How to start your own website for free

youtube.com/watch?v=bOX1Gwm73Oo

Launched in 2004, Wix offers a simple, yet powerful website builder with thousands of templates to pick from that is great for any budding web designer or developer. Faced with the overwhelming choice of hundreds of templates for a site, many web designers and developers become overwhelmed with the choice and end up giving up on their site development altogether. With the help of this easy to use website builder, you can still produce quality website designs and add that professional touch you will need to make your business stand out in the competition.

Wix website builder was recognized by top website builders like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The reason behind this is that it’s extremely easy to navigate and includes all of the add-ons and plug-ins that you need to begin with your online business. Founded on simplicity, Wix readily integrates with popular online shopping carts like Amazon, eBay, and PayDotCom, thus giving you more options and more ways to monetize your website while increasing its conversion speed.

Wix is very similar to other free, open source Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress and Joomla. Unlike many CMS that restrict one to a couple of pre-defined themes and formats, Wix gives you total freedom to design your website how you want it. You can add-ons like audio files, video, slide shows, and surveys to simplify customer transactions. If you are thinking of expanding your product line, you can do that with Wix easily since you have the freedom to do so.

One of the reasons why Wix is different from its competitors like Joomla and WordPress is that it lets you utilize a user-friendly interface and drag and drop features which make it simple for beginners to use. If you’re not a programmer or a web designer, you can employ a team of programmers who will customize the layout and the content according to your specifications. Another feature which makes Wix stand out from its competitors is its drag and drop functionality. It gives a platform where you can build a site easily by dragging and dropping different products. You’ll be able to save a lot of time and money working with this website builder.

Among the biggest benefits of Wix is that it’s an active community of users who are continuously adding new features and plug-ins to make it even more user friendly. They also have made sure that their website builder can be used with all kinds of browsers such as Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and many others. Additionally, there are plug-ins available to assist you customize your site further in the event that you feel the need. If you’re planning to use Wix to launch a profitable e-commerce website, you should try adding the latest plug-ins like Google checkout, Google analytics, and PayPal checkout. This will definitely help you boost your profits.

Another website builder that Wix homes is Weebly. Like the name suggests, Weebly has a completely different platform which their competitors like, which is WordPress. Even though the platform of Weebly is much more robust than that of WordPress, it still lacks a few of the features that its competitors like WordPress have. The fantastic thing about Weebly is that it’s a free themes and templates, which you can use in making your website. Additionally, it has a custom layout engine that allows you to design your website exactly how you want.

The best thing about Wix and Weebly is they are both very easy to use and personalize. If you’re looking for a bigger space to develop your internet business, you should consider either weebly or wix. These two website builders are extremely easy to learn. Moreover, they provide a large variety of plug-ins and templates that you can use to create the amazing website that you want. However, if you need a plug-in that will let you manage multiple stores, domain names and email accounts, then you’d definitely want to go with wix.

The last website creation tool that we’re going to discuss today is squareSpace. SquareSpace is another e-commerce store builder which enables users to build, customize and host their own website. However, unlike other site creation tools made available by squareSpace, they only allow users to host a shop for free. After paying for their hosting services, you will have the ability to buy your own domain name and setup a password for your site. Although, even with this limitation, squareSpace is still considered to be one of the top e-commerce website builders around, and a great way to build a large website for less than $40 dollars.

How to start your own website for free

youtube.com/watch?v=nLJvniZrSp4 

17 Best Site Builders: Wix, Squarespace, and More (2021)

Picking the best site builder can be hard, because there are 74 popular choices to select from.

In this guide, I rated and reviewed the best website builders to create a web site based on price, reliability, web hosting solutions , technical support, website speed, SEO, features, ease of use, template design, and much more.

We will also compare:

The ideal website contractors for small companies.

The best free and cheap choices.

The ones with the best SEO.

The top platforms with online shop capabilities.

The very top builders for agencies.

And the best choices for photographers and artists.

What’s the Best Website Builder?

Using a site builder is a fast and easy way to construct a presence for your brand or online business. These tools simplify your website management by combining domain registration, hosting, and website design into one stage.

If you’re not too knowledgeable about web design and development, you will want to go with a simple drag and drop editor.

The choice is all up to you.

Here are my top picks for the best site builder to use this season.

Wix.

Best Website Builder for Small Business ($13/month)

Wix is the most popular website builder on the market, with over 100 million users.

