Weebly: A Quick Review of a Free Website Building Platform
No one would want to miss out on an opportunity to build a free website on that platform that managed to secure the third rank on the most famous website builders worldwide.
Yes, you heard it right! By 2018, Weebly accounted for over 15 percent of the total market share worldwide. Along with Squarespace, it is one of the most popular platforms in the United States.
And there are some reasons behind its achievements; It is an easy-to-use tool and keeps improving itself.
An Overview
Weebly is perfect for small businesses and those who want to create their portfolio websites. Due to a wide range of useful tools in the App Store, one can consider Weebly a features-oriented platform.
It has a freemium plan as well as an affordable premium plan. In 2018, Weebly was acquired by Square Inc, which could be why Weebly has recently introduced a new editor under Square editor's name. The square editor was introduced for e-commerce websites; it is less flexible but a simple tool.
Conventional Weebly editor is best to use for customized non-e-commerce websites.
Note: Square Editor has no connection with Squarespace - which is another website building platform and a separate entity.
Weebly's drag and drop editor allows you to create a website in a super-easy way and without using any code. However, if you want to, Weebly has a built-in coding editor so that you get to customize your site as per your requirements.
So, if you want to get your simple Website without spending much money or even for free, Weebly will be a suitable option for you; it allows you to integrate some useful features of SEO, E-commerce, and Blog within your Website.
With a $12 per month plan, you can have your free website domain from Weebly.
If you need a lot of control over your Website customizations, Weebly could not be your best choice.
Source: Weebly
User-Friendliness
As drag and drop functionality makes life easier for website designers, Weebly allows its users to get a full advantage by providing the same feature in its editor.
You can drag elements of your choice and place them in a structured way, such as text boxes, images, buttons, and more.
You can edit your page and also can review it all together. So, you would not need to switch between the editing window and the preview window.
Website Types
It does have a wide range of tools for a user who wants to create a small business for online growth. So, if you're a Blogger, freelance Photographer who wants to upload a portfolio for better outreach, and an online seller who wants to sell few things via an online platform, Weebly will have you covered.
If you want to create an online store, Square's payment suite will seamlessly be integrated within your Website. Moreover, its marketing and SEO tools will help you in optimizing your online store. When you sign up on Weebly, it shows you two options to choose from; Either you can clock on "I need a Website" or "I need a Website with an online store." When you select the second option, you will be directed to your e-commerce dashboard - from there, you will choose your theme, customize the design, add products, and manage payments. There are some limitations to Weebly's e-commerce plan, but it's not a bad option if you are a new seller and want to run a small business.
Source: Weebly
If you want to build your portfolio online, Weebly offers few features that would be beneficial for your online presence; Built-in image editor, custom fonts, SMM, Newsletter, and availability of putting video in the background.
If you are a blogger, Weebly has something for you as well. It offers Blog oriented themes, Built-in Social sharing features, Comment management, and few customizations within the category, sidebar, and tag. You can also add custom URLs and meta tags.
Themes
The striking feature of using Weebly is that you can always change the theme of your Website. It has not a big library of unique designs, but they are decent and straightforward. If you want to have free website templates, Weebly will facilitate you.
Weebly categorized these themes under Business, Portfolio, Personal, Event, Blog, Coming Soon, and Other. So, you can easily select a theme based on your Website without getting overwhelmed – Since there are not many themes to choose from. It will show you the preview of a web page before you start editing.
The themes are mobile responsive, meaning that they all will look great irrespective of the device they are viewed on. Weebly has a structured theme, which means that you cannot drag an element anywhere you like.
While there is a limitation in the Theme customization, Weebly can allow you to control your site's design if you know how to code. Otherwise, you can always customize up to some extent without the need to code (drag and Drop). So, choose from the existing variety of free web templates and start editing as per your tailored requirements.
Source: Weebly
We have briefly discussed Weebly, so that you should know what will be coming your way whenever you want to create a free website or by using paid plans.
But before you decide whether you want to go with Weebly or not, the best practice is to start with the Prototype designing of your Website with Wondershare Mockitt.
Mockitt is a design prototyping tool that would help you get all your design ideas to be transformed into a digital design prototype.
Thanks to the ease of use that comes along with the Mockitt interface. Like Weebly allows you to build a website in a few easy steps even if you have not created one before, Mockitt would help all the new and professional designers spark their creativity in the prototype development.
Wondershare Mockitt Striking Features
- With tons of widgets and icons, you can put all of these elements onto your design screen
- Collaborate with your stakeholders and share the prototype with them on the same platform for their input
- The data you would share with your stakeholders will remain secure with Mockitt, so you will not have to be worried about any security issues.
- ou can preview the prototype on your Phone as well.
- One can use the Handover feature to generate code for the developers.
So, Try Wondershare Mockitt before moving towards Weebly and get your free Website design prototype in few easy steps.
