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Having a website is a must if you operate a business. It’s a way to showcase your offering and let the world know you exist. Gone are the days of spending tens of thousands on a website. Today, it’s easier and more affordable than ever, thanks to website builders.
They remove the guesswork by offering everything you need under one login – hosting, domain management, design, SEO and even email marketing. But the market is crowded and reliability varies. Our experts dive in to find you the best website builder.
Article Overview
- What Should I Look For In A Website Builder?
- Should I Use A Website Builder?
- What Are The Best Website Builders (Top 3)?
- 8 More Website Builders Reviewed
- How To Build A Website From Scratch
What Should I Look For In A Website Builder?
Before you make your own website, ask yourself:
- What features do I need? (social media integration, drag & drop editor, etc.)
- What is the purpose of my site? (information, sell products, etc.)
Once you determine your needs, then you can begin looking for a company that provides the features that best fit your goals and budget.
4 Reasons To Use A Website Builder
Website builders are preferred over traditional Content Management Systems (CMS) in that they are usually:
- Easy – little technical expertise needed to use drag and drop & plug and play features
- Fast – sign up and start creating your website right away
- Digitally-based – services that don’t require downloading software, thus allowing multiple people to access and edit from anywhere, anytime
- One-Stop Shop – self-hosted (no third-party hosting provider or external plugins required)
Web builders are ideal for small businesses, startups, freelancers and anyone who doesn’t need anything super advanced. You can set up a shop and start promoting your business and selling quickly.
However, if you have more advanced needs, are looking to grow your brand significantly, or wish to differentiate more from the competition, it might be beneficial to invest in a CMS (our experts compare the top CMS’s) that allows more customizations and room to grow.
What Are The Best Website Builders For Your Business?
We’ve taken the most popular website builders on the market and stacked them up to each other in exhaustive tests. Our researchers compare features, price, user feedback, and more.
Winner: Weebly Review
Weebly is our 1st choice for website creation software and has the basics to build your website. They don’t overwhelm you with tons of features. This is what makes it so simple and easy to use.
Weebly is an excellent choice for a novice who knows nothing about design or website building. Best of all, there is a free version that you can test out before advancing to a higher package level.
The Weebly platform is updated regularly. Key features include designer templates (including single page layouts), a shopping platform, and a “promote” service that integrates email campaigns and lead generation forms within the Weebly dashboard.
If you have an existing Weebly site, you can take advantage of most features for free.
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Packaging and Pricing
| Free | Personal | Professional | Performance | |
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| Price Per Month (when paid annually) | $0 | $6 | $12 | $26 |
| Drag & Drop Builder |  |
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| SSL Security | |
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| Search Engine Optimization | |
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| Connect Your Domain | Weebly.com Subdomain | |
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| Advanced Site Stats | |
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| Support Options | Community Forum, Chat & Email | Community Forum, Chat & Email | Community Forum, Chat, Email & Phone | Community Forum, Chat, Email & Phone (Priority) |
| No Square Ads | |
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| Password Protect | |
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| Weebly Transaction Fee | 3% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Number of Products | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Digital Goods | |
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| Shipping Calculator | |
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| Accepts PayPal | |
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| Abandoned Cart Emails | |
Video Overview
Here’s an overview of how to use Weebly.
Runner-Up: Squarespace Review
Squarespace is our runner-up and is a designer’s dream come true. This company allows you to personalize your website character by character so that it looks exactly the way that you desire, and you don’t have to know code to take full advantage of Squarespace. All with a fresh, modern look!
They have an easy drag and drop editor so you have a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) type of feel when editing your website. And if you are more experienced in code you can also use your own CSS, markdowns, or code injections to add even more customizations.
They also have the option to sell your products including managing inventory, create discount codes, and edit other product variables.
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Packages And Pricing
| Personal | Business | Basic | Advanced | |
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| Price | $12/month billed annually or $16 month to month |
$18/month billed annually or $26 month to month |
$26/month billed annually or $30 month to month |
$40/month billed annually or $46 month to month |
| Number of Pages, Galleries and Blogs | 20 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage | |
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| Number of Contributors | 2 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Mobile-Optimized Website | |
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| Powerful Website Metrics | |
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| Free Custom Domain with Annual Purchase | |
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| 24/7 Customer Support | |
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| Fully Integrated Ecommerce | |
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| Accept Donations | |
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| Number of Products Able to Sell | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Sales Transaction Fee | 3% | 2% | None | None |
| Professional Email from Google | |
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| $100 Google AdWords Credit | |
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| Mobile Optimized Checkout | |
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| SSL Security | |
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| Squarespace Website with Integrated Galleries and Blog | |
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| Powerful Commerce Analytics | |
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| Inventory, Orders, Tax, Discounts | |
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| Label Printing via Shipstation | |
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| Integrated Accounting via Xero | |
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| Abandoned Checkout Autorecovery | |
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| Real Time Carrier Shipping | |
3rd Place: Wix Review
Wix is our third place winner and has a variety of website building packages for you to choose from so your website looks the way you want it to look and has the features it needs.
