A website serves not only as a platform to showcase your business, highlight your work, or express your interests, but it also plays a crucial role in establishing your online identity and brand. Moreover, it can potentially generate income. After conducting thorough research on 21 top website-building services and building 20 websites with the 10 most promising ones, while making numerous adjustments on each page, we have concluded that Wix is the most suitable platform for creating a professional-looking website. Wix outperforms other online site builders with its vast selection of templates and user-friendly setup wizard, making it accessible to virtually anyone to create and customize their own website. Additionally, Wix’s editor is a great choice for those with design experience or those who desire complete control over every aspect of their web page, offering a wide range of plugins to enhance and expand their website.
The Best Website Builders for 2023
Wix
Compared to its competitors, Wix simplifies the process of building an informative, appealing, and practical website. Based on our testing, Wix’s site generator provides the quickest method to create a customized site that meets personal or professional requirements, as well as individual style preferences. For those who prefer a more hands-on approach, Wix’s site-editing interface offers the greatest amount of control over the appearance of each element on a page (except for WordPress, which enables direct HTML editing). Additionally, Wix offers the most built-in plugins, such as search engine optimization (SEO), marketing, and accessibility tools, to enhance a website.
Wix offers two versions: an ADI wizard and a more extensive editor. The ADI is the simplest way to begin. By answering the aforementioned questions, Wix creates a website complete with sample content, images, and pages that are relevant to your industry. It is surprisingly intelligent. For instance, when stating that my website was for a wine store (“Wirecorker”), the ADI presented wine-colored themes and appropriate pages, such as a store-policies page. Unlike other services like WordPress.com and Squarespace which only inquire about the business category or whether you have a Facebook page like Jimdo, Wix’s ADI goes a step further. It works even more effectively if your address is on Google Maps, your social media pages include your logo, or if you already have a website, as it can import the graphics for you.
Jenni Gritters from Wirecutter has experience in building websites using Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress. Based on our testing, she suggests Wix as the ideal choice for individuals seeking to establish a small-business website. In her testing notes, Jenni mentioned that Wix is the most user-friendly among the three platforms, offering pre-built templates that are both visually appealing and virtually foolproof. If individuals desire an attractive website without investing much effort, Wix is the perfect solution.
If you prefer to have more control over every aspect of the page, such as the specific size of a menu and the exact location of a photo, you can switch from the ADI to the main editor. The main editor allows you to drag and drop elements anywhere on the page, and provides guidelines to help align them properly. It also gives you precise control over text sizes down to the pixel level, unlike other competing site builders that only offer a limited range of sizes, often frustratingly small. Wix is the ideal choice for those with previous design experience or those who want to fine-tune the appearance of each page.
In contrast to the approximately 30 templates provided by the ADI, the full site editor offers over 500 templates. Many of these templates do not require high-resolution images and you have the option to search for images on Shutterstock, Unsplash, or Wix’s gallery to enhance the visual appeal of your site. The templates are categorized based on specific business or usage categories. For instance, Wix’s “Fashion & Clothing” section includes subsections such as “Accessories Store” and “T-Shirt Store,” while the “Photography” section has subsections like “Commercial & Editorial,” “Events & Portraits,” and “Travel & Documentary.” These specialized options are more beneficial compared to other services with broader categories, and their clear names make it easier for you to find a suitable look for your needs compared to Squarespace’s templates, which have vague names like “Paloma” and “Pulaski.”
There is a risk of making excessive mistakes when having the freedom to add, remove, move, resize, and customize elements on a page. Wix provides simple undo and redo buttons, and it saves a new version of the page for every change made. However, with Squarespace, the functionality of using Control+Z or Command+Z to undo can be inconsistent, potentially leading to accidentally erasing other page elements or navigating through settings menus to fix mistakes. Additionally, Squarespace does not automatically save changes, which was one of the main factors in our decision not to consider it a top choice.
