Udemezue John
Introduction.
A famous quote of Bill Gates, “If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business”, is undeniably the adhering truth of our time.
We now live in times when businesses are moving off from traditional forms restricted by location into an internationalised form utilising the cloud called the internet.
A website will communicate your brand consistently over and over again. A website can provide hundreds of consumers with your company information all at the same time.
A website can promote your website at any location, place or time. A website is your most loyal employee because they never quit and always work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
A website’s sole purpose is to talk to your customers and tirelessly promote your business. No employee will do that for you.
Having an online presence has become a necessity for various businesses worldwide, but not all these businesses have the needed skills to make it happen.
Developing an essential website comes with the need to understand fundamental web technologies.
Still, with technologies improving now and then, website builders have been created to make people without these skills develop their websites without stress.
What is a Website Builder?
A website builder is a tool that allows you to develop an entire website without coding experience. A website builder converts your drag-and-drop commands into code that translates into a website.
Website builders can either be hosted by the company or connect to your hosting provider. In addition, most website builders offer a selection of themes or templates suitable for different types of websites.
In the old days building a website required a lot of coding and work. Now there are much more efficient solutions.
For example, using a website builder, you can have your website running in seconds instead of minutes.
Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Websites Builder?
The way a website builder works is simple. You start by choosing a template that defines your website’s look and feels.
Next, you use a drag-and-drop editor to build your website by editing the template, adding content and creating new pages.
Drag-and-drop means dragging and dropping components and content into your workspace. For example, you can add headings, texts, images, videos, and many other features.
Here are some of the reasons why your business needs a website builder.
1. Setting up a website is Faster.
We live in a time when small businesses are fast emerging, hence the need for quick solutions to fundamental problems, and this is where website builders come into play.
As a small business owner, you need to release a professional, well-designed website out into the world sooner rather than later.
But with a website builder, this could happen in days instead of weeks.
This is why website builders are purposely built to make the whole process of creating your website fast and easy.
2. It is cheaper than hiring a web developer.
As a new business, you dont have the luxury of hiring skilled web developers to build your website for you.
But if you had the budget and time, you would already have a website that did what you needed it to.
Hiring a professional designer typically costs $2,500-$6,000 but could cost less or more depending on your particular needs and who you hire.
This is not a good spend for a new business; in any case, the cost of a website builder is more accessible to fit into a tight budget than the cost of bringing on a skilled professional.
3. You don’t have to learn to code.
Coding is a liability; as a new business, you should know that managing codes take a lot more than managing an entire industry; it’s often regarded as a different department in top companies.
Learning to code takes time that you don’t have when running your business day after day.
You can subscribe to a website builder to make things easier to cut off.
4. Using a website Builder gives you tons of flexibility.
Everyone at a point in time wants to tweak their website as they wish, but websites that are not designed with website builders will have issues with this because business owners have to keep visiting the website’s source code.
Having a website builder allows you to do many things, such as choosing a specific colour option, Fonts, Backgrounds, and Formatting.
Even working within a pre-designed template, you can create something wholly unique that represents your brand effectively without having to crash your website from the ground up.
5. You can make site updates from anywhere.
Businesses should consider using a website builder because their business lives online, meaning that you can update your website anytime you have access to the internet, a browser, and your login info.
Anytime someone needs to update the website, they only need to know the address of the website builder and how to log in.
6. Your Site Becomes responsive.
The most important way for small businesses to stay up-to-date in the tech world is to create a website for a long time. Now, it’s essential to make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Mobile internet usage has become even more common than desktop within the last couple of years.
Many of the users you want visiting your website will be doing their web browsing on mobile devices.
That means you don’t just need a nice looking, professional website – you need one that looks good and works well on mobile devices; this is called “Responsiveness” in web development.
One of the best ways to create a mobile-friendly website is to make your website responsive.
Most website builders come built-in with responsive websites that make it easy for you; all you need do is choose one out of these templates, and it solves it all for you.
How Do You Choose a Website Builder For Your Business?
If you want to create a website and don’t have experience coding, a website builder is the easiest way to do it.
