note the missing features in Duda, desiring more templates, fonts, and creative functionalities.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the ease of use in WordPress.com, with seamless updates and a user-friendly interface for everyone.
Users value the extensive plugin support of WordPress.com, simplifying site management and customization for diverse needs.
Users love the easy creation process on WordPress.com, enabling both novices and pros to build websites effortlessly.
Users find the plugin issues frustrating, as updates and compatibility can complicate their experience with WordPress.com.
Users find WordPress.com expensive for essential features, requiring costly upgrades for a professional appearance and functionality.
Users struggle with limited customization options on WordPress.com, hindering site updates and advanced feature access.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users love the ease of use of Squarespace, making website building accessible for everyone.
Users appreciate the easy customization of Squarespace, enabling unique designs without coding experience.
Users love the beautifully crafted templates of Squarespace, enjoying their ease of use and design flexibility.
Users feel that Squarespace has limited customization options, restricting their ability to fully tailor designs as desired.
Users face poor customer support, experiencing long delays and inadequate responses during critical issues affecting their businesses.
Users struggle with integration issues for external tools, limiting functionality and scalability compared to competitors.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the ease of use of Hostinger, praising its simple navigation and versatile functionality for website management.
Users commend the responsive and knowledgeable customer support of Hostinger, ensuring quick resolutions and friendly assistance.
Users praise Hostinger for its affordable pricing, providing professional-grade hosting that suits startups and small businesses.
Users report poor customer support, with slow responses and limited assistance for complex issues and migrations.
Users find Hostinger's yearly payment plans too costly and desire more flexible options for hosting payments.
Users are concerned about pricing issues, noting the rigidity of yearly plans and high costs for WordPress hosting.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users commend the fantastic and responsive customer support from Divi, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction.
Users find Divi to be extremely user-friendly, making website building intuitive and efficient for all levels of expertise.
Users love the intuitive design and powerful tools of Divi, enabling them to create stunning websites effortlessly.
Users often experience slow performance with Divi, hindering their workflow and making tasks more challenging.
Users report that Divi has a slow loading issue, hindering their workflow and causing frustration during use.
Users find the expensive subscription model of Divi frustrating, preferring a one-time payment for features.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users appreciate the user-friendly drag and drop interface of GoDaddy Website Builder, simplifying the website creation process.
Users find the drag-and-drop functionality intuitive, enabling effortless website creation regardless of technical skills.
Users praise the ease of use of GoDaddy Website Builder, thanks to its intuitive drag-and-drop interface.
Users find the limited customization options frustrating, wishing for more tailored templates and features.
Users desire more customization options for templates in GoDaddy Website Builder to enhance their overall experience.
Users find the expensive upgrade management process unclear, often encountering persistent ad prompts and setup redundancies.
This description is provided by the seller.
Pros and Cons are compiled from review feedback and grouped into themes to provide an easy-to-understand summary of user reviews.
Users value the responsive and helpful customer support provided by Square Online, enhancing their overall experience.
Users love the customization options of Square Online, allowing for a personalized and unique online store experience.
Users love the intuitive drag-and-drop interface of Square Online, making site building quick and effortless.
Users find the lack of customization options in Square Online limiting for creating a unique website design.
Users find the limited customization options of Square Online restrictive, hindering their ability to create unique designs.
Users find the limited features of Square Online restrict customization and advanced needs for larger businesses.
Businesses and individuals use website builders to create complex, well-designed websites independently without the need for coding or design skills. Website builder software varies greatly in terms of the scope and intention of the website. Businesses may use a website builder for a simple informational site or as an outlet through which to build a complex storefront full of multimedia content and unique features. Individuals may create simple sites to display their online portfolio of creative work. Website builders may offer a free plan or a free trial, but creating a custom domain name and using the full breadth of available services will require the purchase of a full plan.
Key Benefits of Website Builder Software
With a website builder, you can:
Businesses use website builder software for a variety of reasons, but the main motivation is to end up with a high-quality, responsive website for a fraction of the cost of outsourcing the work. There is a slight learning curve for anyone using the software, but the ease of use is a significant draw. If you run any type of business, your business plan should include building and maintaining a robust web presence. Products in this category can significantly lower the barrier to entry and provide your business with a feasible option which you can use to maintain control over every aspect of the process.
Save Money – Website builders tend to be much cheaper than hiring a team of designers and programmers. Solutions in this category can be priced as low as $4.50/month, which includes use of the website creator and domain hosting. There are also free website builders, although their features are understandably more limited than those included in paid options. Hiring a team to design, build, and host your site may cost you thousands of dollars. Website builder software is far cheaper no matter how you slice it. Inclusion of e-commerce tools and advanced capabilities will run you quite a bit more than a basic package, but fall well short of the fees associated with traditional methods of website building.
Website builders have improved in the breadth and scope of their features, to the point where you have the capability to build a site nearly indistinguishable from a custom-designed and programmed site for a fraction of the cost. You can build an e-commerce shop complete with payment gateway directly into your website without any coding skills.
Expediency – When you contract out your website to be built, you’re putting the timeline in the hands of an outside team. While you have the power to pressure them to follow a specific timeline, the fact remains that the completion of the website is entirely dependent on how quickly they work. Teams are subject to the whims of different motivations, individual workloads, and managerial direction. By employing the help of a website builder, you take back the power to create and publish your website. If you want to build out the entire site in a few days and feel confident that it’s a product worth publishing, then you possess the power to do so.
Professional Quality – If you lack the design and coding skills necessary to carry out a custom build of your site, website builders offer the drag-and-drop tools you need to create a high-quality website on your own. The templates available via website builders offer non-dev folks the opportunity to create a professional website with a user-friendly interface, something that was the exclusive purview of real coding geeks prior to the creation and widespread use of these tools. Creating an interactive site is much easier to do with these WYSIWYG website builders.