When we tested Wix, we found that the interface was very clear in showing us how to change, remove, or move various elements (such as text blocks, photos, and dividers) on the page. It is also easy to make the functional parts of your site, like contact forms, menus, interactive maps, social integration, and online ordering, work smoothly with Wix, as most of the templates already have these sections set up. Even when we were using the free plan, the customer support agents were still helpful when we contacted them through chat.
In addition to its user-friendly interface, Wix provides a wide range of powerful tools to improve the effectiveness of your website.
- a vast array of “apps” or plugins to do things like manage product inventory or advertise on Google and Facebook
- SEO tools to guide you in picking the strongest keywords, updating a site’s meta (search-friendly) description, being mobile-friendly, and more
- marketing and sales tools such as free email campaigns, a chatbox, and the ability to collect recurring payments from customers
- an accessibility wizard that scans your site for issues and assigns automatic alt text to images based on their filenames
Wix provides a free plan that is suitable for users who do not require their own domain name. When using the free account, the website will be published with a mywebsite.wixsite.com URL. Wix includes an advertisement for its services at the top of each webpage. Other website builders such as WordPress.com and Square Online have a less intrusive approach by placing their advertisements in the footer of the website. Google Sites does not display any ads. In our opinion, it is recommended to upgrade to a paid Wix plan in order to eliminate the advertisement, utilize your own domain name, and receive additional storage space and bandwidth. The free plan includes a maximum of 500 MB for both bandwidth and storage space.
Square Online
Square Online is a website builder provided by Square, the payment-processing platform. It is not to be confused with Squarespace. While it does not offer a wide range of stylish template options like Wix and other site builders, Square Online provides a standard layout that allows you to add modular elements such as text boxes, a photo gallery, a map, or featured items. Its main strength lies in its simplicity in setting up an e-commerce or restaurant website, as it highlights all the common features for those types of sites in the main editing menu. Although Square Online does not offer as much design control as Wix, we found it simple to use, especially for managing inventory and showcasing featured products. The best part is that it is free if you do not require a custom domain name and you only have to pay the standard credit card processing fees for transactions.
The limited variety on websites built with Square Online is due to the standardized main layout. Additionally, the options for colors, fonts, and layouts for sections on a page are quite restricted. However, some individuals view this simplicity as an advantage, as it reduces the need to deal with numerous editing tools and plugin apps.
Customizing a site in Square Online is easy, even though it differs from other sites that use drag-and-drop. Unlike these sites, when you click on a page section, the customization options appear in a panel on the left side, instead of being directly next to or above the item. To perform actions like moving a section up or down on the page, duplicating it, or moving it to another page, you need to click a menu in the left panel. We appreciated the simplicity of customizing a site in Square Online, thanks to its centralized editing location and clean, uncluttered user interface.
Square Online, owned by a credit card processing and POS provider, demonstrates its capability in assisting with item listing for selling purposes. Unlike Wix, which necessitates a switch from the main site editor, Square Online allows for the addition or modification of products without exiting the listing page. Moreover, the editor incorporates relevant fields specific to each product category. For instance, when selecting “food and beverage items,” the form prompts the inclusion of a nutritional value or the designation of vegan or gluten-free labeling.
For restaurants, you have the option to add or modify menu items directly within the editor of Square Online, which is not the case for Wix. Unlike Wix, where you have to do this in a separate section of the site builder. Additionally, you can also upload a PDF menu if desired.
Square Online offers a range of tools that retailers can utilize on the back end of their business. These tools include inventory management, checking abandoned carts, and orders reporting. If you already use Square for in-person sales, you will find the integrated website reports to be valuable. However, it is worth noting that Square Online has limited options for SEO and social media settings. The only options available are making the site visible to search engines or not. Additionally, there are no built-in accessibility tools found on the site.