The other option is to build your website yourself, but this requires knowledge of coding or hiring a professional. The benefit of hiring someone is that you have complete control of how the website looks. Here are some tips to help you when choosing a website builder.
1. What is Your Budget?
First, you have to figure out what you can afford; not every business has the same budget for website designing. It will help if you start by considering the other costs involved in building your professional website.
Every website budget has to account for domain registration, hosting and website building. Many website builders offer a free plan, but most charge between $5 to $40 a month for programs that provide the features businesses likely need.
If your budget is limited, you can save money by looking for plans that bundle different website services you need.
2. Consider Your Business needs.
Before you decide on the best website builder platform, you need some idea of what you want your website to be and do.
The kind of business you intend to run determines what website builder you need. Your business needs to have a Landing page, Blog, or E-Commerce feature; then, you would choose website builders that offer such a solution.
3. See How Easy It Is to Use.
Next up is the ease of use; your website builder should be easy to use without reading too much documentation.
Any website builder you use will be much easier than building a website with coding and programming, but that doesn’t mean they will be easy for you to use.
One way to understand how easy a website builder is to turn to user reviews for this; you should also make sure to try it out yourself, play with it for a while and see if it is something you can teach to other people.
4. Check Out the Resources and Support.
Adequate documentation is necessary when it comes to tech products, an intuitive website builder will require a period of learning, and the more features a website builder offers, the more you’ll have to learn.
Before you choose, check that the website builder you’re considering has resources that will help you learn all the ins and outs of how it will work.
Ideally, your website builder will provide tutorials on using all the different features and make the main changes you’ll need to design your website.
If you learn better by video or text, check if the website builder provides resources in the best format.
One place to check this out is on YouTube; Google searches many more.
5. Explore various options.
You don’t need to be able to code to build your website. However, using a website builder is likely to be quicker, easier, and more convenient than doing it yourself.
Selecting the best website builder for your business requires some careful thought. It will not always be the cheapest website builder.
I recommend that each business explore as many options as possible. Here are some of the samples I recommend that you try.
1. Elementor.
Elementor is a drag-and-drop page builder for WordPress. This WordPress plugin allows you to create beautiful pages using a visual editor in WordPress for free.
It was launched in 2016 and has reached more than 180 countries, pulling over 9 Million active installs, with around 4.5K five-star reviews in the WordPress repository.
Elementor works with WordPress and not as a standalone website builder; this means you have to purchase a domain name and a valid WebHost n order to start using Elementor on your website.
However, If you’re not tech-savvy, the Elementor WordPress plugin gives you a visual editor that allows you to drag any of the 90+ widgets to design unique websites that suits your standard.
Using the Elementor Website Builder, you can build an entire website with specific landing pages from scratch using a no-code-based approach. In addition, you can design sales pages, promotional pages, and even custom forms.
Elementor offers a free plan as well as multiple paid subscription plans. If you want to access more advanced functionality, such as the ability to add forms and custom CSS, you can upgrade to the pro version for $99.
TRY IT NOW – Elementor.com
2. Business Site By Google.
Google Inc also launched a single page builder functionality called Business site alongside its Google My business platform.
Business owners that cannot afford to develop a website can leverage the Business Sit by Google. You can create a simple website with Google My Business that looks great in under ten minutes. Creating and editing from your computer and phone is free and easy.
TRY IT NOW- Businesssite.google.com
3. Wix.com
Wix is a free website drag and drop builder founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan.
Users must buy premium packages to connect their sites to their domains, remove Wix ads, access form builder, add e-commerce capabilities, or buy extra data storage and bandwidth.
Wix gives customisation website templates and a drag-and-drop HTML5 website builder that includes apps, graphics, image galleries, fonts, vectors, animations and other options.
Wix App Market offers both free and subscription-based applications, with a revenue split of 70% for the developer and 30 per cent for Wix.
Customers can combine third-party applications into their websites, such as photograph feeds, blogging, music playlists, online community, e-mail marketing, and file management.
