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Our Verdict
If you want to create a website without dealing with complicated coding, Weebly is the solution for you. It’s a cost-effective and user-friendly website builder suitable for both individuals and businesses alike.
Weebly was acquired by Square, the payment gateway, which has expanded its capabilities into a comprehensive platform. Now, it not only simplifies website creation but also seamlessly integrates eCommerce and marketing tools.
With Weebly, you have access to a variety of user-friendly features such as a drag-and-drop editor, mobile-responsive designs, and built-in eCommerce functionalities. This means you can effortlessly craft a professional website. Moreover, there’s a free plan available, along with competitively priced premium options, making Weebly a flexible and accessible choice for all your website requirements.
Pros
- Enjoy a free forever plan with basic features
- Access affordable premium plans starting at $10 per month with annual billing
- Experience an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, eliminating the need for coding
- Benefit from mobile-responsive designs for optimal viewing across devices
- Ensure a secure website experience with free SSL security
- Utilize e-commerce features for creating online stores
- Get unlimited storage on professional plan and above
Cons
- Sacrifice customization options
- Be prepared to upgrade to eliminate ads and enable password protection
- Access phone support only on professional plan and higher tiers
- Encounter fewer themes and features Find abandoned cart emails only available on the highest Performance plan
- Note that Square payment processing is limited to seven countries; otherwise, utilize Stripe or PayPal
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Who Weebly Is Best For
Weebly is best for you if you:
- Aim to create a website quickly and easily
- Seek an affordable website solution for your small business, start up or sole proprietorship business
- Need a personal website or blog without complex requirements
- Look for a user-friendly online store builder
- Seek a cost-effective way to establish an online presence
Who Weebly Isn't Right For
While Weebly offers a solid website builder, it may not be the best fit if you:
- Own businesses requiring extensive customization and design flexibility
- Need advanced e-commerce features like abandoned cart recovery on lower plans
- Manage websites with high-traffic demands or resource-intensive applications
- Seek a more robust and scalable platform for large or complex websites
- Require comprehensive phone support on all pricing plans
What Weebly Offers
Weebly provides a comprehensive set of features to help you create and manage your websites effectively:
- Create your website effortlessly with a drag-and-drop website builder featuring pre-designed themes
- Integrate a built-in blogging platform for crafting and publishing engaging blog posts
- Unlock e-commerce potential with integrated shopping cart, product pages, and seamless payment integrations
- Enhance your website’s visibility with powerful SEO tools tailored for optimizing search engine performance
- Boost your online presence with social media integration and a suite of marketing tools
- Engage with your subscribers effectively using email marketing tools designed to foster meaningful connections
- Gain insights into your website’s performance with robust analytics and reporting features
- Expand your website’s functionality with an App Center offering additional features through third-party integrations
Weebly Details
Website Builder and Themes
Weebly provides you with an extensive selection of over 50 pre-designed themes, tailored to meet a variety of needs – including 38 themes perfect for general websites and 15 crafted specifically for online stores. Each theme is expertly designed to be fully responsive, ensuring that your site looks flawless on any device.
Moreover, the intuitive drag-and-drop editor lets you customize your chosen theme with ease; you can swap images, tweak text, and reorder sections to match your vision. If you possess more advanced technical skills, you’ll appreciate the availability of an HTML/CSS editor, which allows for even deeper customization. Explore these possibilities and create a website that truly represents your style and meets your needs.
Blogging
You will find that Weebly offers a user-friendly platform that allows you to create and publish your blog posts effortlessly. You can also enhance the security of your content by opting to password-protect specific posts or pages, ensuring exclusive access for paid members or subscribers. Weebly’s intuitive interface is designed to support both novice and experienced writers, making it easy for you to craft your articles using the same editor you utilize for other pages on your site.
In the Weebly e-commerce editor, a feature known as “Stories” provides a similar functionality for blog posts. While you won’t encounter separate content blocks here, the editing process remains seamless, comparable to any other page type. Moreover, you have the flexibility to incorporate different layouts beneath your blog post text, adding a unique flair to each page.
E-Commerce
In exploring e-commerce solutions, you’ll find that Weebly equips you with all the necessary tools. You can set up a robust online store with a shopping cart and detailed product pages, along with seamless payment processing through integrations with renowned gateways like Square, PayPal, and Stripe.
Manage your online store efficiently with features such as inventory management, in-store pickup options, automatic tax calculations, and the capacity to create coupons and gift cards. You have complete control over customizing every aspect of your shopping cart, from the payment flow to the operation of the shipping calculator.
You can import items individually using the Weebly web interface, where adding products is an intuitive process. This setup guides you through each step, from adding product variants like size or color to updating fulfillment options and even optimizing your product pages for SEO. Enhance your product displays with GIFs and 360-degree images to give visitors a better understanding of what they are purchasing.
Established inventory? Weebly supports a mass import function that handles CSV files, streamlining the setup of your online presence. Once your sales are underway, you can leverage Weebly to solicit product reviews from customers, showcasing the most favorable reviews prominently on your website. This approach not only enhances user engagement but also boosts your store’s credibility.
Hosting
Choose Weebly for top-tier web hosting services that extend well beyond website building and e-commerce solutions. Whether you are initiating a new project or transferring an existing site, rely on Weebly for steadfast, high-speed hosting fortified with comprehensive security features. All the pricing plans come equipped with hosting, including SSL certificates as standard and integrated DDoS protection to shield your site from malicious attacks. Additionally, managing your domain is straightforward—Weebly acts as your domain registrar, enabling you to control all elements of your online presence from one convenient dashboard.
You’ll also benefit from the email hosting solution powered by Google Workspace. Seamlessly connected to your Weebly account, this arrangement ensures secure and efficient email management, allowing you to use your own domain name in your email addresses.