They have 500+ ready-to-use templates to design your site in any industry. These templates are mobile-optimized and have 100 fonts to choose from (or you can upload your own).

Their designs also look beautiful, with scroll effects, and advanced design features like video and animation backgrounds.

In case you already have a domain on GoDaddy or need to register one at Wix.com, they make it super simple. Also, if you’d like to add e-commerce to your website so that you can sell online, plans start a $20/month.

If you are a small business, I urge Wix as the best online store builder. You don’t necessarily require a platform with more advanced options like BigCommerce and Shopify. Wix website owners that are looking to add an e-commerce store can get these great new features.

Wix is the most user-friendly site tool on the market. You can almost always customize the look and feel of your site with no programming knowledge.

They also have a tool named Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) — the first artificial intelligence website builder. Wix ADI learns about your site and uses that information to design a website tailored to your specific needs.

This tool leverages AI selecting from countless combinations of pictures, text, designs, and contact forms.

Finally, if you’re seeking the best site builder for small businesses, Wix is the best choice.

Read my whole Wix review for more in-depth analysis.

Get started with Wix.

Best Modern Website Builder with Free Plans (free — $3.49/mo)

Zyro is a website builder with a mission to help local businesses to tell their unique stories on the web.

Overall, they’re famous for simplicity and speed.

With Zyro, you can create a business site quickly and easily with no programming required. Your site also loads fast due to its light framework and looks great on all apparatus.

With a strong set of tools, Zyro helps grow your online business with pre-made design templates, AI-driven text, an intuitive drag-and-drop tool, mobile-readiness, and more than one million stock images to select from.

One of the standout features is their AI Content Generator, which offers SEO-friendly content ideas based on your industry and specific business type.

To get started with this tool, you pick your type of business, then write 2-3 paragraphs describing your brand and circumstance. You then adjust your AI settings and customize them based on duration, expertise, and creativity degree. Last, you click the Generate button and see your uniquely generated content.

Since content creation is a challenge for many site owners, this tool creates new paragraphs for you that can rank better in search and increase conversion rates.

Another excellent features include:

Built-in SEO tools to improve your search rankings.

A free SSL certificate and custom domain names.

An AI-driven logo and slogan maker.

24/7 customer support via email and live chat.

AI heatmaps to increase website conversions and forecast visitor behavior.

Mobile-optimized, fast-loading website layouts.

Free website design templates for various industries like creative agencies, startups, fashion brands, health businesses, bakeries, and much more.

Zyro offers three main pricing plans — a free plan, a mid-tier”Basic” program at $1.99/month, and their high-tier”Unleashed” program at $3.49/month.

Their free plan does not include a custom domain name but does provide 99.9% uptime, an SSL certificate, 500MB of bandwidth and 500MB of storage.

Next, their “Basic” plan permits you to connect your own domain name, increases bandwidth and storage, and includes extra features like ad removal and integrations with tools like Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, and Facebook pixels. This is a really popular plan that is most suitable for small and medium-sized companies.

Finally, their “Unleashed” program provides every Zyro attribute and provides unlimited storage and bandwidth. At such an affordable price of $3.49/month, it is sensible to go with this plan and enjoy the unlimited features if you’re planning to have a great deal of content on your site.

Overall, Zyro is ideal for small businesses looking to create and grow a site quickly, save money on composing and logo-making using their AI tools, rank higher on search engines, and increase conversion rates with high-quality, mobile-friendly design templates.

You can begin with Zyro for free to check out their stage, then upgrade to a paid plan when you’re ready to grow your internet business.

Get started with Zyro and begin building your website today.

Best Website Design for Personal Sites ($12/month)

When I think of Squarespace, my mind goes directly to their beautifully designed home page. They truly know how to create beautiful, high-quality websites that look great for both small businesses and personal websites alike.

With over 100 design templates to select from, they lead the pack in regards to design. Squarespace templates appear excellent down to every detail. The fonts, color schemes, and imagery all mesh flawlessly for any site.

Besides design, their stage is wonderful for bloggers. I tested out their WYSIWYG blog editor, and it is very intuitive.

You drag elements like pictures, headings, and text on the page and position it where you want. They also offer multiple user permissions, Google AMP functionality, and you can schedule your articles:

A few small search engine optimization limitations hold Squarespace back from being #1 on this list. To begin with, my XML sitemap pulled in two versions of every page with and without a trailing slash”/.” This dual indexing may potentially lead to SEO and duplicate content problems down the road. They didn’t have an easy fix the last time I checked.