TRY IT NOW- Wix.com
4. Weebly
Weebly’s free online website creator uses a simple widget-based site builder that operates in the web browser; Consumers are given the option to have any URL ending in .weebly.com, .com, .net, .org, .co, .info, or .us. (example.weebly.com)
Android and iPhone apps allow users to track traffic statistics on their website, update blog posts and react to comments, and add or change items if they have an online e-commerce shop.
Essential features for blogging and e-Commerce are supported: site owners can develop simple stores with payments through either PayPal, Stripe or Authorize.net.
Users can include advertisements on their pages and track visitor statistics via an in-house tracking tool or Google Analytics.
Weebly is offered in 15 languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Polish, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Turkish.
TRY IT NOW – Weebly.com
5. WordPress
WordPress is another service that allows you to build your website—WordPress in Both the free and paid versions. The free version comes alongside features that make it easy for you to get started with your website at no cost at all.
These features include A free Domain, Drag and drop builder, and unlimited hosting.
All you need to get started with WordPress is a valid WordPress account. The paid version is included alongside your paid host and domain server.
You will find the paid version of the WordPress platform after you have born and bought your domain from your domain name and hosting registration. You can get a domain name and a hosting plan at a very affordable price at Bluehost.
TRY IT NOW- WordPress.com
6. Designmodo.
Designmodo is a multi-purpose online website builder that allows you to create stunning websites coupled with a newsletter to impress your customers in the long run. It was founded in 2010 and has grown from a small startup into a huge online business empire.
Designmodo also presents articles, tutorials and industry news about drifts and procedures. The website is visited by specialists from small to large companies and is used as a source by many design and coding schools.
Designmodo comes with many features that make building a website and email templates possible, including Email Template Builder, Website Builder web pages, and Drag and Drop Bootstrap template builder.
TRY IT NOW – Designmodo.com
7. Format.
The format is an online website builder and content management system designed for photographers.
If you are a photographer seeking a perfect platform to run your business, you should consider Format as an ideal solution.
One exciting thing about using Format is that it allows you to sell all kinds of products, prints, packages, Lightroom presets, and digital products in your store. In addition, there are no fees, and you keep 100% of your royalties.
The format has taken the burden out of editing and customising an online portfolio on both the desktop version and the Format iPhone app. The interface is user-friendly, and easy to customise the galleries, just like using WordPress, Blogspot and many other Drag-and-Drop CMS.
If you are the coding type and like to edit and debug your code, Format has made it easier for you. First, you need to access the advanced editor, which allows you to modify the existing CS, HTML, and Javascript.
Each theme comes standard with an ‘About’ page that includes the alternative of automatically linking to one’s Instagram feed, making it even easier to build a social audience. The format also comes outfitted with a built-in blog, advanced editor and client-proofing system.
Format operates a 3-tiered pricing model ranging from $7.99/mo ($6/mo if billed annually) to $32.99/mo ($25/mo if billed annually) and covers hosting costs.
TRY IT NOW – Format.com
8. Sellfy.
Sellfy is a website builder designed to power your storefront in seconds instead of weeks. All of the storefronts are optimised for the mobile world, and it lets you take Buy Now buttons and widgets and execute them on your website.
While Using Sellfy, You don’t have to stress designing your website, and you can upload 2GB per file and use unlimited bandwidth. The good news is that you can forget about hosting.
Instead of maintaining a completely different MailChimp account, Sellfy gives you custom purchase emails that send out automatically.
Everything proper marketing and third-party features are enabled by default when you subscribe to Sellfy. In addition, Sellfy pricing is one very great platform that comes with affordable pricing, which allows you to do all you can instantly.
Pricing starts at $29 per month. Features include unlimited products, Store customisation, Discount codes and end at $129 per month for all Pro features.
I wrote a comprehensive review to help you get an in-depth overview of how Sellfy works.
TRY IT NOW – Sellfy.com
9. Blogger By Google.
Google Inc owns a blogger; it gives you a free domain and unlimited hosting services.
You can also leverage its platform to get your website up and running. You also get to access free and unlimited templates and easy customisation.
Blogger comes alongside drag and drops functionalities that allow any newbies to edit and modify their website to any shape they want.
Also alongside the Blogger platform is the ability to modify your source code. For Developers and web designers, The blogger platform allows you to manipulate the source code of your website to whatever shape you like.