If you only want to create your site and have it hosted at Square with a Square subdomain, such as mywebsite.square.site, you can use Square Online for free. The free version includes a small “powered by Square” footer, which is less noticeable than Wix’s branding that appears at the top of its free sites. If you want to remove the branding and access site-traffic, sales, and marketing reports, you can choose a paid plan, with subscription options starting at $16 per month ($12 per month if billed annually). Additionally, Square Online offers the option to create single-item “buy buttons” that can be added to an existing website for selling products. However, this feature does not allow visitors to add multiple items to a cart before making a payment, unlike Shopify Lite’s own buy-button feature.
WordPress.com
WordPress, the most popular CMS globally, is used by over 40% of all websites due to its powerful and versatile features, especially beneficial for text and media heavy sites. While other website builders offer blog sections as an option, WordPress is specifically designed for blogging, equipped with tools for comment management, contributors, publication schedules, date formats, an RSS feed, and more. With over 50,000 available plugins, you can further enhance your WordPress site. Additionally, unlike our tested website builders, WordPress provides the ability to directly edit page code and facilitates the export or import of site content if you choose to switch hosts.
If you want to host your own site, you have two options: downloading the free software from WordPress.org or using most website hosting providers. Alternatively, you can opt for an all-in-one solution with WordPress.com, which offers both free and paid hosted sites using the same software. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages. Installing WordPress yourself allows you to utilize all available free WordPress plugins and is typically more cost-effective than WordPress.com’s Business plan. On the other hand, creating a site through WordPress.com requires less effort and a 2021 study by Review Signal revealed that it has the fastest page-load time among all WordPress hosting services.
The WordPress software functions in the same way whether you choose to host your own site or have WordPress.com handle it, and you have the ability to import and export your data if you decide to switch hosting services. For our testing purposes, we utilized the website builder provided by WordPress.com.
WordPress.com provides a selection of free website templates known as “themes”, with around two dozen options available. These themes vary in style, with some appearing contemporary and fashionable, while others may seem outdated. If desired, you have the option to purchase separate premium templates that feature more intricate designs. Alternatively, by upgrading to a Premium or Business plan, you gain access to premium templates as part of your subscription cost. Furthermore, if you manage your own WordPress installation, a vast range of both free and paid templates can be found on the internet. One advantage of using WordPress.com is that you can change the template for your site at any point, without having to start from scratch, which is not typically possible with most other site builders.
After selecting a template, you have the flexibility to customize it extensively. You have the option to choose a preset color palette, define your own colors, or select colors suggested by WordPress.com based on the photos on your page. Additionally, you can specify font combinations for headers and body text. While we found Wix’s site editor to be slightly more user-friendly and robust with its drag-and-drop controls, a site hosted on WordPress.com can also be highly personalized.
When editing items on a page, the process is simple: You can click on a “block” or use the Tab key to navigate to it, and a pop-up menu will appear. This menu allows you to perform actions such as moving the block up or down, duplicating it, or changing its alignment on the page. If you have knowledge of HTML, you have the option to edit the code instead of using the visual editor. Unlike our other selections, none of them provide direct access to editing the HTML behind the page. During our testing, we encountered a perplexing issue when attempting to edit the HTML of a block: WordPress.com seemed to flag parts of the code that had been automatically generated by the site builder itself. Luckily, it offered a solution to automatically resolve the problem.
WordPress can be used to create a basic website with static pages, however, its true strength lies in its ability to support blogging and other content creation. Wirecutter itself was developed using WordPress. Although other site builders like Wix offer blogging features, WordPress (including WordPress.com) was specifically designed to cater to bloggers and provides all the necessary tools, and even more. With WordPress, you can schedule pages and blog posts to be published at a specific time, add widgets such as a tag cloud or display the latest comments on a post, incorporate videos or photo galleries, show an excerpt of a post, display related posts, manage comments, and much more. Furthermore, the administration interface for managing plugins, media, users, and settings is user-friendly.