Secondly, your blog headlines always become your meta names, so be cautious when adding your headlines for SEO. You can read more in my full Wix vs Squarespace review.

Other great features make up for these drawbacks. Their ease of use is top-notch — sites are elementary to assemble with their editing tools. In-built analytics tools provide continuous data onsite traffic if you’re not using Google Analytics. Plus, it’s tough to go wrong with a beautifully-designed website for only $12/month.

Monthly costs range from $12/month for their Personal plan up to $40/month for their Online Store (Advanced) plan. Monthly prices are based on a one-year contract, and Squarespace includes a free domainname. The Personal plan provides a free domain name, unlimited bandwidth and storage, free SSL, and 24/7 customer service.

Overall, if you’re a small business that needs first-rate web design or a blogger who wants your content to appear great, Squarespace is a trusted choice.

Best Free Website Builder (Free — $25/month)

Weebly powers over 530,000 domains and is known as the easy site builder of choice for people without much technical experience. They offer a great deal of great features. If you are a blogger, you can use Weebly.com to select a domain name and use their editor to add your text, pictures, and content.

They also have a mobile app to keep track of your website’s performance on the go. And email marketing tools let you send newsletters to your subscribers from within their tool.

They have a free program which comes with 500 MB of storage, a free SSL certificate, and a domain name with Weebly branding. You can use a custom domain with this plan but are forced to have Weebly branding throughout your site. Additionally, the free program only includes email and chat support, but no phone service.

Weebly’s paid plans vary from $5 to $25 per month. On the high end, their Business Plan gets you innovative e-commerce performance, a free domain, and $200 of Google ad credits.

Their e-commerce features include product options/variants, coupon codes, stock management, a shipping calculator, shipping labels, and the ability to accept payments via Square and other suppliers.

The degree of customer support you receive is based on your subscription level. You’ll find assistance yourself in many areas, including their blog, service center, community forum, social networking, and programmer documentation. They also have live chat, email, and phone support.

If you are searching for a simple site creator to get up and running, I recommend you begin with Weebly.

Best Website Builder for Ecommerce ($29/month)

Shopify is a favorite ecommerce platform used by over 800,000 online companies so sell products online. They were founded in Canada in 2004 and quickly became a powerhouse because of their simple dashboard and integrations with thousands of program partners.

While not every site owner needs product-selling functionality, I added Shopify into the list because almost any small business could use them to install their site.

Have a salon for example.

With Shopify, not only could you set up a quick website including a site, a map of your location, contact information, and appointment scheduling (with a program ), but you might also sell hair care products online. This creates not only a website but another online source of revenue for your company.

Shopify has a lot of features you’d come to expect from other tools on this listing, such as hosting, your own domain name, 70+ specialist topics, a free SSL certificate, and promotion and SEO features.

They also supply mobile commerce, 100+ payment gateways, automated carrier shipping rates, automated tax rates, and the full checkout experience. Besides, you can enjoy omnichannel selling across Facebook, eBay, Amazon, Instagram, and more.

If you’re establishing a new website and think that you might want to sell products online in the future, it’s far better to get started with Shopify instead of another instrument that does not take online shopping too.

They offer three plans ranging from $29/month to $299/month. The $29/month Basic Shopify Plan should give website owners everything they need, including a complete website, an online store with unlimited products, blog features, 24/7 support, and much more.

If you’d like to give Shopify a try, they offer a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Best For Professional Designers ($16 per month).

Some of its other Important features include:

You can edit and add content to your live site.

Invite other group members to collaborate on a single dashboard.

Add up to 100 pages to your website.

99.9% uptime guaranteed and SSL certificate.

Automated backup.

Custom fonts available.

Create custom 404 pages.

Customer care through email, Webflow community forum, and help centre.

Integration with Zapier enables you to connect with tools like Slack, MailChimp, and Asana.

You can add up to 3000 products on your site with eCommerce support.

Best WordPress Themes for Photography and Creative Websites ($279 one-time).

Flothemes is a business that provides customizable WordPress themes. These templates help you build websites inside of WordPress with no need for custom coding. It is powered by Flex block, a potent free stream page builder, providing limitless customization options.

