How To Choose A Website Builder

Need to set up a website but you have zero coding knowledge and can’t afford a developer? Website builders are the way to go. However, there are tons of website developers in the market. How do you even find the right solution for your business?

What is your goal?

First, you really have to define what you hope to accomplish with your website. Is it to increase traffic to your store? Do you wish to sell an e-book? Or perhaps, you’re a yoga instructor hoping to get more people to try out your classes?

Defining your goals will not only help you identify what features you need from a website builder and whether or not it can grow along with your business. This might also be the right time to define the following:

- Who’s your audience or target market?
- What kind of templates they wound find most appealing. Modern? Vintage? Minimalist?
- How many pages do you think your website needs?

To code or not to code?

Well, that is really not the question here because web builders are designed primarily for the people who can’t code. You can launch your first website from scratch without a line of coding using website builders like Wix and Squarespace. Their drag-and-drop functionality makes creating your website’s structure similar to building blocks using LEGO®!

If however you wanna flex your coding muscles, you can look at using Wordpress. Sure, it requires a bit of a learning curve, but it opens up a lot more customization capabilities.

Is the website builder user-friendly?

This is a major consideration especially if you are a complete beginner and have never tried building a website before. You’ll need a builder that’s intuitive, straightforward, and requires no coding skills. For this, find one that offers a drag-and-drop and WYSISWG (what you see is what you get) editor. If you’re after the speed rather than the flexibility or creative freedom, you can choose a website builder with themes that require little to no customization.

What is your budget?

If you’re just planning to build a simple blog, an online business card, or a personal website, you won’t have to spend a lot. However, expect to pay a premium if you need a website with more advanced features such as e-commerce capability.

Almost all website builders offer a free plan, but of course, features are limited and you’ll end up paying separately for extras such as domain hosting, plugins, storage space, extensions, and more.

This is a good way to test if it’s something you like before committing on a plan. Many website builders allow you to pay monthly, bi-monthly, or annually and offer a money-back guarantee from between 2-weeks to 90 days. If you know that two weeks will not be enough to test the website builder, make sure to choose one that has a longer trial or money-back guarantee.

What level of customization do you require?

If you need a good amount of flexibility and creative freedom, make sure to choose a website builder that offers a high level of customization. Depending on the design and functionality you have in mind, you may want to be able to change the font or colors, add images and videos, animations, and more.

It is also important to find out if you’re able to switch themes without losing content.

Some website builders automatically create a version of your website that’s optimized for mobile viewing. If you want access to your site’s backend for advanced modification, you can check out Wordpress.com or Webflow that let you edit the code it generates.

Third-party integrations

There are third-party integrations for features that not readily available through your chosen platform such as consumer features, site analytics, or payment processing. For example, it is usually easy to integrate YouTube, Amazon, or Spotify with most website builders. Wix lets you easily add Google Adsense or a PayPal Buy It Now button. You can even sell customized products on your Wix website using printers like Printful or Printify. Now, if you’re trying to build an email list or send newsletters, you can also integrate MailChimp with a lot of website builders like Squarespace.

Hosting

Web hosting is usually one of those things that you’ll need to go and find yourself but if you must have this with your website builder package then you can check out WordPress.com, Squarespace, Network Solutions, Wix, Site123, Weebly, Webnode, and Strikingly. Having a custom domain is also a nice addition. After all, a website URL that ends with the website builder’s name doesn’t look very professional, right? Ucraft is one of the very few website builders that offers a proper custom domain for free.

Customer Support

Most website builders have an extensive knowledge base and an FAQ section with video tutorials and how-to articles. However, if you prefer instant or one-on-one support, make sure to choose a website builder that offers 24/7 chat or phone support. Weebly offers both chat AND phone support provided you get one of their paid plans. On the other hand, you can call Network Solutions’ toll-free number even without a subscription.

The Bottom Line

Choosing a website builder can be tricky and time-consuming especially for beginners. That’s why we did the research so you won’t have to! Use this guide to compare website builders and choose the one that can deliver what you have in mind. It goes without saying that you should try the platform before committing to any long-term plan!