All you need to use the Blogger platform is a Google account; After that, you can log in and authenticate via your Google account and start building your website for free.
Also, You might later want to consider starting a blog of your own. The Blogger platform is free and unlimited content management that allows you to host all your text and images at no cost.
You can also start making money with the Google Adsense Program alongside the Google Blogger platform.
TRY IT NOW- Blogger.com
10. Squarespace.
Squarespace is an excellent website builder created by Anthony’s dorm room at the University of Maryland in the year 2003. Since its launch, it has grown from a team of 1 to over a couple of 2,000 employees, and millions of websites have been created on the Squarespace platform.
Squarespace comes with many exciting features to get your business website up and running, including website templates, Domain name purchase, email marketing, Extensions, professional email, Logo Maker, stories, analytics, and fully integrated eCommerce features.
Squarespace comes at an affordable price which starts at just $12.
TRY IT NOW- Squarespace.com
11. Shopify.
Shopify is an online website builder created to help business owners launch their online stores in just a few clicks.
Shopify was created about ten years ago after writing this article and has grown from just a team of 5 people in a coffee shop to over 5,000 across the globe. Over one million businesses currently subscribed to Shopify to build their online store.
Shopify comes with a lot of exciting features that were integrated to help online business owners to start their businesses, some of which include: 70+ professional themes, Brand and customises your online store, Mobile commerce ready, Edit HTML and CSS, Your domain name, Full blogging platform, Free SSL certificate, over 100 payment gateways supported, Multiple languages, Search engine optimised, Generated sitemap.xml, Social media integration, and many others.
Shopify gives every new customer a new plan to start with but later bills you at a cheap $29/Mo, which can be upgraded.
TRY IT NOW- Shopify.com.ng
12. Ucraft.
Ucraft was created to help small and big business owners launch their websites without technical know-how.
Ucraft was founded in 2014 by a group of design enthusiasts; there are over 360,000 websites currently powered by the Ucraft engine.
Ucraft comes with many exciting features, some of which include: Online store creation, Landing page creator, Blogging platform, Logo maker, Designer tools, Free web hosting and many others.
Ucraft comes bundled with an easy to use the platform and affordable pricing to get started. All you need to get started with Ucraft is just a limited free plan that can be upgraded, starting with a $10
TRY IT NOW – Ucraft.com
13. Webflow.
Webflow was designed to help non-geeky business owners to start their online businesses at affordable pricing.
Webflow comes with features that allow non-geeky personalities to build their websites quickly, most of which include: Web Design features, CMS, eCommerce, Hosting, and search engine optimisation.
Webflow comes at a very affordable plan that allows you to start hacking for free and upgrade to a paid plan starting at $12/Mo.
TRY IT NOW – Webflow.com
14. HubSpot Content Management System.
HubSpot is a top-notch CRM tool with a full-featured CMS and website builder. Utilising their platform, you can design website pages, blog posts, and landing pages either from scratch or their pre-built templates.
The Hubspot content management system allows its users to be able to take advantage of its platform to create, design and customise unique websites using all of its built-in features such as Free Chatbot builder, Email marketing software, Website themes, Drag-and-drop editor, Serverless functions, Memberships, Website traffic analytics, Password-protected pages, Built-In AMP support for blogs, Google Search Console integration, Drag-and-drop editor, Multi-language content creation and many others.
Hubspot content management system is entirely on the high side, at about $270/Mo. The major turn up about this brand is that it gives you everything needed to scale your business online.
TRY IT NOW – Hubspot.com
15. SITE123.
Site123 is an online website builder that allows a no-code platform for building various websites such as Single or multipage business websites, online stores, Blogs and Landing pages.
Site123 comes with excellent features to design and manage your website. These include custom domain name, navigation depth, monetisation, eCommerce, search engine optimisation, contact form, newsletter tool, blog, backup and restore, HTML Code and support.
Their pricing arrangement is not straightforward, sadly. You can pick from various plans, but you have to register a free account first.
