7 best free website builders for creators and small-sized businesses |
You don't need to know how to use technology or the money to design a beautiful website. Discover how seven of the best free website builder's stack up.
When you're setting up a personal brand or starting a small business it is essential to have a website. Your site is your house on the internet. However, building a site completely from scratch for the very first time is a daunting task as well as costly.
Luckily, you don't need to be a programmer or possess a keen eye for web design, or spend the money to create a great web site. Free website builders make assembling your website easy, speedy, and affordable.
In this article, we're sharing seven of the best websites builders that are free for small businesses and creators looking to build a website that looks good with no time or an expensive price.
1.
With 's intuitive website builder it is not necessary to be able to write a single line or code line to have your website appear amazing. Make your website unique by adding colours, styles for brands and fonts, logos, images from stock, and a variety of content blocks you can pick from.
In each block of content you are able to personalize the design and content for a website that's authentic to your company's image. It's possible to embed podcasts, videos, and widgets of hundreds of other apps on your site.
Each site is equipped with the SSL certificate and are automatically designed for mobile use. It is also easy to include Google Analytics to your site to track visitors and sales.
That's right, you can build a powerful and profitable online presence with no investment and still earn the score of 90.91 score on the Creator Friendliness Index .
The Creator Friendliness Index uses 20 rating factors to determine the degree of how accommodating a business's policies are to creators. ranks well across friendliness factors, with a free program, options to eliminate charges for transactions, as well as multiple currency options and integrations.
2. Wix
Wix is a web-based builder which lets users build simple web pages for free. With Wix it's possible to build a storefront or blog, or business website using a drag-and-drop editor with hundreds of modern templates.
Wix's site builder is intuitive even if you don't have design chops. It is also possible to get assistance with Wix's exclusive Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) tool, which uses artificial intelligence to design a custom site for your brand. Your Wix website also has built-in SEO and search engines optimization (SEO) tools.
The main drawback of Wix's free plan is the Wix advertisement on every page. It's difficult to create a website that looks professional, especially when it's the very first thing that visitors will see. To remove the Wix banner ad, you'll need to be subscribed to the Combo plan ($16/month) or better.
Wix is rated 79.22 in the Creator Friendliness Index . The site earns points because of its no-cost plan as well as the cost-effectiveness of its paid plans. It is penalized for limiting the number of products that a designer can offer per plans and the lack of information on support.
3. WordPress
WordPress is free, open-source content management system (CMS) software, which is popular for its blogging platforms as well as a website building tool.
Two ways could utilize WordPress to create your site self-hosted or managed hosting.
Utilizing WordPress to host your own website is completely free. But factor in domain name registration, hosting on the internet, paid themes, and costly plugins and prices quickly add up.
Another choice is to design your website with WordPress.com managed hosting. WordPress.com provides a no-cost plan, as well as several paid plans.
For free on WordPress.com You can build a website with 1GB of storage as well as pre-installed themes and integrated SEO tools however that's not all you get.
WordPress scores 68.33 in the Creator Friendliness Index . It earns points for the free plan, its the integrations it offers, as well as its language support but loses points for its lack of available customer support.
4. Weebly
Weebly is an e-commerce website and website builder owned by Square.
The Weebly website builder is beginner-friendly and offers customizable templates. You can also add your own CSS as well as HTML. Additionally, the App Center lets you connect extensions and integrations for added features.
Web hosting is included on all plans, and you can purchase the domain directly through Weebly. If you aren't ready to buy a domain name, you can use a free subdomain, like yournamehere.weebly.com.
Weebly offers blogs that allow you to share content, an App Center to add additional functions, and an analytics tool that allow you to track the performance of your website.
Since Square is the owner of Weebly the site is created with the e-commerce market with ecommerce in mind. Every plan, including the no-cost plan, come with ecommerce functionality to build your own online store as well as sell physical goods.
Weebly's free option does have some drawbacks. It has storage restrictions, and you can't sell digital items. Weebly can also show Square ads for both Free and Personal plans, so you'll be required to change to the premium plan to remove them.
Overall, Weebly is a solid choice for beginners who do not have a lot of experience with websites, especially if you plan to market physical goods on the internet.
5. SITE123
SITE123 is a straightforward web-based site builder free to anyone seeking to create an online identity. Like the name suggests, SITE123 makes building a website as simple as, two, three:
Select the website you wish to create. Select from templates that can be used for business, blog, event page, service provider, and much more.
Add your business name, information, as well as images.
Create your own website.
The templates available on SITE123 are fully mobile and are available with no cost web hosting, 500MB of storage space, along with 1GB of data bandwidth.
A major drawback: The free plan limits your ability to change the colors and fonts of your choice, as well as other elements of design. You must upgrade to a premium plan in order to unlock plugins, apps as well as full customization options. There are also no free ecommerce tools.
Also, it's impossible to switch website templates after you've begun building your site. If you do this, you'll lose all your material. That can be a major trouble.
It's true that SITE123 won't provide you with much creativity over the free website. If you're looking for a simple, no-frills landing page for your business The free version of the plan will provide only enough for you to survive.
6. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is known as a web hosting company and domain name registrar, but it also offers an online website builder for free, with limited ecommerce tools. Select a template, then add your content and business info, and you'll be able to create a site ready for launch in just a few steps.
The free website includes email marketing tools, one-time appointment setting as well as analytics and SSL certificates. Another feature that helps GoDaddy distinguish itself from other free platforms is its 24/7 support and forums for community members, which means you'll have plenty of support should you need help.
The free plan does have its limits. It is required to have an godaddysites.com subdomain, and GoDaddy will place an ad at the top of each page of your site. Such tools as SEO, recurring appointments, complete online store capabilities, as well as 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 sites, but the large branding on the top of each webpage can make a corporate website appear to be unprofessional.
7. Jimdo
Jimdo is a web-based builder for free that allows you to create a business website in just a few steps:
Answer a few questions about your website.
Get business details through your social media pages.
Choose a design.
Create your own website!
The Jimdo image library gives you access to many different kinds of high-quality stock photos. You can also include contact forms for your customers to get in touch.
Jimdo's site creation wizard allows you to easily create websites, however there is no way to make use of personalization. There are several pre-designed layouts as well as diverse color schemes.
For the plan that is free, you have to use the jimdo.com subdomain. You will also see an Jimdo ad on every page. There's 2GB of bandwidth, and 500MB of storage and may be able to host up to five pages on your website. Also, you won't have access to any customer help, which means you're all on your own in the event that you need help with setting up your website.
If you need a simple web page and you are sure you don't require customer support, Jimdo could be an good choice. However, the cost-free version is one of the least flexible options on this list.
Choose a website builder designed with your growth in mind
Not all free website builders are created equal. While you look at different alternatives take note for the ways platforms add costs to a "free" software: hidden upsells, added fees, limits to the number of internet pages, or the possibility of customization or even unremovable advertisements. Don't risk finding yourself running into surprise costs as you are preparing to launch your website.
You can build an attractive website to promote your business in a few steps. This is the most effective site builder tool for entrepreneurs who want to build an online base to their business without any technical complexities or the high cost.