They have extensive customer support including email, phone, forums, and a help center. Wix includes an easy to use drag and drop interface like most web design software.
There are many apps you can integrate on your site to personalize it to your needs and Wix recently decreased the prices for the majority of its plans. The downside to Wix is that once you choose a template you cannot change it.
Pros |
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Packages And Pricing
| Connect Domain | Combo | Unlimited | eCommerce | VIP | |
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| Price | $5/Month | $10/Month | $14/Month | $17/Month | $25/Month |
| Bandwidth | 1GB | 2GB | Unlimited | 20GB | Unlimited |
| Storage | 500MB | 3GB | 10GB | 20GB | 20GB |
| Connect Your Domain | |
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| Google Analytics | |
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| Free Hosting | |
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| Free Domain (Annual Subscription Only) | |
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| Remove Wix Ads | |
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| $300 Ad Vouchers (Annual Subscription Only) | |
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| Site Booster App (Annual Subscription Only) | |
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| Form Builder App (Annual Subscription Only) | |
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| Online Store | |
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| VIP Support | |
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| Instant Response | |
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| Professional Site Review | |
What About 1&1, Turbify, BoldGrid, Jimdo, SpaceCraft, StudioPress, Web.com, & Yahoo?
The rest of the website builders our experts have reviewed are listed below. Don’t see the one you’re interested in? Ask us in the comments and we’ll be happy to add it to our research queue.
1&1 | Turbify | BoldGrid | Jimdo | SpaceCraft | StudioPress Sites | Web.com | Yahoo
1&1 Review
One of the best things about 1&1 is that you can do everything you need for your website. You can host it, design it, build it, promote it, and advertise it all through 1&1 – no need to go anywhere or pay a bill to anyone else.
They also have this really cool and unique feature called GoToAssist, which allows a 1&1 support representative to look at your computer screen so you can work together on any problems or questions you run into.
However, 1&1 has possibly the worst reputation online when it comes to website building software. There are many frustrating things for 1&1 users and by doing a simple Google search you’ll see not many people are a fan of them.
Pros |
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Packages And Pricing
| Basic | Plus | Premium | |
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| Price | $1.99/Month for 12 Months then $9.99/Month | $4.99/Month for 12 Months then $19.99/Month | $9.99/Month for 12 Months then $29.99/Month |
| SSL Certificate | |
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| Website Editor | |
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| Optimized for Mobile | |
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| Domain and Mail | |
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| Access to 20 Million Images | |
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| Over 10,000 Templates | |
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| Online Marketing | |
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| Sell Up To 1,000 Products | |
| Lite | Basic | Professional | Premier | |
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| Price Per Month Billed Annually | $14 | $29 | $79 | $299 |
| Number of Products | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage Space | 1GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | 10GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | 1 Year | |
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| Transaction Fee | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1% | .75% |
| Mobile Storefront | |
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| 30+ Marketing, Sales, Backoffice Apps | |
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| SEO Tools | |
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| Social Media Support | |
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| Live Insights Activity Monitoring | |
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| PayPal Support | |
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| Chat Live w/ Customers on Your Store (Web & Mobile) | |
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| Live Store Badge | |
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| $100 Bing Search Ads Credit | |
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| Business Email Accounts Included | 10 | 30 | 1,000 | |
| 24/7 Customer Support | |
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| Bulk Product Import/Export | |
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| API Access for 3rd Party Solutions | |
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| Priority Phone Support | |
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| Designated Account Manager | |
Turbify Review
Turbify (formerly Aabaco and before that Yahoos Website Hosting) does everything the other website makers do at a reasonable price.
Nothing really stands out for Turbify though, which is a bit of a disappointment since they came from such a big name company. Their 30-day satisfaction guarantee is nice and their 24-hour phone support is a good feature as well.
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Packages And Pricing
| Lite | Basic | Professional | Premier | |
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| Price Per Month Billed Annually | $14 | $29 | $79 | $299 |
| Number of Products | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage Space | 1GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | 10GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | 1 Year | |
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| Transaction Fee | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1% | .75% |
| Mobile Storefront | |
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| 30+ Marketing, Sales, Backoffice Apps | |
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| SEO Tools | |
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| Social Media Support | |
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| Live Insights Activity Monitoring | |
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| PayPal Support | |
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| Chat Live w/ Customers on Your Store (Web & Mobile) | |
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| Live Store Badge | |
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| $100 Bing Search Ads Credit | |
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| Business Email Accounts Included | 10 | 30 | 1,000 | |
| 24/7 Customer Support | |
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| Bulk Product Import/Export | |
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| API Access for 3rd Party Solutions | |
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| Priority Phone Support | |
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| Designated Account Manager | |
BoldGrid Review
BoldGrid works on top of WordPress and has two main phases: inspiration and customization. Unlike competitors, BoldGrid designs that are live on your site are completely filled out.
There are no blank spaces, which can be confusing to find where exactly you can customize them. Once the design you have chosen is live, you can then customize the titles, fonts, styling, and more to fit your specifications.