The availability of over 50,000 plugins is one of the main reasons why using WordPress (either on WordPress.com or a self-hosted version) is advantageous. WordPress.com provides a collection of free plugins known as JetPack, which offer various features such as monitoring page-load time, enhancing security settings, automating backups, scanning for malware and security risks, clearing spam from comments and forms, and improving SEO. To install additional plugins on WordPress.com, upgrading to a Business or eCommerce plan is required; however, this limitation does not apply to self-hosted WordPress sites.
WordPress.com’s accessibility features are highly valued by us due to their ability to warn users about design issues such as low-contrast text. Additionally, the platform offers a view that presents a list of all blocks on a page in an outline format, allowing users to navigate to a specific block using a keyboard. Furthermore, some templates are specifically labeled as “accessibility ready.”
Google Sites
If you need a simple website and don’t prioritize customization or aesthetics, Google Sites can assist you in easily completing the task for free. Those who already use Gmail or any other Google services have automatic access to Google Sites, and creating a website will be familiar to users of Google Slides. The service is so user-friendly that even elementary school students are being taught how to use it. Although Google Sites has fewer templates, design options, and features compared to our other recommendations, it includes all the essential elements for building a basic website. Additionally, it offers an appealing price of $0 and does not display “powered by” branding, unlike other site builders that prominently feature it on their free sites.
Google Sites provides a limited selection of around twelve templates, which have a simple appearance. Despite the small number, these templates cater to various website requirements, such as events, projects, restaurants, service businesses, and hobbies. After choosing a template, Google Sites automatically generates relevant pages and features for you. For instance, if you opt for the restaurant template, the site builder will add sections for press quotes or customer reviews on the home page, a menu page, an about page for the chef’s biography, and a contact page. Similar to other website builders, once a template is selected, it cannot be switched. However, you do have the option to swiftly modify the website’s appearance by choosing from a few pre-designed themes.
The process of editing web pages involves selecting an item on the page and using the pop-up menu to format or customize it, which is fairly simple. The drag-and-drop interface allows you to move elements or resize them, although it does not offer the same level of control as Wix. Additionally, it is possible to embed items from other Google apps, including Google Calendar, Google Forms, and Google Maps.
That’s basically all there is to it. Google Sites does not provide live customer support, built-in site metrics (although you can link your site to Google Analytics), blogging or e-commerce tools, unlike our other recommendations. Nevertheless, if you utilize another application like OpenTable for restaurant bookings, you can incorporate JavaScript code to embed the widgets from that app on your site.
Although Google Sites does have some size limitations, it is unlikely that most individuals would exceed them. Additionally, the storage used for your website does not count towards your Google Drive space. If your site contains more than 10,000 images, over 1,000 pages, or surpasses 6 million characters on a single page, you may encounter issues beyond Google Sites not supporting your site. According to a Google representative, they are currently developing customizable themes such as color palettes and line-spacing controls. This is something we anticipate as it will enable you to better personalize your site to align with your brand and appear less generic.
Have we already mentioned that Google Sites is free? You have the option to host your site with a Google subdomain or use your own custom domain name.
Duda Website Builder
While Duda may be a pricier website builder, it offers great value in return. Specifically, it provides users with a high-quality editor for constructing both desktop and mobile sites, robust analytics and ecommerce tools, as well as unlimited storage and monthly data transfers. Moreover, you have the flexibility to tailor your site even more by writing custom CSS and HTML code.
Duda is shifting its focus from individual users to enterprise organizations. This change is evident both in the pricing as well as the features offered. The higher levels of Duda’s service are designed to enhance team collaboration, incorporate software as a service, and provide comprehensive client management options. As a result, web design agencies find the website builder appealing.
Bluehost Website Builder
Bluehost offers an alternative interface to the widely used WordPress platform, making it easily accessible for anyone to create a website. By using this interface, users can take advantage of WordPress’ capabilities and robust e-commerce features without needing to fully grasp the content management system. Moreover, Bluehost provides support for individuals who desire to expand their knowledge and skillset in website creation.
