Website Builders 101 – All Your Questions Answered (+ Reviews & Comparisons)

What is a Website Builder?

In the early days of the web, you’d need to know HTML to create a website. Now, if you want to hand-code your own site, you need to know JavaScript, CSS, and PHP. Or, you’d have to go the costlier alternative and hire a web developer to do all the work for you.

But creating a website doesn’t have to be so difficult. In fact, there are plenty of online tools allowing you to create a professional business site without having any coding knowledge or funds for a developer. This is exactly what a website builder allows you to do.

How Does It Work?

It’s exactly as simple as it sounds. A good website builder will allow you to build, customize and create without any development knowledge. There are dozens of features which allow you to do this in an intuitive way, some of them useful, others vital.

Nowadays, many developers actually prefer to use website builders to eliminate time-consuming and unnecessary manual work.

Drag-and-Drop Simplicity

A website builder is an app or a piece of software that allows you to design a website to look however you want by simply dragging and dropping images and text blocks. Behind the scenes, the platform puts it all together and publishes it on the web.

You don’t need any coding experience or web design skills to use a website builder. And, if you use the right one for your site, you can easily build a professional business site that follows mobile-friendly best practices, allows you to build an online store, and integrates social media for social sharing opportunities.

Fits Your Budget

In addition, a reliable, high-quality website builder will come SEO optimized, so your website can get found in search engine results.

For those looking for a low cost, effective way to build a business website from the ground up, website builders offer the best opportunity to do just that. They’re also perfect for those who want to launch a website quickly, feel intimidated by building a website or want someone else to handle the management of their website.

Types of Website Builders

Website builders can be divided into three main categories:

• Proprietary Online Website Builders – this is a complete package that includes a website builder, templates, and hosting for your website.
• Website builders provided by a hosting company – some hosting companies have their own website builders that you can use to build your website.
• Content Management Systems – usually referred to as a CMS. The CMS itself is free to download and use but you have to purchase a hosting plan and then install the CMS onto your hosting server.

Let’s take a look at each of these options more in-depth.

Proprietary Online Website Builders

As mentioned, proprietary website builders include everything you need to get your website up and running. They provide you with the platform, the templates, and the hosting, and most of them even include a free domain or allow you to purchase one.

They take care of the technical aspects so you can focus on creating and launching your site. Some of the most popular standalone website builders are Weebly, WIX, Jimdo, IM Creator, Squarespace, Shopify, Webnode, WebsiteBuilder, and HubSpot CMS.

Wix

Wix is one of the largest premium website builders around. It has hundreds of templates to choose from, that are perfect for small businesses, photographers, and even freelancers. The templates come with plenty of customization options so you can create a site to fit your needs.

Its templates are also responsive, which means your website will look good on mobile devices. Plus, the interface is easy to use, and some plans to support e-commerce shops.

This cloud-based website builder is a fully hosted solution and comes with advanced drag and drop technology so building your site is a cinch. One of the most unique things about Wix is that it comes with dozens of free and paid apps that you can install on your website to add to the overall design and functionality of your site. This is great because many website builders come with limited web design and functionality.

Artificial Intelligence By Wix

Another standout feature is Wix’s Artificial Design Intelligence. Using an advanced algorithm, the Wix ADI asks website owners a few simple questions and based on their answers creates a unique website from billions of possible combinations. It also collects information from across the web and social media for relevant content you can use as is on your own site or customize as you see fit.

There are a few downsides to using Wix, particularly the free version, though they are not entirely deal breakers. For instance, if you use the free Wix website builder you cannot use your own domain name. Instead, your site will appear as a subdomain of wix.com — e.g., mybusiness.wix.com. Also, the free plan comes with Wix branded ads on your site

Lastly, Wix websites don’t automatically come with an email account. You must purchase a premium Wix plan or buy their “Mailbox” add-on plan.

Weebly

Weebly offers responsive templates and an easy-to-use website builder. You can customize the fonts, sizes, and text colors. Weebly also includes basic e-commerce functionality with PayPal or Google Checkout integration. If you’re code-savvy, you can even dig into the HTML and CSS for greater customization.

Weebly comes fully hosted, as all proprietary website builders do, in addition to dozens of web designs to use for inspiration. Though there aren’t nearly as many website templates to choose from as Wix provides, which is nearly 500, you can easily customize any of Weebly’s designs using the live editor. It also comes packed with built-in features such as contact forms, photo galleries, sliders, and more.

This website builder solution also comes with a free email account, which is great for those that are running a business site and want their email hosted with their site’s data and professionally branded.

Troubleshooting and Customizability

Weebly’s help center can help you troubleshoot issues using their extensive articles and guides. They is also a support center that includes a support ticketing system, phone number to call them, and a forum.

Some of the issues you might run into when using Weebly include the fact that you are locked into using only the features they provide, so you cannot add any custom design or functionality to your site, even if you hire a developer.