Marketing and Branding
Embrace Weebly’s intuitive interface, designed to support both novice and experienced writers. You’ll find it remarkably easy to craft engaging blog posts and broaden their reach through WordPress integration. Leverage Weebly’s SEO tools to boost your website’s visibility on search engines. Although these tools are basic, they are user-friendly and effective for foundational SEO tasks.
You should note that while some advanced website builders offer AI-enhanced SEO capabilities – automatically generating keywords and meta descriptions – Weebly provides a straightforward platform that expects you to input your own SEO insights. Though not top-tier, Weebly’s SEO tools are practical and uncomplicated.
Enhance these capabilities by exploring the Add-On manager. You can add a variety of functionalities, including sophisticated email marketing tools and integration with third-party SEO services, to further elevate your site’s performance.
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Where Weebly Stands Out
Ease of Use
Weebly excels with its exceptionally user-friendly interface and straightforward drag-and-drop editor. You don’t need any coding knowledge – simply click, drag, and drop components exactly where you need them. Need to adjust? It’s simple – modify settings via convenient pop-up windows.
Rearranging elements? It’s just as effortless. Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned in website building, Weebly makes the process smooth and easy. While the e-commerce builder is generally more straightforward to use, the classic builder allows for deeper customization, especially with more options for personalizing things like color schemes and enjoying a more flexible editor layout.
Affordability
Weebly supports your budget with highly competitive pricing. It offers a free plan, which is perfect for getting started. When you’re ready to scale up, premium plans begin at only $10 per month with annual billing. Whether you’re an individual or a small business keeping an eye on finances, Weebly provides affordable options that ensure you get the crucial website-building tools without straining your wallet.
Mobile-Responsive Designs
With Weebly, you can be confident that your site will display beautifully across all devices. Its themes are designed to be fully mobile-responsive, meaning your site will automatically adjust to look perfect, whether on a phone, tablet, or desktop. In a digital age dominated by mobile browsing, this feature is crucial. You can rest assured that your site will offer a seamless browsing experience for all visitors, regardless of how they access it.
Where Weebly Falls Short
Customization Options
When you dive into Weebly’s user interface, you’ll appreciate its user-friendliness. However, you should be aware that, compared to its competitors, you may find the design flexibility somewhat limited. If you’re aiming to create a distinctly unique website, you might desire more extensive options.
E-Commerce Features
Weebly provides robust e-commerce capabilities, but keep in mind that some advanced features, like abandoned cart recovery emails, are exclusive to the top-tier performance plan. If you operate on a more budget-friendly plan and need these advanced tools, this limitation could impact your business strategy.
Support Options
As you consider using Weebly, remember that phone support becomes available only with the professional plan, priced at $12 per month when billed annually. If you’re on a more economical plan, prepare to utilize alternative support avenues such as chat, email, or community forums to resolve your queries.
How to Sign Up for Weebly
Getting started with Weebly is a straightforward process:
First, register for Weebly, you can sign up with your Facebook account, Gmail or another email. Fill in the necessary information. Next, decide on the type of website you want – whether it’s an e-store or informational. Then, select a theme from Weebly’s collection. After that, either choose a domain name or connect one you already have.
Now, start adding your own content to the template. To enhance your site, customize it with Weebly apps. If you’re planning to sell online and haven’t done so already, set up your online store. Finally, hit publish to make your website live. To gain more features, select a pricing pan and pay for it to enjoy Weebly better.
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Alternatives to Weebly
While Weebly is a popular choice, there are several alternatives worth considering based on specific needs and requirements:
Wix
When you’re trying out website creation, Wix stands out as an excellent choice. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop editor is tailored for beginners, offering a seamless experience. Plus, you’ll find a plethora of customization options. Keep in mind, though, that Wix tends to come with a slightly higher price tag compared to Weebly.
Squarespace
Squarespace, on the other hand, shines with its visually stunning templates and robust e-commerce capabilities. It’s particularly favored by businesses aiming for a sleek online presence. However, be prepared for a higher price point compared to Weebly.
WordPress
If you need versatility and extensive customization options, WordPress takes the lead. As an open-source content management system (CMS), it provides a vast array of plugins and themes, empowering more advanced users and developers. Just note that mastering WordPress may require a bit more technical know-how due to its complexity.
Customer Reviews
Weebly has received mixed feedback since its acquisition by Square. Negative reviews frequently cite issues like poor customer service, feature limitations, and increased prices.
Users often report frustrations such as account lockouts, difficulties in contacting support, and challenges with payment methods and pricing structures. In general, across different platforms such as ForbesADVISOR (4.4), WebsiteBuilderExpert (4.9), and Capterra (4.3), there is a shared viewpoint.
Pro Tips
- Utilize Weebly’s App Center to enhance your website with additional functionality without coding
- Design custom error pages (404, 500, etc.) to maintain brand consistency and provide helpful guidance to users who encounter errors while navigating your site
- Take advantage of the built-in SEO features and optimize your website for better search engine visibility
- Extend your site’s reach by implementing multi-language support using Weebly’s built-in features
- Utilize the Embed Code element to integrate third-party tools
- Regularly back up your website data to ensure your content is safe in case of any issues
- Explore Weebly’s community forums and knowledge base for tips, tutorials, and troubleshooting
Recap
Weebly offers an accessible website-building solution for individuals and businesses, acquired by Square to provide a comprehensive platform integrating eCommerce and marketing tools. With intuitive features like drag-and-drop editing and mobile-responsive designs, you can create professional websites effortlessly, supported by a free plan and competitively priced premium options.
While it’s ideal for beginners and small businesses, those needing extensive customization or advanced eCommerce features may find it lacking. However, Weebly’s ease of use, affordability, and mobile-responsive designs make it a standout choice among website builders.