Bluehost’s main emphasis on WordPress makes it a better option for users who want to be a part of that system, rather than opting for something more independent. Considering the reliability and competence of WordPress on the internet, this is actually a good decision. Moreover, Bluehost is already a reputable and conventional web hosting service, so these additional site-building tools only enhance the benefits for current users.
GoDaddy Websites + Marketing Website Builder
The website builder provided by GoDaddy enables you to create an excellent website that can be combined with a GoDaddy domain. Along with the free tier, every level of GoDaddy Websites + Marketing offers unlimited data transfers and storage on a monthly basis. By choosing premium plans, you can access e-commerce features to establish an online store.
With marketing directly incorporated into its title, this tool by GoDaddy not only allows you to build websites but also provides the necessary features to maximize the visibility of your site. Thanks to its robust marketing and SEO capabilities, this builder is ideal for individuals seeking to efficiently promote their websites, businesses, or online presence.
Hostinger Website Builder
Hostinger’s website builder, previously known as Zyro, offers a range of new features and enhancements that set it apart in the competitive market. One notable feature is the ability to effortlessly drag and drop elements to create visually appealing pages and functional e-commerce stores. Additionally, we value the convenient additions like the logo maker, free SSL certificate, and photo repository for uploaded images. It is important to note, however, that there is no free version available.
The most captivating aspect of Hostinger could be its collection of AI-driven tools. By choosing a category like entertainment or small business, users can inform the builder about the general theme of their website. Subsequently, Hostinger creates designs for the site, generates website content, and predicts user navigation patterns through heatmaps. Hostinger is an ideal choice for individuals seeking a user-friendly website builder that offers substantial assistance and direction.
Dorik Website Builder
Dorik offers a stable and capable website builder in its free tier which is accessible to everyone. You don’t need to code as you can easily add and personalize templates and interactive UI elements until you are satisfied with the appearance. The premium tiers of the service provide additional advantages for individuals and organizations such as custom domains and paid subscription membership features.
If all you want is to create an excellent personal website without spending money or acquiring complex coding skills, Dorik is a good option, despite its lackluster e-commerce features which render it unsuitable for businesses selling online products.
Squarespace Website Builder
Squarespace is a highly recognized website builder, and there’s a valid justification for its reputation. It offers a diverse range of templates that enable users to create visually captivating websites, including responsive design for mobile screens. Moreover, Squarespace sites go beyond aesthetics. They provide serious users with an extensive range of powerful features, such as custom code integration, blogging tools, and robust e-commerce capabilities.
Squarespace offers a wide range of attractive templates, prompting us to dedicate a separate article to showcase the finest choices. There are templates available for different categories such as nerds, photographers, restaurants, and specific small businesses. However, it is important to note that templates merely serve as a foundation. Squarespace is an excellent option for individuals seeking to personalize their websites according to their distinct requirements.
Web.com Website Builder
Web.com enhanced its average web hosting services by incorporating website building features, which significantly improved its overall quality. The builder provides e-commerce and WordPress tools, as well as an extensive collection of templates and stock photography. Moreover, you can benefit from customary hosting capabilities. This is because the site builder package includes complimentary domain and hosting, while also allowing you to purchase extra shared hosting tiers.
If you prefer to use a single service for both website building and hosting, Web.com is a decent option, despite its shortcomings in basic image editing and dedicated hosting. However, there are better website builders and web hosting services available.
Weebly Website Builder
If it means having a simpler overall experience, some users are willing to give up certain advanced features. Weebly may not offer the most customization options, but you can still create high-quality websites using its numerous attractive themes. With this website builder, you can track stats to evaluate your site’s performance and also have the ability to sell physical and digital products.
Weebly is attractive to individuals who appreciate convenience as you do not have to make adjustments to themes in order to design an appealing website. Compared to other builders, Weebly stands out by allowing you to change themes without having to reconstruct your entire site, which is highly advantageous. Moreover, it provides unlimited monthly data transfers for all users.