In addition, on the lowest priced plans, Weebly charges a percentage of any revenue you generate through your eCommerce shop. However, premium plans don’t charge any transaction fees.

Jimdo

Jimdo is incredibly simple to use. 

Jimdo lets you create a website or a Jimdo Online Store. Its templates are optimized for search engines. Jimdo also has a mobile app for both Android and iOS, allowing you to manage your website even if you are away from your computer.

Squarespace

Squarespace has a user-friendly builder interface and beautiful responsive templates. You can use Squarespace to build a simple landing page or a full business website. Its plans also allow you to sell your products, and it offers integration with Stripe and PayPal for payment processing.

Webnode

Webnode boasts more than 27 million registered users, making it one of the larger players in the website builder market. You can easily create a multilingual website, which sets Webnode apart from its competitors. It also deserves praise for making it easy to create a backup of your website and restore it if needed.

WebsiteBuilder

WebsiteBuilder is a relatively new platform that boasts an impressive number of templates. You can set up an online store thanks to its integration with Ecwid, or create a business or personal website if you prefer.

HubSpot CRM

HubSpot offers a fully integrated CMS that’s geared toward conversions. Includes templates, forms, and calls-to-action. Easily create and edit blog posts, landing pages, site pages, and emails. Included: A/B testing, live chat, and chatbots.

Website Builders Provided by a Hosting Company

Many hosting providers offer some form of a website builder on their shared hosting plans. These are bundled with templates but tend to be limited in terms of customization.

If you decide to use a website builder from your host, make sure that the host will export your content if you decide that it’s not right for you.

GoCentral

GoCentral is GoDaddy’s exclusive website builder. It comes 100 percent responsive and adapts to all mobile devices no matter the type or screen size. It also has an easy to use editor for changing elements of your website, including the new blogging section it comes with for creating content for your website. Most importantly, GoCentral comes with free web hosting

Build an online store, add your customers’ favorite social media platforms, and integrate Square right into your website for collecting payments online, offline in person, or with all major credit cards. In addition, you can enable appointment scheduling, add a menu or price list, and allow customers to make reservations online if you own a restaurant.

Email Marketing

You can also add an email subscription form for building your email list and up your marketing efforts, make sure people can get in touch with you using the built-in contact form, and even add a photo gallery of images to entice people to buy your products or hire you.

Lastly, add an events calendar, embed video content, and even add your SoundCloud tracks or podcasts for site visitors to see.

Facebook Page Creation Wizard

A unique feature that GoCentral has is the ability to create a Facebook business page from your site’s content automatically. It also recommends updates when you make changes to your website so your Facebook business page is always up to date.

Not to mention, in order to help you build your business, the GoCentral website builder comes with a PayPal or Donate button, a free SSL certificate so customers know their sensitive personal and financial data is secure, and SEO optimization for getting found in search results.

GoCentral Caveats

Unfortunately, despite GoDaddy being the biggest domain name registrars in the world, you don’t get a domain name with the GoCentral website builder. Additionally, you only have the option to add a navigation menu that is one level deep, there is no app store to use, and there is no email support, which is something many businesses rely on.

Content Management Systems

Content management systems are not website builders as such, but they fall into a similar category. The most popular content management systems are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. Before we cover these in more depth, let’s compare them side-by-side.

A CMS can be used to create a simple website or a more complex site with an integrated e-commerce store. CMSs offer the most amount of flexibility and control, but the learning curve is steeper than with a simple site builder tool.

Aside from the numerous templates available, CMSs can be expanded with plugins or extensions.

WordPress

WordPress powers 28% of all websites that we know about. It’s famous for its five-minute installation, but most hosting companies offer one-click installation of WordPress that makes it even quicker.

WordPress is more complex than online website builders, but it’s still easy to learn. The editor allows you to publish posts and pages using an interface similar to Microsoft Word.

A selection of WordPress plugins and the dashboard. 

You can use it to create an e-commerce website with the WooCommerce plugin, or you can create your own social network with the BuddyPress plugin. There are hundreds of themes and plugins available for WordPress, both free and paid.

The community behind WordPress is huge. You can tap into expert help from the official support forums, or use blogs and tutorials to expand your knowledge.

Joomla

Joomla is more complex than WordPress, but it has a strong community. Like WordPress, there are themes and modules that add extra functionality to your site.

Joomla will require you to edit the code manually at times, whereas in WordPress, you can often bypass any coding. Because of its complexity, some developers prefer to use Joomla for more complicated websites that have interactive features.

Drupal

Drupal is the most complex out of the three CMSs. It has a steep learning curve which might prove to be too much for regular users. But it’s a powerful content management system, and it allows you to create any type of site you want.

Like Joomla and WordPress, Drupal is free to download. Many hosting companies offer one-click installation. The fact that WhiteHouse.gov uses Drupal speaks volumes about the platform’s security, too.