All BoldGrid designs are responsive and you can use drag and drop or CSS/HTML for the editor. It also has hundreds of thousands of free photos for you to use.
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Packages And Pricing
BoldGrid is free if you have a hosting account. If you don’t have a hosting account, BoldGrid offers two supported providers: inMotion Hosting or Web Hosting Hub.
Jimdo Review
Jimdo is a fairly inexpensive website design software and even offers a free version so you can test it out before you pay any money.
What really stands out for this company is its multiple forms of customer support. Although their live chat isn’t 24/7, the fact that they offer live chat is something we like about them. They have many tutorials and FAQs to help you get your website built.
If you want to use video on your site, you’ll want to know that you cannot upload video directly to Jimdo. You have to use a third-party like YouTube or Vimeo.
Pros |
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Packages And Pricing
| Free | Pro | Business | |
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| Price Per Month Billed Annually | $0 | $7.50 | $20 |
| Storage | 500MB | 5GB | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | 2GB | 10GB | Unlimited |
| Domain | www.yourname.jimdo.com | Free | Free |
| Email Accounts | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| Forwarding Aliases | 0 | 3 | Unlimited |
| Password Protected Areas | 1 | 5 | Unlimited |
| Number of Products for Sale | 5 | 15 | Unlimited |
| No Transaction Fees | |
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| Payment Methods | PayPal | PayPal | PayPal, Stripe |
| Statistics | |
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| Custom Footer | |
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| Ad-Free | |
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| Discount Codes | |
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| Weight-Based Shipping | |
SpaceCraft Review
SpaceCraft is fairly easy to use, making it a great option for beginners. It claims to have a Drag and Drop editor, but it’s not a true drag and drop experience.
It has an editor, but you can’t customize your website through the frontend. One nice feature is that it has an autosave, so you’ll never lose your work. All designs are responsive, so they’ll look good on all online platforms.
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Packages and Pricing
SpaceCraft has a 14-day free trial.
| Basic | Premium | Concierge | |
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| Price Per Month | $8 billed annually or $10 month-to-month | $16 billed annually or $20 month-to-month | $49 billed annually or monthly with a one-year contract |
| Unlimited Pages | |
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| Unlimited Bandwidth | |
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| Unlimited Storage | |
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| Custom Domains | |
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| Online Support Tools | |
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| Free Domain (with annual purchase) | |
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| Unlimited Contributors | |
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| Pre-configured Templates | |
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| Social & Form Integration | |
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| Advanced Design Controls | |
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| Developer Tools | |
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| Advanced SEO Tools | |
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| Location Finders & More | |
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| Website Performance Tools | |
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| Live Customer Support | |
StudioPress Sites Review
You’ve probably heard of StudioPress if you have a WordPress site because StudioPress is the company behind a large majority of WordPress themes.
StudioPress Sites is geared toward entrepreneurs who don’t have large budgets or internal tech support. On the other hand, StudioPress Sites is not aimed at larger companies.
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Packages And Pricing
| Content | Commerce | |
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| Price Per Month | $24 billed annually or $27 billed quarterly | $33 billed annually or $37 billed quarterly |
| Ideal For | Bloggers, Podcasters and Affiliate Marketers | Selling Physical Products, Digital Downloads, Membership Programs and Courses |
Web.com Review
Web.com does everything for you. They’ll set up your website for you and all you have to do is pay for it, although pricing is much higher than other companies we’ve reviewed.
They also aren’t very clear about their packages and pricing, which is frustrating. I have called Web.com in the past and every time I have the same experience. When I contacted them about a website, they had me give a brief description then they told me what I needed. As we all know, salespersons are always trying to upgrade you to the next level, and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a clear idea of what my options were because everything I needed to learn had to be told to me by them.
Unlike other competitors, I couldn’t confirm or check any information or even have them send me an email of my options to see what the best and most affordable option was for me. As a consumer, this would be frustrating because you don’t really know what your options are and you could be upgrading unnecessarily.
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Packages And Pricing
For pricing information, you must call Web.com directly. Each package is customized to fit your website’s needs. In a time where users want information and numbers at their fingertips this can be frustrating since other online website builder competitors list this information on their sites.
We believe it may be more helpful to have a survey type questionnaire on Web.com to fill out so you don’t have to spend time on the phone getting transferred and being on hold.
In the past, this is what Web.com has told us.
- Pay $124.95/month for 12 months then $99.95/month
- Mobile-friendly site
- Get an 800 phone number
- Site goes live in seven days
- They do hosting, marketing and maintenance for you
- They do SEO including meta, tags, etc.
How To Build A Website From Scratch
Want more fine-grained control over your website, its design, and functionality, your domain name, hosting provider, etc.? Building a website from scratch is not as difficult as you might think (although the website builder companies want you to believe it is!).
Our experts have put together a step-by-step guide on building your own website. They cover everything from naming and branding your website; hosting, platform, and design; security, backup, marketing, SEO, and monetization. And of course, if you need help in any respective area, we’re available 24/7 – just comment on the article you’re experiencing difficulties with.
Leaning towards a do-it-all website builder or going at it yourself? Let us know in the comments!