Strikingly Website Builder
Strikingly doesn’t provide a wide range of templates, and its site customization options are not extensive. However, the available options are attractive and responsive. However, if you opt for Strikingly, you will have peace of mind knowing that your site will be online due to the service’s exceptional uptime.
Despite the limitations it has, Strikingly possesses a remarkable level of flexibility. Through its user-friendly tools and the option to switch templates during the design process, one can preview their site and make swift adjustments without the need for extensive effort. Moreover, with its free tier, there is no requirement to commit to payment before determining if the website builder aligns with one’s needs.
Simvoly Website Builder
Social media has taken away the popularity of blogging by providing an outlet for online self-expression. Nowadays, individuals who require a comprehensive website are usually those aiming to make sales. Thankfully, Simvoly offers a user-friendly platform that enables anyone to create a responsive e-commerce store for both digital and physical products. However, it is important to mention that Simvoly does not have shipping integration.
If your website is the core of your business, it is important to focus on the statistics. Simvoly’s site metrics are beneficial for users seeking effective ways to target potential clients. In case you need to modify your marketing approach, you have the flexibility to change your site’s theme and experiment with new methods.
Who this is for
A website builder is a comprehensive service that can assist you in quickly and easily creating a professional-looking website, without the need for coding or design experience. Unlike software like Dreamweaver that you install on your computer, a website builder operates in your browser and provides step-by-step guidance for various tasks, including domain registration, site design, and incorporating essential elements like a contact form or online shopping cart. Additionally, it also takes care of hosting your website.
If you have experience working on PowerPoint or Google Slides presentations with text blocks, images, and objects on one page, you will find it easier to learn how to use a website builder. Most site builders offer a wide range of site design templates for customization, along with an intuitive interface, typically drag-and-drop, for rearranging elements on a web page.
A website builder costs about $20 a month for access to the service, or about $30 a month for an e-commerce site. This cost includes site hosting and tools for marketing and search engine optimization. For a profitable business, this expense is relatively small. However, it is important to consider the amount of time and effort you are willing to spend on creating and maintaining your own site. Setting up a basic website can be done in an afternoon, but adding more features and customizing the design will take more time to perfect and keep updated. We dedicated at least a day to each of our chosen website builders, familiarizing ourselves with the design options, editing interface, administrator controls, and add-in options.
If you find that you are in a situation where it is preferable to hire a professional to handle your taxes, the same could be said for employing a web designer to establish and maintain your website. This scenario may be applicable to you if the following requirements are met:
- You’re averse to making many small decisions. You can simply select a template, edit the text and images on the page, and call it a day. But to make your site stand out from that of everyone else who uses the same template, you’ll probably want to customize the colors, fonts, features, and more to reflect your brand. Most websites have a whole lot of elements to customize, and not everyone has the patience, interest, or eye for the task.
- You already have a website that you’d like to move to a website builder. Getting the exact same look and feel is difficult with most website builders because they don’t let you import HTML, CSS, and other code. (WordPress.com is an exception, as it lets you export all your content in the event you want to run a self-hosted WordPress site.) At the same time, you may find that one of our picks can create a site that looks and functions better than what you currently have, and websites built with a good site-building app can be much easier to update and improve.
- You’re not sure what you want your site to look like in general or what features you need. A good website designer can help you sort out the right design and elements for your site based on the information you share about your business, your goals for the site, and your audience or customers. A pro can also help you avoid making poor design decisions. Templates provide a structure for getting started, but they don’t prevent anyone from making a mistake like forgetting to add alt text to an image or choosing low-contrast text such as light-gray text on a dark-gray background, both of which are examples of issues that make your site less accessible to visitors.
The prices for professional web design vary based on the complexity of your site and the charges of each designer. However, a quick look at the designer marketplace 99designs provides some insight. Currently, for a custom website created from scratch, designers offer a broad range of prices, starting from $600 and going up to over $3,000. If you need assistance with designing and customizing a site built with a website builder like Wix or Shopify, prices start at $550. If you are unsure about designing your own website but are attracted to these website builders because they simplify site updates, hiring someone to assist with the initial design might be the optimal choice for you.