The community behind Drupal is large, with support forums, blogs, and tutorials available readily online.

E-commerce Website Builders

There are several e-commerce website builders that are designed specifically for creating online stores. And, while every solution offers their own unique set of features, it’s important to remember that if you collect payments via credit cards, you’ll need an SSL certificate to secure the data that is transferring between your website and your customer’s browser. This is especially true if you want to be PCI compliant.

That said, if you accept payments using an off-site payment processor such as PayPal, you are not required to have an SSL certificate. However, they do help add an extra layer of security on your e-commerce shop, as well as instill a sense of trust in your customers.

The most popular ones include Shopify, Bigcommerce, and Volusion.

Shopify

Shopify is a website builder designed specifically for e-commerce websites and provides templates optimized for selling online. As a result, it powers more than half a million businesses and has over 1 million active users. In fact, $40 billion dollars worth of online store products have been sold using Shopify.

This fully hosted solution makes managing your online store easy because you don’t have to worry about things like managing software, installing updates, or backing up your site. Instead, Shopify does all this for you, reducing the costs of managing your business site. It also integrates an exclusive payment solution called Shopify Payments, though you can add third-party payment gateways to your site to accepts other forms of payment too.

Not to mention, since this website builder solution focuses on nothing but online store creation, you’ll always have the features needed to run a successful e-commerce shop, unlike other website builder solutions that simply add some online shop features to your website.

Inventory Management, Flexibility, and Templates

Manage your shop’s inventory, sell an unlimited amount of products, access powerful stats related to your online store’s success, and even utilize the built-in marketing tools for reaching a wider audience and generating more sales.

T make things really versatile, Shopify lets you sell products at your brick and mortar shop, even accepting payments in person, which makes expanding your brand, and your customer base a breeze. You can integrate Shopify into the WordPress content management system so you can add a blog section to your online shop and establish more authority amongst your site visitors.

Lastly, take advantage of over 100 website templates to design your website, customize the look and feel of your templates to match your brand, and SEO optimization for higher search engine rankings.

Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce is a hosted e-commerce solution that allows businesses to sell their products online. It has a wide variety of customizable templates to help you create a standout store, allows you to sell both digital and physical goods, and even comes with built-in marketing tools to help you grow your business.

This website builder solution integrates with popular email marketing services, comes with full CMS functionality, works with popular payment gateways such as PayPal, and is SEO optimized to help you get your site found in search results. It also comes with professional reporting so you can make sure your online store is growing at the rate you want it to, and make improvements where needed.

Volusion

Volusion is another popular hosted e-commerce solution aimed at helping small business owners run successful online shops. It tends to focus on the operational side of managing an online store, rather than the marketing side, though it does offer plenty of features.

For example, it works with over 30 payment gateways so collecting payment from customers is never an issue. Moreover, they don’t charge transaction fees, which reduces the cost of doing business using this platform. There are fairly strict product limits depending on which plan you opt for, all plans come with social media tools, reporting tools, and 24/7 online support, which many website builders don’t offer.

Free Website Builders

Some website builders offer a free trial with no credit card required, and others are free (though limited) for a lifetime.

And, while free is always great, especially if you’re a startup business on a limited budget, there are some definite disadvantages to using a free website builder:

• They often limit the number of web pages you can create limiting your ability to scale.
• You usually don’t get a domain name, which means there is an additional cost.
• If you do get a domain name, it often comes branded with company branding, which is not very professional.
• Company advertisements will appear throughout your website, which may annoy site visitors, or at the very least cause them to buy products other than the ones you’re selling.
• There is a limit when it comes to bandwidth and storage, affecting your ability to build your site with lots of content and images.
• Limited or no customer support comes with most things that are free.
• Feature restrictions are common, with no ability to extend the web design or functionality, even with the help of a developer.

As you can see, though free is sometimes enticing, and may work well for those with small businesses not looking to scale, if you truly want to grow a successful business, going with a paid website solution is usually the best option.

Website Builder Shopping List

Not that you know everything there is to know about website builders, as well as some of the most popular ones on the market today, take a look at this quick checklist of things to ask to make sure the website builder you choose for your business has everything you need:

1. What kind of websites benefit most from this website builder?
2. How many people currently use this solution?
3. Is there a support team? How easy is it to get in touch with support or customer service?
4. What is the refund policy, or is there a satisfaction guarantee?
5. How much does the website builder cost?
6. What are the main features that come with this solution?
7. How easy is it to use this solution?
8. Can I customize my website using a hired developer?
9. Do you offer additional features such as an SSL certificate, domain name, or business email account?
10. Does this solution offer any marketing, analytics, or SEO optimization features?
11. How many web design templates are available?
12. Is this a self-hosted or fully hosted solution?

If you’ve addressed the above questions and are fairly clear on what you are looking for, you are likely ready to choose a website builder to work with. There is no lack of variety, so one of these listed will surely fit the bill.