7 top free website builders for creators and small-sized businesses |
There is no need to have a degree in technology or an unlimited budget to create an impressive website. Find out how seven of the most popular free web builders compare.
When you're setting up your personal brand or launching your own small-scale business, you need a website. Your site is your house on the internet. Building a website starting from scratch the first time can be daunting and costly.
There's no need to be a programmer, are skilled in website layout, or invest money to create a great web site. Website builders for free make the process of building your website simple, quick, and affordable.
In this article, we're providing seven of the most effective web builders available for small businesses and creators who want to create websites that look good with no time or a hefty price tag.
1.
With 's intuitive website builder that you do not need to know the smallest bit of code to make your website look amazing. Create your own website with custom color schemes, brand styles and fonts, logos, images from stock, and a variety of content blocks that you can choose from.
In each block of content it is possible to customize the layout and contents to build a site that is authentic to your brand. It's possible to embed podcasts, videos, and widgets of hundreds of other apps onto your site.
All sites have the SSL certificate and are designed for mobile use. It is also easy to include Google Analytics on your website to track visitors and sales.
This means that you can create a successful and lucrative online presence for yourself without investing a penny and still earn an 90.91 on the Creator Friendly Index .
The Creator Friendliness Index uses 20 ranking factors to gauge how friendly a company's policies are to creators. ranks well across friendliness factors including a cost-free planthat allows you to avoid transaction fees, and multiple currency options and integrations.
2. Wix
Wix is a web-based builder that allows users to create easy free websites. With Wix it is possible to create a storefront, blog, or a business site through drag-and drop editors that include many modern designs.
Wix's site builder is intuitive even for those who don't have design chops. It is also possible to get assistance with Wix's exclusive Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) toolthat uses artificial intelligence in order to build an individual website to promote your business. Your Wix website also has built-in search engines optimization (SEO) tools.
One of the biggest drawbacks to Wix's plan for free is the Wix banner ad on every page. It's hard to ensure your site looks professional, especially when it's the very first thing visitors are exposed to. To remove the Wix banner ad the website must be subscribed to the Combo plan ($16/month) or greater.
Wix scores 79.22 in the Creator Friendliness Index . It earns points for its no-cost plan as well as the low cost of its premium plans. It loses points for artificially limit the quantity of items a creator can sell by plan tier and limited information on support.
3. WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source content management system (CMS) software that's popular for its blogging platforms as well as a website building tool.
Two ways can use WordPress to build your website: Self-hosted and managed hosting.
Utilizing WordPress to host your own website is absolutely free. However, you must consider domain registration, hosting on the internet premium themes, pricey plugins, and costs rapidly add in.
Another option is to build your site using WordPress.com managed hosting. WordPress.com provides a no-cost plan, as well as several paid plans.
If you use the trial version of WordPress.com You can create a basic website that has 1GB of storage space as well as pre-installed themes and integrated SEO tools however that's not all you'll get.
WordPress gets 68.33 according to the Creator Friendliness Index . WordPress earns points thanks to free plans, integrations, and language support however, it is slashed for the inability to provide customer service.
4. Weebly
Weebly is an online e-commerce platform as well as a website builder that is owned by Square.
The Weebly web-based builder is user-friendly and provides templates that can be customized. You can also add your own CSS and HTML. Also, the App Center lets you connect extensions and integrations for added capabilities.
Additionally, hosting for websites is offered in all plans and it is possible to purchase your own domain name directly through Weebly. If you aren't ready to buy a domain name, you can use a free subdomain, like yournamehere.weebly.com.
Weebly has blog tools to help you share your content, and an App Center that lets you add more functions, and an analytics tool that allow you to track how your site is performing.
Since Square owns Weebly the site is built with eCommerce sites to be thought of. The plans that are available, even the basic plan, are equipped with an e-commerce feature to set up an online store and sell physical products.
It's not without some drawbacks. It has storage restrictions, and you can't sell digital items. Weebly will also display Square ads for both Free and Personal plans. Therefore, you'll be required to change to the premium plan in order to get rid of them.
All in all, Weebly is a solid choice for beginners who aren't seasoned with website design specifically if you want to sell physical products on the internet.
5. SITE123
SITE123 is a simple website builder that is free for those seeking to create an online presence. Like the name suggests, SITE123 makes building a website as simple as three, two or three steps:
Select your website type. Pick from templates to create a blog, business or event site, a service provider, and much more.
Include your company's name, information, as well as images.
Make your site available for publication.
All of the templates on SITE123 are fully responsive and come with free web hosting, 500MB of storage and 1GB of bandwidth.
One big catch: The plan for free limits the ability to alter fonts, colors, and other design elements. Upgrade to a paid plan to unlock plugins, apps, and full template option for customization. Also, there are none of the free tools for e-commerce.
Also, it's impossible to change the template of your website when you've already started creating your website. If you do that, you'll be losing all the material. That can be a major hassle.
The bottom line is that SITE123 does not offer much control over your creativity over the free website. However, if you're in need of a simple, no-frills web page to promote your business, the free plan offers just enough to get by.
6. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is popular as a Web hosting company and domain name registrar, however, it also provides the free site builder that comes that comes with a limited set of e-commerce tools. Select a template, then add your content and business info, and you'll be able to create a site ready for start in only a couple of steps.
The free website includes the tools to market your email as well as one-time appointment settings as well as analytics and SSL certificates. Another aspect which makes GoDaddy distinguish itself from other free platforms is its 24/7 support as well as community forums. So there are plenty of options if you get stuck.
The free plan does have some limitations. You'll have to choose the godaddysites.com subdomain. GoDaddy will display an ad in the upper right corner of all pages on your site. Tools like SEO, regular appointments, full online store options, and custom domains are only available through paid plans.
If you're looking for a solution the GoDaddy free plan is a solid option for personal websites, however that heavy branding at the top of each page could make a company site appear unprofessional.
7. Jimdo
Jimdo is a simple web-based builder for free that lets you create your business's website in only three steps.
Answer a few questions about your website.
Pull in business info via your social media profiles.
Choose a design.
Make your website public!
The Jimdo image library gives you access to many different kinds of stock images that are professionally taken. You can also create contact forms for clients to contact you.
Jimdo's site creation wizard allows you to easily create a website, but it's a loss of personalization. It allows you to choose from some predefined layouts, and different color combinations.
With the basic plan you have to use a jimdo.com subdomain. There's a Jimdo advert on each page. There's 2GB of bandwidth, and 500MB of storage . You can have up to five pages on your website. Also, you won't have access to any customer assistance, so you're completely all on your own in the event that you require assistance with setting up your website.
If you're in need of a straightforward one-page site and feel confident there won't be any need for customer service, Jimdo could be an acceptable option, however, the cost-free version is one of the most limiting options on this list.
Pick a site builder built for your future growth
There are many free websites builders, but not all are made equal. As you evaluate different options take note for sneaky ways that tools add fees to an "free" software: Hidden upsells, costs, limitations on the number of web pages you can build, customization options or unremovable ads. It isn't a good idea to find yourself in the middle of unexpected charges as you are preparing to launch your website.
With , you can create stunning websites for your business in just a few steps. It's the ideal website builder for creators who want to build an online presence for their company -- without the technical headache or steep price tag.