It allows you to try out everything as long as you want. If you like their offering, you can decide to go for a pro plan. You’ll get a free domain the first year and the ability to generate as many email accounts.
TRY IT NOW – Site123.com
16. Hibu.
Like Hubspot, Hibu is an independent digital marketing solution company that helps businesses succeed online.
Hibu allows businesses to create a marketing program designed to increase online visibility, drive visitors to their website and generate leads.
Best of all, you get all get and access to your digital marketing from a single source.
Hibu comes pre-designed with unique features that allow you to set up a website, Google my Business listing, social media pages, Search engine optimisation, and launch and manage campaigns via social media and search engines.
Hibu comes at affordable pricing, initially starting for free. However, the free plan only allows you to build and host your website; enjoying other features will require an upgrade in a project.
TRY IT NOW – Hibu.com
17. Jimdo.
Jimdo is a german online website builder and all-in-one hosting solution created to allow users to build their websites without any web design knowledge.
Jimdo is built with a website builder created for users with basic computer skills and automates most of the website construction process. It applies artificial intelligence to understand the user, their business, and their purposes, then creates a website that is already wholly personalised to meet their demands.
Jimdo comes shipped in with unique features that help business create their online presence, such as Optimization for mobile devices, Social media integration, Video embedding, Google maps, Photo galleries, Contact forms, SSL/HTTPS encryption and even an online Logo creator.
Jimdo comes shipped in with a free plan but can be upgraded to access more features.
TRY IT NOW – Jimdo.com
18. BigCommerce.
Bigcommerce was designed to power eCommerce platforms on the internet with no hassle. It was created in 2009 to provide businesses with a reliable eCommerce platform to sell online.
Bigcommerce comes with features that help small, medium and large scale eCommerce businesses scale online, including Page Builder Visual Editor, Theme Customization, WordPress Integration, Mobile Optimization, Site Speed, Merchandising, Coupons & Discounts, Digital Wallets, Multi-Storefront, Multi-Currency and Multi-Language.
Bigcommerce comes with two plans: the Essential plan and the Enterprise plan.
The Essential plan starts at just $29/Mo and can be upgraded if more features are needed.
TRY IT NOW – Bigcommerce.com
19. Pixpa.
Pixpa’s easy, drag-and-drop website builder empowers you to design your stunning portfolio website without any coding experience.
Pick from fully customisable, stunning website themes to showcase your work. Your mobile-ready, online portfolio website comes with all the peculiarities and tools you need to improve your creative business.
Pixpa has excellent features that allow you to develop a fantastic website without prior coding knowledge, including Landing page websites, eCommerce websites, features, pricing, testimonials, etc.
Pixpa is not free to use, but it comes at an incredibly affordable price, starting at $7/mo.
TRY IT NOW – Pixpa.com
20. Instapage.
Instapage is the most extensive landing page software provider. They consider themselves the leader in post-click optimisation conversion rate optimisation at scale.
Instapage comes alongside excellent features that make creating a landing page way easier, such as
1. A drag-and-drop editor.
2. Integrations with significant email and marketing tools like Marketo and MailChimp.
3. Detailed landing page analytics.
4. Creation of mobile-responsive pages.
5. Publish pages quickly.
6. A clean user interface.
7. Customizable templates.
8. Access to professional stock images
9. Collaboration tools
Instapage’s product is a modern drag-and-drop landing page editor that enables marketers to create pixel-perfect landing pages for paid advertising optimisation and quick landing page creation.
Instapage features hundreds of various templates and plenty of support for entrepreneurs and enterprise clients who intend to take their online business to the next level.
Instapage supports leading brands across 100 countries to capture more value from their campaigns, with over two million landing pages created and put to use.
TRY IT NOW – Instapage.com
21. Zyro Website Builder.
Zyro website builder stands as one of the most fantastic website builder products ever launched as a service. DIY website builder Zyro has an excellent interface and some unique and compelling design tools that give you a lot of authority over how your online presence appears and functions.
Zyro lets you build beautiful and functional pages and create e-commerce shops. Still, it also has a few standout features, including a copy generator and a logo-building tool that removes much of the need for professional assistance. Putting it all together, Zyro is an all-in-one tool designed to take care of your online business.