Ease of Use – There are a ton of reasons to use website builders, but the ease with which you can create a website is a vital one. A drag-and-drop website builder places the power to create a well-built, responsive website with non-coders and non-designers. Now you can create a website and boost your online presence without going through the arduous process of learning how to program or design.
Updated content – If you use a webmaster and outsource your website build, that means that every time you want to update your site, you need to go through a third party. By using a website builder, you have the power to update your website as you see fit whenever you’d like to. Your site becomes much more nimble and easily altered by using a website builder.
The primary users for website builders are small businesses and personal sites, as enterprise-level sites require a bit more of a robust architecture to deliver the type of performance expected of an enterprise company.
There is a wealth of different website builder software features. Website builder software often includes, but is not limited to, the following features.
Social Sharing – Most website builders contain built-in social sharing tools so that you can provide your website visitors the opportunity to share your content on their favorite social media outlets. As your website’s social shares increase, your traffic will follow suit, your site will have more value to advertisers, and other avenues of monetization will open up.
E-Commerce Hosting – If your business revolves around selling a product, then an e-commerce feature set is key for your website builder. Some website builders allow you to build an online store directly into your site, complete with a payment gateway so that your website is truly a one-stop shop. E-commerce features will often require the payment of an additional monthly fee.
Email Hosting – Website builder software may include an email hosting option, which you can use to send all official website-related correspondence. An email address with your hosted domain name is an asset to your company and lends an air of professionalism to any and all business mail you send and receive.
Web Hosting – The majority of website builders contain hosting options to enable you to build and host your website through a single tool. If you outsource the build of a custom site, you have to deal with finding a proper web hosting service on which to house your site. A good web host may be difficult to find and adds another layer of complexity in terms of site maintenance, as web hosting services contain a separate basket of challenges.
Built-In Blog – Many website builders offer a blogging tool so you can write a blog directly within the application. Blogs are a vital traffic-driving tool for many websites who do not constantly churn out new content or product offerings. Built-in blogging tools facilitate the process of creating and maintaining your blog, which can be a major catalyst for boosting traffic numbers by providing a well of SEO-driven content.
Image Editing – Website builders often contain built-in image editing tools so that you can alter and enhance images you put up on the site. Image editing can make a huge difference between presenting a polished product and representing your business poorly online. The ubiquitous grainy image quality of ‘90s-era websites is not acceptable in the age of widely available photo editors and image editing tools. That tools of that ilk are built into these website builders means that there is even more opportunity to make your site look the best it possibly can.
Forms Builder – Website builder software enables you to build forms directly within the application instead of going to a third-party application. These forms can be valuable for signing up new members if your site is membership-driven or for soliciting and gathering information from your site visitors.
Preformatted Layouts – One of the best features of website builders is the variety of prebuilt site layouts that are available for you to select during your site build. These layouts are designed for different types of websites—some may be more design focused, while others draw attention to the products on the page. Building an e-commerce website requires different design and features than that of another business website, and a website creator may need different layouts for each.
Customization Options – Another fantastic feature of website builder software is the vast array of customization options that most offer. From different layouts featuring responsive design to multimedia content, there are a ton of options for you to choose from. While the options may not be as diverse as the number of options available to you with a web design company, which are limited only by the imagination and skill of the designers and programmers tasked with bringing your vision to life, there are solutions that offer a solid set of customization options. As customization becomes a key desire for businesses looking at website builders to create their sites, more website builders are allowing those with coding skills to create their own alterations to the templates and layouts provided by the software. One of the options available to those with coding knowledge is the ability to create a members area. This is valuable for membership sites, which require members to have a separate area walled off by a payment gateway.
Mobile Optimized – As an increasing percentage of all website visits are made on a mobile device, website builder software allows for the creation of a responsive, mobile-friendly site. The majority of the most popular website builders are HTML5-based, which means that it is easy to create a mobile-optimized site using the applications. Other sites that are not HTML5 based may offer a feature in which you can create a mobile-ready site.
While website builder software is a fantastic tool that opens the door for companies and individuals looking to build a legitimate online presence, it is not without issues. Some of the most glaring issues, issues which are addressed to varying degrees by different solutions, include the isolated nature of most builders, the lack of freedom associated with the free offerings, a tendency towards the generic, and the potential loss of SEO-driven content.
Isolated Solution – Website builder software tends to lack the ease of integration with analytics and third-party applications designed to enhance the capabilities of your website that custom-built sites may offer. More website builders are starting to offer integration with Google Analytics at the very least, but there are many other third-party analytics applications that you could use with a custom-built website to enable you to squeeze as much information and value out of your site as possible.
Lack of Domain Ownership – There are many website builders which offer a free domain site builder. A free website and free domain name sound fantastic, but the catch comes in the lack of ownership of your site. Should you want to switch over to a new domain, you’ll likely lose all of the SEO you’ve built into your content and have to start from scratch.
Lack of Originality – There are hundreds of millions of sites on the internet that have been designed and published using website builder software. While there are a variety of templates and customization options built into the quality website builders, the fact that so many sites are built using the same application means that your website will have the same feel as thousands of others. This is being addressed somewhat by newer website builders, which are allowing users to customize by uploading their own HTML code or by opening up the existing templates to extreme alterations, widening the breadth of arrangement possibilities.
Absence of SEO – Some website builders do not contain blogging tools or an option for users to build a blog within the site. This is a major drawback for SEO opportunities, as content is currently king when it comes to search engine results page (SERP) rankings. The more high-quality, relevant content that you can push out to your site’s visitors on a diverse range of high traffic keywords, the higher your site will appear in Google’s rankings and the larger share of traffic you will receive.
–