The Best Website Design Tools
The process for all the web services mentioned here begins with selecting templates for your website. The high-quality options, like Gator and Wix, have templates that adjust the formatting of your site for mobile viewing. Squarespace, in particular, offers numerous useful and visually appealing templates. These services also provide templates that are tailored for specific purposes, such as promoting bakery sales, securing gigs for musicians, or keeping wedding guests updated.
Most site builders allow you to customize the color scheme, fonts, and page layouts, and also allow you to add new pages. A high-quality site builder provides sub-templates for frequently used page types like About, Blog, Contact, FAQ, Galleries, and Products.
To enhance your web pages, it is essential to include custom content such as text areas, photos, buttons, and other widgets. Furthermore, advanced website builders provide a range of third-party widgets in their marketplace, which can be used for various purposes like forms, chat features, reservations, and social media feeds.
Certain site builders, like Strikingly, uKit, and Virb, limit where you can place page objects to avoid making your site appear tacky, which can be advantageous if design is not your strong suit. Other builders provide more flexibility, so if that’s what you’re after, consider Gator or Wix. Gator strikes a good balance between design freedom and responsive restrictions. Squarespace allows for pockets of freedom within a structured grid. Many website builders offer AI-powered tools that allow you to input social accounts and other personal or business information, resulting in a effortless website. Wix’s ADI (artificial design intelligence) tool even impressed a professional designer acquaintance of ours with its outcomes.
How Important Is Mobile Site Design?
Responsive design is a widely employed web design tactic utilized by certain website developers. This method adjusts the layout of the webpage content to fit various screens. However, when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), search engines solely focus on determining if a website is suitably displayed on mobile screens. Bing and Google provide pages where users can input their URL to assess if their site is mobile-friendly.
The Best Website Builders for Photography
The website builders mentioned above provide various options for displaying photos and galleries. Gator, Squarespace, and Wix offer stock photography in addition to editing tools like cropping, brightness adjustments, and filters. On the other hand, Weebly offers a wide range of styles for online galleries, whereas GoDaddy has fewer visual options.
How to Make Money From Your Website
If you want to maximize sales, it is necessary to upgrade to a specialized web shopping cart service such as Shopify, although you may not be prepared for this step. Although most of the services mentioned here allow you to sell products on your website to some extent, even if it is just through a PayPal button, some of them do not provide this feature in their free accounts.
Some builders provide more advanced features such as credit card payment processing and the ability to include your own cart and checkout pages. The more powerful site builders offer additional features like product promotions, email marketing, and tools for managing inventory and shipping. Certain builders allow you to sell digital downloads, while others do not; consult the table above to determine which ones offer this feature. Only a few of these builders permit placing ads on your site, although most of them allow some level of customization through inserting custom HTML code.
Which Website Builder Has the Best Social and Site Stats?
All of the site builders mentioned allow you to incorporate Facebook Like and Twitter Follow buttons on your pages. Some even provide the option to display social network feeds. Certain builders assist you in creating a Facebook Page and integrating it with your site design and updates. Although many products offer SEO tools, these tools often only consist of a form for entering meta tags. This means that you are mostly responsible for dealing with SEO on your own, which is often considered complex and mysterious. If you want your site to be discoverable, it is crucial to submit and verify it with search engines.
Most products available here offer information on a website’s traffic, although the level of detail varies and is often linked to premium account levels. Weebly, for instance, provides data on page views, unique visitors, search terms, referring sites, and top-visited pages for each day of the month. On the other hand, Wix and uKit have limited or no built-in site statistics. Instead, they encourage users to set up their own Google Analytics account, which also requires a paid account. Additionally, this approach only allows users to view traffic from the previous day and earlier, lacking real-time or hourly updates.