Like WordPress and many other website builders, Zyro has a fantastic feature that allows you to run your blog quickly. You can scale your blog on Zyro today.
Zyro has more than 100+ beautiful templates (with more than 40 more soon coming down the pipe) that serve as the anchor on your website-building journey.
Zyro’s templates follow the responsive design principle, meaning that your site will adjust itself to look good on desktops, tablets and mobile screens.
Zyro comes at cheap and affordable pricing, making it pocket-friendly and easy to set up.
First of all, the wallet-friendly option is Not for free, but Zyro has have 30-day money-back guarantee. And you get 1GB of storage monthly data transfers.
Zyro has three packages: Website ($2.90 per month), Business+ ($4.90 per month) and Advanced Store ($15.90).
Both programs include Unleashed features but add order tracking, inventory management, the ability to accept online payments, sell gift cards, and other business-centric features.
Getting started is a simple affair. Zyro tasks you to create a username and password and select a site template.
I recommend you begin hacking now with the Zyro website builder. Click the button below to get started.
TRY IT NOW – Zyro.com
22. Webnode.
Webnode is an excellent website builder designed to take your web design experience to another level. Vit Vrba founded it, and its headquarters are located in Zug, Switzerland. Launched in 2008, it has already helped over 40 million users create their websites.
The first beta version was launched in January 2008 following 16 months of meticulous development. Ever since Webnode has been around for more than ten years, it’s currently one of the fastest-growing website builders.
Webnode got you. If all you need is a professional website for your company, a beautiful portfolio or a user-friendly e-shop, you have the right tool to build the website just the way you want.
Webnode offers a variety of features to develop personal, business, and e-commerce websites. But, of course, the most prominent function of all is the drag and drop website editor.
With this tool, you can create a website in minutes without dealing with any unique code unless you want to.
Webnode comes with lots of useful features, and they include;
1. Easy-to-use drag-and-Drop Builder
2. A wide range of modern-looking templates
3. E-commerce features
4. Google Analytics integration
5. Social media integration
6. Search engine optimisation support.
7. Free domain and ability to integrate custom domain.
8. Security and Speed.
9. Professional Email accounts.
10. Free professional photos.
11. Inbuilt analytics.
12. Membership registration integration support.
13. Free form builder.
14. Payment and shipping integration.
15. CMS for blogging.
16. Quick customer support.
Webnode comes inbuilt with four different price tiers, and they include;
1. Profi($22/mo).
Big sites need up to 5 GB of storage, unlimited bandwidth, 100 email accounts, multilingual sites and a Free Domain.
2. Mini ($7.50).
A good solution for smaller projects that need professional email. It still shows a Webnode ad. In addition, you also get 500MB of storage and 3GB of bandwidth.
3. Limited ($3.90).
Connect your domain name, and get up to 300MB of storage and 1GB bandwidth. It includes a Webnode link in the footer.
4. Free ($0).
Displays a small Webnode ad. Doesn’t include own domain name up to 100 MB of storage.
TRY IT NOW – Webnode.com
23. PageCloud.
PageCloud makes it easy for creators and businesses to build beautiful, high-performing websites with No coding experience. PageCloud helps you do it quicker and with boundless creativity.
PageCloud, with its robust drag-and-drop editor, is for people who care about creating long-lasting impressions with design.
PageCloudWebsite builders bring web design to the masses. They let you create attractive pages without coding knowledge; if you seek an alternative to Wix and Weebly, then I think you should give PageCloud a trial.
Some of the downsides of using PageCloud lie that Templates aren’t automatically mobile-responsive; most add-ons require setting up accounts with third-party sites to install, and it’s expensive for those just building a simple site.
PageCloud comes in three-tier pricing models, which are; Small Business($19), Business ($29) and Pro, which is billed at ($50)
PageCloud comes with excellent features such as; Professionally design templates, Drag and drop editing, eCommerce integrations, Search engine optimisation, collaboration with Team members, Blogging, SSL security and many more.
TRY IT NOW – PageCloud.com
For more information on website builders, I recommend you follow the link to the article below to get started.
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