It’s 2018 and if you don’t have an online presence for your business yet, that should be the first thing on your agenda after reading this article.
An online presence for your business is absolutely vital in this day an age. A website allows potential clients on the internet to find you. It can also store vital information such your portfolio, past clients, testimonials, office address, etc which potential clients would wish to go through before contacting you.
While the first option that comes to most people’s minds is to create a custom website it may not be the wisest choice. A good custom website made with a developer can easily get very expensive while also requiring the continued need of a developer to maintain and continually update your website. The high cost and requirement of professional help acts as a barrier to entry and often deters people from not making more than some social media pages to represent their business online.
This is where website builders come in. Website building software can give you almost everything you could ever want from a website at a fraction of a custom website’s cost. They can help you build anything from a simple single-page site to a professional web store. You will be surprised by the ease-of-use and flexible customization options that are available. Not to mention, you can easily login yourself and change copy, upload images, or add new pages within seconds.
Here are some of our preferred website building solutions:
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the largest domain name and hosting service providers in the world. They offer a simple and elegant website builder complete with hosting services included. It has simple and easy tools allowing you to create professional looking websites in no time at all. An integrated photo library with Getty Images allows you to use professional images on your website.
GoDaddy website builder works well with mobile optimization of sites as well. With prices starting from ₹ 69 a month, GoDaddy is a great and pocket friendly choice for those needing simple websites with a few pages of content.
Site123
Site123 is one of the most beginner friendly website builders. It’s drag and drop website builder makes it easy for even the most novice webmaster to quickly and effortlessly create an aesthetic and responsive website. Site123 offers their users access to customizable layouts that are flexible and easy to change. In addition to these basic layouts, you’ll also have access to a wide variety of tools and features that allow you to add in layers of customization. It integrates with a number of third-party plugins, primarily analytics and webmaster tools, giving you deeper insight into your site’s visitors.
With affordable pricing starting from $9.80 a month and responsive customer service, Site123 is a great option to quickly build beautiful and functional websites from scratch.
SquaredSpace
SquaredSpace is one of the better emerging website building software. They have absolutely gorgeous themes which are a site to behold. The mobile responsiveness of their websites are also very good. The more images you have on your website, the better will SquaredSpace’s themes work for you.
With prices starting from $12 a month, SquaredSpace will be perfect for those with tonnes of images on their website such as photographers, artists, fashion designers, etc.
Weebly
Weebly is an old favourite amongst those who like template based website builders. It is a fully hosted platform and comes with dozens of website designs to use as a starting point for your website. With a live editor, its easy to make changes to your website and see them come to life right before your eyes. Weebly also comes with built-in support for ecommerce allowing those amongst you who have a product to sell an easy route to create your own personal online store and start selling.
Weebly is one of the most popular website builders and its intuitiveness is a huge positive. With plans starting from $8 a month, Weebly is great option if you’re ever looking to sell product/merchandise under your own brand.
Wix
Wix is widely suggested as the ‘Go to’ website building software with more than 100 million people using it. With over five hundred template options, flexibility in design and a very comprehensive support centre; Wix has a lot to offer to its users. With ADI or Artificial Design Intelligence, Wix has its X factor. Perfect for complete beginners, ADI designs tailored websites for users by learning about their business needs.
Wix has an unlimited bandwidth plan catered to freelancers for र 372 a month and personal use plans starting from र 247 a month.
WordPress
(Here, we are referring to WordPress.org and not WordPress.com)
WordPress powers roughly 24% of the web. It is one of the most capable website builders giving your complete control over every aspect of your website. It has a relatively steep learning curve and you will require some time to learn its various intricacies but the reward for doing is the ability to create any type of website you desire, be it a simple one page site with a contact form, an ecommerce website or even a social network!
There are an extensive amount of templates, themes, and plugins which can be downloaded for free or bought for a price. From ready-made themes and mobile-optimized templates to widgets that allow you to include everything from comments to slideshows, WordPress excels at customization and adaptability.
WordPress is free but you will have to manage and host your website by yourself. Bluehost, a WordPress approved web hosting company charges rates from $19.99 a month for their services.