All the templates and themes come with premade designs and content blocks. You may also customize colors, fonts, the arrangement of the page, and more.

Flothemes help you build your website in a few steps, including:

Register a domain name and hosting service provider for your website. You can even check Flothemes cloud hosting services, starting at $26 a month.

Install WordPress.org and connect it to your website hosting. Luckily, most hosting services provide a one-click WordPress installation.

Finally, select a theme for your website or portfolio.

You’ll be able to see several how-to tutorials by Flothemes or contact the customer support team.

If you need assistance setting up the entire site, you can drop a message, and their staff will do everything for you.

Flothemes will help you set up your site for only $499-$1999. Besides setting up your website from the start, they also provide services like page load speed optimization, SEO, styling, etc.. In addition, you get two screen sharing sessions of 45 minutes each with specialists and one SEO consultation call of 45 minutes. All in all, you get six rounds of implementations.

Additionally, Flothemes provides features like SSL implementation, WordPress installation, Typography, color scheme stylization, and more. You also get complete design freedom, SEO options, and a dashboard.

Pricing:

While their subjects cost a one-time $279, Flothemes offers three pricing plans for their site setup services, including:

Simple Installation Bundle: $499

Advanced setup packs: $999

Pro Installation packs: $1,999

The Easy Setup Package can help you skip the technical parts and jump directly to adding content and personalizing your theme. It provides features like WordPress installation, site layout setup, theme setup, WordPress transfer, site launch, etc..

The Advanced Setup Package incorporates full assistance with site setup, styling & launch, site speed optimization & an search engine optimization consultation. Additional features include typography & color scheme stylization, SSL implementation, speed optimization, etc..

Pro Setup Package contains all the features from the Advanced Setup Package along with the tailored mockup & implementation for your homepage.

Best Site Tool with Integrated CRM Tools

HubSpot is a topnotch CRM tool which also has a full-featured CMS and website builder. Using their platform, it is possible to create website pages, blog posts, landing pages either from scratch or with their pre-built templates.

Their drag-and-drop editor uses responsive design that will assist you create webpages that look great on any device. Where HubSpot stands out is its personalization and integrations.

Unlike other tools on this listing, HubSpot comes integrated with a wide range of marketing applications, including tools to manage email marketing, get found online, and capture, engage with and understand prospects.

By way of example, when you create a webpage, you may add calls-to-action and forms that convert visitors into prospects. Then, when you understand your traffic, you can dynamically create content unique to site visitors based on their location, device, language, traffic source, or any other detail you choose to catch on your HubSpot CRM.

This integrated marketing suite covers all parts of the customer lifecycle:

Types, live chat, and conversational chatbots capture prospects.

Email marketing, retargeting, and messenger integrations send customized messages to your prospects.

Their contact builder, analytics tools, and list segmentation help you understand your own prospects.

Personalized experiences, calls-to-action, and smart content turns leads into customers.

Overall, if you are looking for a site builder that also comes with a full-featured set of CRM and marketing tools, HubSpot is your best choice.

The World’s Most Popular CMS

Easiest Free Website Builder for Small Sites

Best Digital Marketing Website Builder for Local Businesses

A Personalized Website with the Power of AI

Best for Large Online Stores

Great for Photographers and Artists

Best for startups that want to create bootstrapped sites

Best Site Builder for Agencies and Multilingual Websites

What’s a Website Builder?

A website builder is a tool that allows anyone to manage a site and domain name without manual coding. In other words, a website builder is a tool or software program that will assist you build a web site.

In the old days of the web, programmers needed to know HTML and CSS to make a website. Today, if you wish to code a site, there’s a steep learning curve — you need to have extensive knowledge of JavaScript and PHP. Not so with website builders.

These tools help everyone from small companies and bloggers to news websites and ecommerce companies easily create sites in minutes.

How much does it cost to construct a website?

Is Wix better than WordPress?

How much does a website cost monthly?

Does Google have a website builder?

Can I get a free site for my business?

There you have it — my list of the greatest website builders. Because there are 74 choices out there, I’ve condensed the list down to the top so you can choose the option that’s right for your business or online brand.

If you are looking for the very best site builder overall, I recommend you begin with Wix.

For the best designs and templates, check out Squarespace.

If you need an e-commerce website to sell products online, Shopify is a good choice.

What site builder do you use?